"Industrial authority will give Georgia airport money to improve security"

Tuesday, February 8, 2005

Industrial authority will give airport money to improve security
The Macon (GA) Telegraph


MACON -- The Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority agreed Monday to provide
the funds needed to improve security measures at the Middle Georgia Regional
Airport.

Those security improvements should help restore recently cut flights,
authority members said.

The authority agreed to give up to $60,000 to the city-owned airport, said
chairman Burton Lee. The authority's staff will write checks as needed, he
said.

"This is like a hole in the roof -- we've got to fix it," Lee said. "This is
a community problem."

The authority's action comes one week after Atlantic Southeast Airlines, the
airline serving the airport, cut flights to two a day to Atlanta and two
flights back. Airline officials said the carrier had to eliminate the
flights because the Macon airport had not met federal Transportation
Security Administration rules for larger aircraft.

Macon Mayor Jack Ellis made the motion to approve the grant for the airport.

"This is more than about the city of Macon, this is about the region," Ellis
said. "This is one of those unfunded mandates. ... This is something we were
not aware of when we were remodeling our airport. I would definitely offer
the motion to recommend this funding."

Before the authority voted on the measure, Pat Topping, senior vice
president of the Macon Economic Development Commission, said he and Lee met
last week with city aviation director George Brown and representatives with
ASA and the TSA to discuss what kind of improvements were needed.

As a Class IV designated airport, Middle Georgia Regional is not permitted
to handle airplanes with more than 60 seats. To improve its status to Class
III, the airport needs some door locks, cameras to monitor certain areas and
a small amount of fencing, Topping said.

Bids that Brown obtained for the work came in at $68,000, $52,500 and
$48,000, said Lee who recommended the middle price because the low bidder
did not have the proper equipment. The authority's approval was for "up to"
$60,000, because it would allow for some leeway, Lee said. About $6,000 of
the price is for labor.

Although the cost was first estimated at $100,000, that figure did not
include $25,000 saved by not using a consultant to prepare a security plan.
Brown is updating the security manual and is expected to be finished by
Friday, Topping said.

"ASA wants to get these flights back there," he said. "Not only are they
revenue-producing flights, but they also feed their maintenance hub at the
airport."

TSA went over the time frame, he said.

"It looks like the best case scenario is it will take about 45 days to get
the improvements made and to have TSA able to review those improvements,"
Topping said. "At that point TSA would then review the work and recommend
the airport for classification III. They pass it along to FAA who makes the
approval."

Before voting on the measure Bibb County Commission Chairman Charlie Bishop
questioned if the authority would be setting a precedent by giving the
city-owned property the funds. The authority's attorney, Kevin Brown,
assured him it would not.

Bishop also hesitated to vote for the measure, saying he wanted to discuss
the matter with other county commissioners, but he didn't want to hold up
the process.

After some discussion, Bishop agree to vote for the funding based on other
county commissioners agreeing today at a meeting of the commission's Finance
Committee. He said he expects the commissioners will not have a problem, but
he just wants to be sure since the county provides 75 percent of the
authority's budget. The city provides the other 25 percent.


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