Administrator to Take on Interim Airport Manager Obligation

By DIANNE ALWARD-BIERY

Cleaver Senior Staff Writer

HARRISON – Anyone who has been following activities related to Clare County Airport 80D is aware that MDOT upgrade and improvement grants totaling $254,806 were recently awarded. That welcome news was followed by some confusion and a monkey wrench that resulted in the airport manager being dismissed for lack of funding. That lack of an airport manager had jeopardized the ability of the county to actually receive the awarded grants.

In addressing that dilemma, actions were taken promptly at the March 25 Airport Committee meeting as motions to:

-Appoint Lori Phelps, the county administrator, as the interim airport manager.

-Direct the interim airport manager to attend the Airports 101 training in Kalamazoo on April 29, 2025.

-Direct the interim airport manager to be MDOT licensed by the end of June 2025.

 In lieu of a Manager’s Report, Commissioner Gabe Ambrozaitis provided some clarity on the preceding sequence of events and the steps being taken to enable the funding to move forward.

“There was a contract signed by the Board chair in May 2022 for crack sealing: a 50/50 split between us and MDOT,” Ambrozaitis said. “That was completed in June of 2023. Unbeknownst to Gale Bensinger [then airport manager], the firm called Scodeller [Construction] did the work. They were super-efficient. They came in in one day, because we have a small runway, and they did it – he didn’t know.”

That crack sealing contract was signed just prior to the transition time when former administrator Tracy Byard departed [June 3, 2022], and Lori Phelps subsequently was appointed to fill that position.

“As the new administrator, Ms. Phelps was unaware of the contract,” he said. “So, we missed it – we knew they were going to do some crack sealing, but didn’t know they had already done it.”

Then, on Feb. 27, 2025, some 2 ½ years after-the-fact, MDOT sent an invoice for $8,471 – Clare County’s half of the contracted cost.

Ambrozaitis summed up the result as: “That, with the damage to the [airport’s] tractor when the back window blew out – we’re out of money. We’re upside down in the Airport Fund, and the county administrator made the difficult decision, in consultation with me and the Board chair, that we had to lay off Gale Bensinger.”

He was clear that such action was not something anyone wanted to do, but the problem would remain until the rents come in. In the meantime, the administrator has assigned the county’s maintenance department to take care of tractor maintenance, mowing and minor repairs at the airport.

Unfortunately, 80D is now deemed a Provisional Licensed airport because there is no licensed airport manager. It was made clear that MDOT will allow the administrator to act as the interim manager, with the caveat she become licensed by the end of June. Ambrozaitis explained that was why the three motions were approved, ensuring the airport is on solid footing moving forward.

“Also, they told us that because the grant was awarded when we were in a fully-licensed status with a fully-licensed airport manager, the grant stays,” he said. “So, we will still be in receipt of that grant.”

Ambrozaitis went on to describe some of the difficulty experienced with the state.

“Part of this is that we have been forgotten by MDOT,” he said. “In their 2017 aviation plan for the state, we’re only a mere mention in the appendix. So, we’ve been kind of forgotten. Since we’re not a NPIAS airport [National Plan for Integrated Airport Systems], we aren’t in the data base they use to take care of airports in the state. If you’re an AeroPM [project manager], it also means you have a consulting engineer like Mead and Hunt to help you. All of that happens when you’re federally funded, and since we’re not, we don’t have an AeroPM log-in for Clare County Airport. Nor do we have a consulting engineer to assist us with everything we need to do to maintain and take care of the airport.”

The agenda’s Old Business remained the same, to include: Turf Runway 9/27 leveling, fertilizing and seeding, scheduled for August 2025; Continue with the Community Economic Development Survey (CEDS) 5-year plan for the Eastern Michigan Council of Governments; and Continue to pursue development of a multi-unit agreement in progress with the City of Harrison, Hayes Township and Clare County.

Under New Business, a motion was passed to: Recommend approval to the Full Board of Commissioners to accept the FY25 MDOT grants for airport lighting and crack sealing totaling $254,806 for the Clare County Airport.

Ambrozaitis reiterated that this is a no-match grant, and is local taxpayers’ money coming back to their community. He said that once the BOC approves and accepts the grant, the county’s purchasing policy will need to be followed, i.e., seek bids from contractors, determine how the state pays the grant funds [as a lump sum or in phases as the project progresses]. He noted the state’s deadline for the project start had arrived, but the state was running behind. The project close-out date remains December 2025.

He said there had been no paperwork received other than the grant announcement, and he believed that is in part because 80D is not a NPIAS airport – which he said didn’t make sense because he also had not yet received anything at Clare Municipal Airport regarding its grant award either.

“There’s a disconnect there somewhere,” he said. Later in the meeting, Ambrozaitis noted having posted the upcoming Spring Fly-in/Dawn Patrol on the MDOT website, and because 80D is not recognized, it was deferred to Clare Municipal Airport 48D. “So, everything I put in there, the verbiage says ‘Harrison’ but they defaulted to Clare Municipal location, Clare Municipal address, and the map.”

Sadly, when Ambrozaitis called to point out the error, he was met with “Wait, there’s another airport in Clare?” He said the problem seems to be getting figured out.

Other discussion included the current budget shortfall of $3,432.21 which will remain until leases come due, and the airport breaks even at the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30. Also discussed were available avenues for tracking airport usage, which included FlightAware.com, Traffic Flow Management System Counts (TFMSC), and RunwayStats.com. Overall, there were coverage gaps noted, along with the high cost of using the systems.

“Flight tracking is going to be an issue for us to show how many planes are using our airport,” Ambrozaitis said, noting that difficulty is exacerbated by flights electronically tracked frequently defaulting to the Clare Municipal or Gladwin airports due to the previously noted MDOT reporting system. He added that the pilot log in the restaurant is not always accessible, and that it’s not the restaurant’s job to keep track of flights – and there’s no legal requirement for a pilot to sign the pilot register.

Discussion of business growth at the airport included the potentials to be realized by businesses which had previously expressed interest. It was stressed that such businesses investment is expensive and not likely to happen if the airport is not stable, predictable and funded, and rumors of possible closure persist.

“Why would they invest to upgrade their facilities and move their entire operation to the airport if the airport continues to go through these travails where we’re constantly fighting over $20,000?” Ambrozaitis said. “That business is not going to build a building; they’re not going to move. And I don’t blame them – I wouldn’t do it and neither would you.”

At that point, he restated the MDOT Economic Benefits Analysis finding that the airport currently brings a $1.1 million benefit to the local community. He emphasized that if businesses move onto the airport, that number would change upward.

Ambrozaitis noted that MDOT had been prepared to give a briefing on that analysis to the County Board April 2, but that the Committee of the Whole [which would have met that day] had been eliminated.

“So maybe we need to have a special meeting,” he said. “Because they’re ready to tell us: This is what you guys are missing; this is where you’re missing the boat in terms of economic development of your area. And I’d love to have MEDC at that meeting, and MMDC, EDA – I don’t care, give me an acronym, I’m there.

Of course, enthusiasm remains high about the upcoming Spring Fly-in/Dawn Patrol slated for 8-11 a.m. Saturday, May 17, and a details-planning meeting with the Harrison Area Pilots Association was scheduled for early April. A Fall Fly-in/Dawn Patrol is still tentatively scheduled for those same hours on Oct. 2.

The Clare County Airport Committee meets next at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 22 in the Board of Commissioners Room in the Clare County Building, 225 W. Main St. in Harrison.

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