Airport Restoration Contracts Starting Next Week

The Paulding County Airport Authority is turning the corner this month with its operations to clean up and restore the airport facility .

The monthly PCAA and Industrial Building Authority meetings continue to be held at the Watson Government Complex in Dallas while repairs continue at the site; the entities met Wednesday morning.

Repairs to the airport terminal’s roof, windows and water damage and also repairs to fences on the site will begin next week, according to Blake Swafford, director of the Paulding Northwest Atlanta Airport. Those restorations are expected to take until June and additional construction to restore private hangars crushed by the storm will take longer.

IBA members during their meeting voted to approve several of the construction contracts slated to start next week at the airport site, including Dallas Metal Products to replace the terminal building roof and Fox Fence to repair or replace fencing.

Swafford also told officials that Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) officials have told him that the site involved in the collapse of the commercial hangar and injured another earlier this year could be cleared of the metal and other material. OSHA officials asked that the material be secured and remain available for some finite period—probably about six months, Swafford said—for future inspection. OSHA’s official findings could still be several months away.

Officials Wednesday also learned that the new film production studio in Hiram has a 12-week commitment for a feature film project. Preparations begin soon and actual filming will begin at the site in June, Swafford said, and added that an announcement and more details regarding the project could be released as early as next week. 

Jeremy Hariton, spokesperson for Roadtown Enterprises, told IBA members last month that additional promotional efforts for the new facility through social media are underway, and that a website being constructed is intended to include online 3D tours of the facility.

Officials: Future looks good for airport’s new hangars, October air show

Lynda Jo Norred, a spokesperson for Paulding Jet Center, reported that total fuel sales increased 9 percent from last month. Following the storm, PJC is currently left with two tie-downs. Hangars lost in the storm are expected to be replaced by July. Along with most of hangars, 17 aircraft were lost in the March storm.

But PJC General Manager Jeff Beale told the board last month that a waiting list still exists for hangar spaces, which could help to fill the void going forward when the new hangars are completed this summer.

The PCAA members voted last month to help offset downtime of its operations during the rebuild. Fuel flowage fees are a 16-cent tax tacked onto the per-gallon gas price.

Air show committee member David Carmichael, who is point man for the October air show, said that plans for the show are on schedule and that 14 performers are currently lined up.

And, according to Spectrum Media CEO Darren Callahan, a spokesperson for the show, a website devoted to the air show is slated to be up and running later this week.

In other business, Rob Stephenson with Prime Contracting Inc. addressed board members regarding an alternative construction contract award method in association with the National Joint Powers Alliance, a public agency, member-driven service cooperative. NJPA offers a multitude of contracted products, equipment and service opportunities to education, government and other non-profit entities. Stephenson said that the normal bidding process could be considerably shortened by establishing a business and service alliance between member buyers and contracted suppliers. Swafford said that a resolution would be presented at next month’s meeting regarding a future relationship with Prime Contractors Inc.

And IBA members during their meeting approved lease agreements for Everything Wireless LLC, a vendor involved with the Hiram studio, and a lease agreement for the studio facility.