It appears as if the terminal building at the North Central West Virginia Airport will be getting a fresh makeover relatively soon. At yesterday’s Benedum Airport Authority meeting, NCWV Airport Director Rick Rock said he hopes to do a makeover from painting the inside, to some new carpeted areas to the addition of faux ceramic tiles in some of the bathrooms.

 

“I think we can do this with all in-house labor,” Rock said.

 

Ruth Ann Davis of Interiors By Design showed members of the Authority – the Airport’s governing body – several color schemes planned for both the upstairs and downstairs of the terminal building. The members of the Authority offered no critique on the planned color scheme.

 

Authority President Ron Watson said that the change can take place if it’s determined feasible by Rock. He said that it would be left to “an administrative decision.” Rock said there was no price estimate for the materials at this time. No timetable for the potential work was also given.

 

While a new look may be arriving for the terminal building, the existing tower may be staying fully staffed. Although Rock said the airport still has not received any official notification regarding the status of the flight tower, he did say a conversation he had with Tracy Miller of the Mid-Atlantic Aerospace Complex (MAAC) who told him that she believed the airport’s tower “was safe.”

 

Rock said, right now, that’s all he has to go on.

 

“I guess no news is good news,” said Rock. “There are a lot of issues with closing any of the towers from lawsuits, to safety concerns, flight delays and everything else. Hearing that from Tracy certainly makes us feel better, but we’d love to have something official.”

 

The NCWV Tower was on an initial list of towers nationwide to be closed as the result of the government’s sequestration. A second list released by the FAA did not include the NCWV Tower. However, that list only included “contract towers,” which are towers where employees are independent contractors working for the FAA. The NCWV tower is manned by actual FAA employees – roughly two dozen of them.

 

As of now, Rock said, it will remain business as usual with the tower.

 

Also on Wednesday, bids were opened on for companies interested in leasing the former EASW Hangar space situated on the airport property. Two bids were opened, but no action was taken on either.

 

One of the bids was from Leading Edge, LLC that offered to lease the space for $2,500 per month. The proposal included using the space for flight training and flight schools; helicopter service to be provide to the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department and emergency services including homeland security issues and missing persons among others; hiring 10-full time employees with a plan aimed for 30 employees with full-time status by 2015 making $50,000 annually. Arthur J. Rockwell’s name was listed on the proposal. It had a Bridgeport address.

 

The second bid was from Applied (ACS). It offered three different options; the first of which would pay $2,800 per month, the second would provide $3,500 per month, while the third option had ACS doing a minimum of $100,000 of improvements to the facility in exchange for rent.

 

ACS would have three corporate airplanes at the facility under various scenarios spelled out in the multiple options – two corporate jets and a prop plane. There was also mention of up to five employees and a 12-month payment guarantee for each year of the lease’s duration. There are several other areas spelled out in the proposal as well.

 

The proposal was signed by David Alvarez, president ACS and Robert Waldron, Chief Pilot. The address for ACS was also a Bridgeport address.

 

As mentioned, no decision was made on the matter. Watson appointed a committee headed by Authority member Roger Diaz to review the proposals and will make a recommendation at a later date to the Airport Authority.

 

Click HERE to read about a Bridgeport restaurant closing that was part of yesterday's meeting as well.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Ruth Ann Davis going over color patterns for proposed terminal upgrades. Middle photo shows Airport Director Rick Rock discussing a multitude of topics, while the bottom photo shows Authority President Ron Watson addressing the gathering as fellow Authority member Butch Tenant looks on.