Although there were people milling around in the conference room inside the terminal building of the North Central West Virginia Airport, there were not enough of them to do what was anticipated to be done. Because of that, Wednesday’s Benedum Airport Authority meeting was postponed.

 

The lack of participants, or rather those sitting on the Authority needing to make a quorum, had nothing to do with COVID-19. Rather, several members were out of town, which led to the postponement.

 

The Authority, which serves as the governing body of the NCWV Airport, will now meet Jan. 27. The meeting, once again in the terminal building, will be held at 2 p.m.

 

While the option to cancel the meeting was available, NCWV Airport Director Rick Rock said there was one key matter of business that takes place at the first January meeting every two years that needed to be addressed. And that will be handled as one of the first orders of business next week.

 

“Every two years we have elections for president, vice president, secretary and treasurer,” said Rock. “It is important to handle that as one of our first orders of business.”

 

Currently, David Hinkle of the Harrison County Commission is the president after taking over last year from long-time president and outgoing member Ron Watson. Marion County Commissioner Ernie VanGilder is the current vice president. Dean Ramsey is the secretary, while Rock serves as the treasurer.

 

“We’ll go through the election process and see how people vote,” said Rock.

 

In recent years, the positions have been status quo. Hinkle took over from Watson – who assumed a regular seat on the Authority – in the middle of last year, which was not part of the election. Hinkle, who could very well serve as president again, was nearly not on the Authority. Initially, his appointment was dropped by the other members of the Harrison County Commission, but that has since changed.

 

Next week’s meeting will also see two new members sworn in as members of the Authority – one representing Harrison and Marion County. The counties jointly own the airport.

 

Former member Mike Romano, who is a West Virginia Senator, will replace Watson on the Harrison County side of things. Marion County Commission Randy Elliott, said Rock, will be sworn in as the replacement for long-time member Robert “Buck” Thompson.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows NCWV Airport Director Rick Rock announcing the postponement of the meeting, while Authority President David Hinkle is shown below. Photos by Ben Queen of Ben Queen Photography.