City Commission given $1.8 million grant for airport resurfacing

The Mount Pleasant City Commission received a grant of $1.8 million from the State of Michigan for a runway rehabilitation project at the Mount Pleasant Regional Airport. Commissioner’s approved different contracts for the project in the meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 13. This project will completely resurface the airport runway City Manager Aaron Desentz said, the new runway should last at least 10 years.

“A lot of great work from our staff, as well as our airport joint operations and management board, to bring down that grant,” Desentz said.  

Desentz said Bill Brickner, Mount Pleasant airport manager, is someone who worked very hard to bring the grant to Mount Pleasant.  

“This started as a lobbying effort for both state and federal representatives, and they kind of led into this program,” Desentz said.  

The runway needed to be redone one way or another. While the entire airport does not need to be redone at this moment, the runway specifically needed to be fixed in a timely matter, Desentz said.

The options for funding the resurfacing without the grant would cost taxpayers. One of those options would have been funding through the city, meaning the city would have to find the money somewhere in the budget.  

“If you follow the federal standards that they wanted to put us through, that would have been something closer to $10 million,” said Desentz about the other option they could have followed. “At the end of the day, this is money. This is a big windfall for the people in the area. We don’t have to come up with the tax dollars.” 

City commission also approved the contract with Mead and Hunt, an architechtural and construction services firm, for $99,928 for the engineering and project management of the resurfacing project. The city has worked with Mead and Hunt for many years now.

•Mount Pleasant now recognizes Oct. 12 as Indigenous people’s day. To recognize this a group of Blue House singers preformed an honor song before the proclamation was made. 

•Commissioners discussed the need to update the noise ordinance in Mount Pleasant after multiple complaints from citizens about the nightclub at Wayside Central. Discussion will continue on if quiet hours from 12-7 a.m. should be added to the noise ordinance.

•Discussion continued about brining free menstrual products to Mount Pleasant city bathrooms. Director of Community Services Philip Biscorner provided commissioners with estimated cost for the initiative. Commissioners voted to have a policy be drafted and put on the agenda next meeting on Monday, Oct. 26.