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Airport gets $1 M pledge (Pikeville) Appalachian News-Express

 

 

Article originally posted to the (Pikeville) Appalachian News-Express Web site http://news-expressky.com/

BY RUSS CASSADY

Editor

After months of waiting, the controversy over whether coal severance funding should be used to finance a commercial air service project at the Pikeville-Pike County Regional Airport ended Friday when it was announced that $1 million had been allocated to the project.

In a press conference at Pikeville City Hall on Friday, representatives of the groups working to establish commercial air service at the airport gathered to make the announcement, made official by a statement from Gov. Steve Beshear that the project would receive the funding.

Pikeville City Manager Donovan Blackburn, who has been an active participant in several events and announcements this week regarding new projects in the City of Pikeville, said during the press conference that the air service project is “extremely important” to the success of the region.

“The face of Pikeville is forever changing,” he said. The commitment of $1 million in multi-county coal severance funding, Blackburn said, brings the total that those working on establishing the service have to $1.75 million, which will be used to establish a revenue guarantee program for the carrier which commits to coming to Pike County.

And, with the commitment, the air service could be established fairly quickly, according to Luke Schmidt, the consultant hired by the Southeast Kentucky Chamber of  Commerce, City of Pikeville and Pikeville-Pike County Airport Board to work on establishing the service.

“We hope to have a commitment in hand by the end of the first quarter of next year,” Schmidt said.
According to Schmidt, he works in several communities throughout the state, but that this one sets itself apart. “This is clearly one of the most progressive cities in the state,” he said. And according to Chamber President Jared Arnett, this project is just one of many that is helping to change the  business climate in Eastern Kentucky, despite questions over the energy industry.

“It’s imperative that we step up … and create a climate conducive to new investment,” Arnett said.

A statement from Beshear’s office said the successful recruitment of an airline will “significantly enhance economic development efforts and the creation of new jobs not only in Pikeville and Pike County, but also in the surrounding 12 counties.”

The funding was almost not obtained earlier this year. After announcing that the funding was  possible and that the support of Floyd County’s fiscal court had been obtained, organizers ran into questions from the Pike County Fiscal Court over the viability of the project and whether the multi-county coal severance funding, which had been uncommitted, should be used for the project.
After weeks of debate and a public forum hosted by the Appalachian News- Express, the Pike Fiscal Court voted 5-2 to support the funding. The county’s support was required for the funding to be processed.

One of the “No” voters, Dist. 6 Magistrate Chris Harris compared the funding, which will guarantee revenue for an airline, to “corporate welfare.”

“Many of us here would like to see commercial air service in Pike County; that’s not the issue,” Harris said during a fiscal court meeting. “The issue is, ‘At what cost do we want to see commercial air service in Pike County?’ At a time when we are looking at a loss of jobs, declining tax revenue, a limited amount of funding, I don’t think Pike County, right now, I don’t think we can afford this kind of project.”

Both Blackburn and Schmidt spent time on Friday thanking Pike Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford and Floyd Judge-Executive R.D. “Doc” Marshall for their support. Blackburn said that a formal check presentation ceremony for the funding, which will include Beshear’s presence will be held at a later date.

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Sensible ruling on liquor sales Lexington Herald-Leader Editorial

 

Article originally posted to the Lexington Herald-Leader Web site http://www.kentucky.com/2012/08/24/2309254/sensible-ruling-on-liquor-sales.html#storylink=cpy

Published: August 24, 2012
Unfair to prohibit sale by grocers
You can fill a prescription at many grocery stores. You can pick up a gallon of milk at many pharmacies. You can buy a six-pack of beer at groceries and pharmacies.
But if it’s bourbon or a little of the bubbly you want, you’re good to go in many pharmacies but out of luck at most groceries. (A grocery can get a license to sell the hard stuff and wine if there is a separate entrance to that part of the store.)
This distinction between pharmacies and groceries when it comes to the sale of alcoholic beverages is unconstitutional, according to U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II. In a ruling issued last week, he said the Kentucky law barring liquor and wine sales at groceries and convenience stores violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Kentucky’s statute on this issue dates back to Prohibition days, when a prescription was need to buy alcoholic beverages. But Prohibition and the prescription requirement ended decades ago. Logically, the playing field should have been leveled then. But it wasn’t. As is so often the case, a statute outdated by changing times stayed on the books until someone (in this case, Maxwell’s Pic-Pac Inc. of Louisville and the Food and Wine Coalition) asked a court for a common sense application of the law.
And Heyburn’s ruling makes perfect sense. As he noted, the difference between modern groceries and pharmacies is minimal. So minimal that treating them differently on alcohol sales not only is unfair but is also totally illogical.
Heyburn’s ruling may well be appealed, which could delay its effect for months or years. However, there is a way to render any appeal of this decision moot.
Gov. Steve Beshear recently appointed a task force to study the state’s laws on alcoholic beverages. In a state with more than 70 different types of licenses for the sale of booze and wet, dry and “moist” conditions that can change voting precinct by voting precinct, the panel has much to study.
But one of the task force’s easiest calls should be a recommendation that the 2013 General Assembly repeal the archaic law that limits groceries and convenience stores to the sale of beer while allowing pharmacies to cater to all alcoholic beverage tastes. It’s the fair and sensible thing to do.

 

 

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County to tackle first reading on unification review commission The (Elizabethtown) News-Enterprise

 

By Marty Finley
Thursday, August 9, 2012 at 3:57 am (Updated: August 9, 3:48 pm)

Hardin Fiscal Court takes the fate of county unification into its hands starting Tuesday.

Hardin Judge-Executive Harry Berry said the first reading of an ordinance establishing a unification review commission tentatively is scheduled for Tuesday’s meeting of Hardin Fiscal Court at the H.B. Fife Courthouse in Elizabethtown. Approval of the commission would put in motion the mechanism to draft a charter for unified local government.

Hardin County United, the volunteer organization lobbying for the commission, appeared before Fiscal Court for a second time in June, but no formal action has been taken as magistrates gather information and hear from constituents.

HCU wants to present the charter to Hardin County voters by November 2014, and a plan only can be issued by the committee, a 20-to-40-member body appointed by participating governments. The appointment of the commission is not a vote in favor of unification, but creates a designated body to flesh out what unification would look like in Hardin County, HCU officials said.

Under state law, the county and at least one city must partner to form a unified government.

Ken Howard, chairman of the HCU governance subcommittee, said Wednesday he has been pleasantly surprised by responses he has heard. HCU officials installed an online mechanism allowing residents to send their opinions directly to local officials, and Howard estimated more than 200 individuals have sent responses in support of the commission to county officials.

The biggest hurdle, Howard said, is educating residents the commission’s purpose. Once learning the commission would give them a chance to vote on unification, support was generated for the endeavor, he said.

But input from county magistrates contacted by The News-Enterprise was mixed.

Magistrate Doug Goodman, whose district represents parts of northern Hardin County, said he has received negative feedback about unification from hundreds compared to small pockets of support.

“It’s just not a good feeling in the north end of the county right now regarding unification,” he said.

Goodman said he is unsure how he will cast his vote for the commission, but he said he fears Radcliff and northern Hardin County may get the “short end of the stick” if a unified government materializes. The county already has attempted a commissioner form of government, which he declared a “flop,” and he said unified government likely would leave parts of the county without proper representation.

Even now, he said, the northern part of the county has failed to secure its rightful share, including state funding for infrastructure improvements tied to the Base Realignment and Closure initiative and a county recycling trailer lobbied for by Goodman, Magistrate Roy Easter and Radcliff City Council.

“We got all this BRAC money and we got pennies in Radcliff,” he said. “We’re sitting right on top of Fort Knox.”

Radcliff Mayor J.J. Duvall has said he will release details today on a public unification forum hosted by the city later this month. Radcliff has been the most openly critical of unification since HCU introduced the plan, and the council approved a formal resolution last year opting out of any future unification plans or discussions.

Magistrate Fred Clem declined to comment on his decision or views about the commission in advance of the first reading, but he said the input he has received from constituents has been decidedly mixed with a larger percentage speaking negatively about unification during face-to-face conversations.

Magistrate Lisa Williams, on the other hand, said she has received an overwhelming share of supportive responses regarding unification, particularly from business owners, Hardin County Chamber of Commerce members and other economically minded people.

“I have been swamped with responses,” she said.

Williams expressed excitement for the possible benefits of unification, including an expanded profile as one of the largest cities in the state.

“Anything that creates jobs, I’m in favor of,” she said.

Williams also believes county officials should make the “progressive” choice of forming the commission and allowing voters to have the final say on unification.

“I think it’s our duty to at least move to the next phase and draft a document,” she said.

Magistrate Garry King said he was “noncommittal” about the creation of the commission but said most of the constituents who have contacted him by email or spoken to him in person have been critical of the idea. He said Tuesday should be interesting.

“I really don’t know right now how it’s going to go,” he said of the vote. “It’s going to surprise me. I think it could be close.”

The initial push for unification by HCU was delayed when officials found a flaw in state legislation that could entrap cities within a unified government even if they voted against it.

With the aid of state legislators representing Hardin County, HCU successfully lobbied to change state law governing unification to ensure cities would have a right to opt out of a unified government if the majority of their residents rejected the charter at the polls. The law also has improved in that it has created a voting bloc for rural Hardin County, Howard said, meaning unification must receive majority support in unincorporated Hardin County to pass.

Howard said he is not concerned about Fiscal Court’s vote.

“I trust our elected representatives to make an informed decision that works best for everybody,” he said.

Marty Finley can be reached at (270) 505-1762 or mfinley@thenewsenterprise.com

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PCFC to use coal severance to attract air service Williamson (WV) Daily News

Article originally posted to the Williamson Daily News Web site: http://www.williamsondailynews.com/view/full_story/19712368/article-PCFC-to-use-coal-severance-to-attract-air-service?

Pike_Fiscal_Court_backs_use_of_coal_severance_funds_to_develop_airport0_1344367671

JULIA ROBERTS GOAD

Staff Writer

PIKEVILLE, Ky. — In a heavily debated decision, the Pike County Fiscal Court agreed to support request a to use multi-county coal severance funds to fund efforts to bring commercial air service to the Pikeville/Pike County Airport.

In a courtroom filled to near capacity with people involved in the debate, the Court approved the resolution 5 – 2. Judge Executive Wayne T. Rutherford reversed his previous position and voted to throw his support behind the request currently pending before the Kentucky Department of Local Government of an appropriation of $1 million from the multi-county coal severance tax fund to the City of Pikeville, to be used to support the initial profitability and long-term sustainability of an airline.

The money is part of a proposed revenue guarantee package that would be used to recruit a major airline to service the airport (whose code letters are PBX). That package has been a point of contention at Fiscal Court. The Floyd County Fiscal Court has already passed a resolution supporting the use of the tax money to attract an airline to PBX.

The concept is that some money is set aside in as the revenue guarantee fund.

An airline doing business in the county would set a financial goal for each month. If the company falls short, money from the revenue guarantee package would be used to bring the amount of money the airline makes up to the monthly goal. The money would be given to the airline on a monthly basis so the company would not incur financial losses during the first two years of operation.

The Airport Authority has already secured a $650,000 grant from the Department of Transportation which would be part of the $2.5 million package, along with money from counties in West Virginia and Virginia that would be serviced by the airline, and funds from a travel bank.

Luke Schmidt of L.B. Schmidt and Associates, a consulting company, hired by the City of Pikeville and the Eastern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce to study bringing commercial air service to Pike County, gave a snapshot of the project so far, calling the project He said commercial air service is vital to supporting existing businesses as well as recruiting new ones to Pike County.

Two court members, District One Magistrate Jeff Anderson and District Six Magistrate Chris Harris, were the only “no” votes when the court voted to support the request.

“Until now, in the public eye, but it has been a one-sided conversation in favor of the project,” Magistrate Harris said.”That is due, in large part to a publicity campaign by the Chamber of Commerce, the newspaper … you have done a good job at getting the word out for your side of the story. But there is the rest of the story.”

“My opinion of what we are looking at is corporate welfare,” Harris said. “We are making sure that airlines will make a profit.”

He added that, if PBX has such potential for profit, he did not understand why the Airport Authority was having to work so hard to bring their service to PBX.

“I am surprised that only two airlines are interested if we are guaranteeing these folks that they’re going to make money,” Harris said.

“You can characterize it as corporate welfare, but I think it is a job creator,” Luke Schmidt said. “The money is there, communities apply for it every year, if the money is available, doesn’t it make sense to try to get your fair share it?”

“No,” Magistrate Harris said. “I don’t subscribe to that theory, that there is this money out there, and we need to waste it before somebody else does. That’s a different philosophy maybe than a lot of other politicians have, I don’t think just because the money is there that we need to go waste that money. I think we, as elected officials, have a duty to the public to protect their tax dollars, to only use their tax dollars on projects that have a good likelihood of success.”

Harris said that with the bleak financial outlook the county is facing caused by the decrease in coal severance funds, he felt government should be spending less money, not investing in the airport project.

“The coal industry is cutting back,” he said. “The airlines are cutting back because less people are flying. Our population in this area is declining. Those are facts.”

He said he thought the project was trying to attract airlines “by throwing tax dollars at them.”.

“We’re saying, ‘Here, look at all this money you can have if you come here and operate,’” Harris said. “If our area was a good candidate for commercial air service, it wouldn’t be much of a sale. I’m not convinced that this project will continue after the subsidy ends.”

Harris said people in his district do not see the project as a benefit to the county.

District One Magistrate said that while he appreciates that the Airport Authority is operating in a more transparent and communicative manner, he still does not think the commercial air service is a viable project for Pike County.

“We want the area to progress,” Anderson said. “But we have had layoffs, it’s like the industry has taken a tremendous gut-punch. We need to manage our money efficiently and effectively. Will it succeed? I don’t think so, I hope I’m wrong.”

Judge Executive Wayne T. Rutherford has had a position that the Fiscal Court was left out of much of the latest airport business by the City of Pikeville and the Airport Authority. He has publicly opposed the use of multi-county money to support the revenue guarantee, but changed his position – with reservations.

“No one worked harder to build this airport than I did,” Rutherford said. “The city needs to sit down with us, and not go off on your own with projects we have worked on. I have had serious doubts, but we are a progressive community and we need to stay that way. I am willing to take a chance, we need to move on.”

Read more: The Williamson Daily News – PCFC to use coal severance to attract air service

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Pike leaders to address air service: Community input sought Medical Leader

Article originally posted to the Medical Leader’s Web site: http://medicalleader.org/pmc_news.html?id=3913&section=Community%20News
By: Mary Meadows – mary.meadows@pikevillehospital.org, Staff Writer
Published: 08/03/2012
PIKEVILLE — Local leaders who have been working to obtain commercial air service in Pike County encourage the public to help them meet their goal.Those leaders, Luke Schmidt, a consultant working to bring the commercial air service to the county, and representatives of the city of Pikeville, the airport board and the Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, are asking local residents to voice their support for commercial air service by contacting members of the Pike County Fiscal Court and/or Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford’s office.On Tuesday, Aug. 7, the fiscal court is expected to vote on a resolution that approves the city’s use of $1 million in multi-county coal severance funding for the project.

Multi-county coal severance funding must be approved in the county that would host the proposed project and by another neighboring county that would benefit.

The Floyd County Fiscal Court has already approved the resolution, but commercial air service project leaders have found resistance from the Pike County Fiscal Court.

Floyd County Judge-Executive R.D. “Doc” Marshall feels it would be a good investment to use multi-county coal severance funds to bring commercial air service to the region.

“The benefits of corporate people to be able to locate into our area — be it businesses, small factories, restaurant chains, anything that has a group [that travels via plane] — for them to be able to come to a nearby adjacent county, which is our next door neighbor, Pike County, would benefit Floyd County, for sure,” Marshall said.

The U.S. 23 sewage project that is currently underway will open up Floyd County to new businesses, Marshall explained, and those business leaders will need an efficient means of travel.

During a July 17 meeting, the Pike County Fiscal Court took no action on the proposal, and Magistrate Chris Harris, who did not attend the meeting, voiced his opposition, via letter, to using “local tax dollars to subsidize commercial air service.”

Schmidt compared the proposal to the ways county, city and state governments authorize tax incentives for new industries.

“Anytime an airline starts a new route or expands into a new market, particularly a smaller market like Pikeville, they want to be assured that they are not going to be losing money left and right,” he said. “This is similar to recruiting new industry into a community. Many local governments approve tax incentives for that company, and it’s all designed to help that industry get off to a good start.”

Coal severance funding would ensure the airline that its revenue targets will be met during its first two years of operation in Pikeville. If its revenue goal is, for example, $2 per month and it makes only $1, then coal severance funding would help the company to make up the shortfall.

Schmidt, on behalf of the chamber, city and airport board, issued a press release on Aug. 1 encouraging public support in the matter. He reported that 121,000 passengers fly out of the region from other airports each year.

“When it comes to establishing airline service, it’s all about connectivity — the ability to connect PBX [the airport] literally with the world and the global economy,” he said in the press release. “The proposed service that we are working on will do just that — connect Pike County with the global economy.”

NOVA Pharmacy owner Joel Thornbury noted a local commercial air service would save his pharmacy between $5,000 and $10,000 annually. Appalachian Wireless Marketing Director Danny VanHoose also favors the resolution.

“Think about what this will mean when a community wants to recruit a new business or industry to the region and the CEO of the prospect company can fly commercially right to the heart of the Central Appalachian Region,” he said in the press release. “Simply put, it means new jobs.”

A local commercial airline will also help Pikeville Medical Center, President/CEO Walter E. May said. He has asked Rutherford and county magistrates to pass the resolution.

“Pikeville Medical Center spends thousands of dollars each year on commercial air travel,” he said. “In addition, the hospital spends thousands of dollars each year chartering aircraft in order to meet our mission of serving the region and our patients. Having this service in town will help our medical staff as they travel in and out of the community. This service will also help us recruit new physicians to the community.”

Commercial air service proponents are not seeking funding from the county; only the permission to use multi-county coal severance funding.

Schmidt reported that two commercial airlines have expressed interest in providing service at the Pikeville-Pike County Airport. If made available, the service would benefit residents of 13 counties in eastern Kentucky, southwestern Virginia and southwestern West Virginia.

The city’s multi-county coal severance funding request is one of 29 multi-county coal severance funding applications that are being considered by state officials, and it’s the only application that is currently incomplete, Schmidt reported. He isn’t sure whether the resistance of Pike County leaders will affect the decision of state leaders who distribute the funds.

“Hopefully, this issue will be resolved next Tuesday,” Schmidt said. “I would hate to see us lose this funding.”

If the court approves the resolution, notification of multi-coal severance funding grants should take approximately one month, Schmidt reported. He will then provide a community incentives package to encourage the two airlines to offer commercial services in Pikeville.

Schmidt encourages local residents to get involved.

“Anyone interested in commercial air service should pick up the phone and call their magistrate or the judge and share their support and encourage the members of the fiscal court to vote yes on the resolution,” he said.

 

 

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Central Kentucky County, City to Decide if Merger Talks Continue WKYU (Western KY Univ. NPR station)

Leaders in Hardin County and Elizabethtown will decide in coming weeks whether to pursue merger talks. Ordinances establishing a unification review commission must pass Hardin County Fiscal Court and the Elizabethtown City Council.

“By law, the minimum legal requirement is that we have approval to form the commission by the county court and the largest city in the county, which in this case, would be Elizabethtown, says consultant Luke Schmidt.

If approved by those two bodies, ordinances would eventually go before each of the five remaining incorporated cities in Hardin county, which include Radcliff, Sonora, Upton, Vine Grove, and West Point.

Voters will ultimately decide if city and county governments merge when the question is put on the 2014 ballot.  In the meantime, the unification review commission will develop a plan for merged government that will deal with issues such as tax rates and the makeup of a metro council.  The commission will consist of 20 to 40 citizens appointed by the participating governments.

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Transparency is not ‘nitpicking’ (Pikeville) Appalachian News-Express

Article originally posted to the (Pikeville) Appalachian News-Express on July 20, 2012 http://news-expressky.com/

By Monica Kern
Transparency is not ‘nitpicking’

Pike County has witnessed two political controversies in the past couple of weeks: The spat between County Judge-Executive Wayne Rutherford and the ANE over

Rutherford’s efforts to establish a natural gas filling station using coal severance tax funds, and the decision of the Pike County Fiscal Court to refrain from voting on a proposal to support an application for $1 million in severance tax funds to attract commercial air service to Pike County Airport

Examination of these controversies reveals common themes that are illuminating. First, Rutherford is neck-deep in both of the controversies. That’s not necessarily  roblematic, as he rightly should be involved in the county’s decisionmaking regarding fiscal priorities given his position as judge-executive. What is less admirable,  However, is that both controversies demonstrate a noticeable unwillingness on the part of Rutherford and other Pike officials to engage in transparent decision-making.
This lack of transparency is particularly evident in the case of the natural gas filling station, where Rutherford at first seemed to suggest that a company led by his cousin, T. Edwin Coleman, would be a partner in the effort but later appeared to deny such a connection. But there’s a similar lack of clarity with respect to the airport case, as it’s not at all clear whyattracting commercial air service would be deemed an important priority four years ago but not worthy of consideration today.

What both controversies make painfully apparent is that Pike County deserves a more open and objective process for deciding how to use coal severance tax funds. To

the ordinary citizen, the current system comes across as far too arbitrary, far too secretive, and far too driven by secondary aims such as rewarding friends and relatives of those in power rather than advancing the public interest.
It’s possible that I’m wrong about that. It could be that the coal severance tax funds are being allocated in the best possible manner for the county. The problem is that the people of Pike County simply don’t know if that’s the case because we’re not given the data that would allow such a determination.

In an ideal world, an open call for proposals for severance tax funds would be issued, and a summary describing the proposals along with a detailed specification of  robable

economic impact, who would benefit, and the number of new jobs created would be circulated. The public could then judge for themselves the merit of the funding  decisions actually made.

This doesn’t happen, obviously. Too often the relevant decisions are made behind the scenes, and elected officials are subsequently not willing to answer questions about

how these decisions were made, as we saw last week when Rutherford refused to answer a reporter’s queries about the natural gas filling station project and instead accused the ANE of “nitpicking.”

With all due respect, asking to be informed about how and why millions of dollars — funds that are supposed to be allocated for improving the economic stability of Pike

County — are distributed in a particular manner is not “nitpicking.” It’s political accountability, and it’s a basic right of any democracy.

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Public shows support for Pike airport The Williamson (WV) Daily News

Public_shows_support_for_Pike_airport0_1342583580Staff photo/JULIA R GOAD Business leaders and elected representatives supported the airport Monday night at the East Kentucky Expo Center. L-R Rep. W. Keith Hall, Sen. Ray Jones, Jared Arnett with the East Ky. Chamber of Commerce, Pikeville City Manger Donovan Blackburn, Rep. Leslie Combs, Luke Schmidt and Bill Hickman, Airport Authority Chairman.

Julia Roberts Goad

Staff Writer

PIKEVILLE, Ky. — Members of the community, business leaders and elected representatives met at a forum at the East Kentucky Expo Center to discuss plans for the Pike County Airport.

Those who spoke included Sen. Ray Jones, Reps. Leslie Combs and W. Keith Hall and Bill Hickman, Chairman of the Airport Authority.

Luke Schmidt of L.B. Schmidt and Associates, a consulting company, addressed forum to outline the project. L.B. Schmidt was hired by the City of Pikeville and the Eastern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce to study bringing commercial air service to Pike County.

“There have been many twists and turns along the way,” Schmidt said. “But there clearly is a market for scheduled air service here. It would service 13 counties, in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia.”

Schmidt said there were two goals needed to provide that service. The first is to recruit a regional airline that is linked to a major airline, and secondly to connect service in Pike County to a major hub such as Charlotte, N.C. or Atlanta.

Schmidt told the Court the best tool for recruiting an airline to Pike County would be a revenue guarantee package.

The concept is that some money is set aside in as the revenue guarantee fund.

An airline doing business in the county would set a financial goal for each month. If the company falls short, money from the revenue guarantee package would be used to bring the amount of money the airline makes up to the monthly goal. The money would be given to the airline on a monthly basis so the company would not incur financial losses during the first two years of operation.

Schmidt said the Airport Authority is in negotiations with two well known airlines, who decline to be named due to confidentiality agreements.

At Monday evening’s forum in Pikeville, those present showed overwhelming support for a regional airport.

Jared Arnett, Vice President of Operations at the East Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, said transportation is key to business.

“We started this because our members identified the lack of air service as a barrier to growth or recruiting businesses,” Arnett said. “A hundred years ago, the C&O Railroad came to Pikeville, and we have the Mountain Parkway, which opened us up to external markets in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Tennessee. But now things have changed, we need to appeal to a global economy.”

He said the region is losing business to other markets.

“We have the infrastructure, the industrial parks,” he said. “But we have no commercial air service, and without it, businesses will not come.”

Donovan Blackburn, Pikeville City Manager, said that according to studies done there are enough passengers to support the airport.

“In the counties we would serve in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia, there are 333 flying each day,” Blackburn said. “That’s 17 flights a day, the opportunity is here.”

Members of the community spoke at the forum about the difficulties of both personal and business travel.

Joel Thornbury owns a chain of pharmacies in the area and travels frequently for business.

“I spend about $15,000 or $20,000 a year in hotels and fees because I have to go to other airports,” Thornbury said. “That is money lost to our community. How many hotel stays are lost because we don’t have an airport?”

Danny Vanhoose with Appalachian Wireless said other companies’ executives have to drive from other airports, and it is an inconvenience.

“It’s a disconnect,” he said. “It’s like our representatives don’t understand what business needs.”

Rep. W. Keith Hall shared the frustration of doing business without commercial air service.

“I have been working with an Indian company,” Hall said. “We signed a 25-year contract with them, and I had to apologize to them for having to drive from Lexington. It is a deterrent to progress. This is a win-win for Pike County. We need to have vision, without vision, we perish.”

Dr. Samuel King is a Pike County native, a graduate of Belfry High School, Pikeville College and the UK School of Medicine, he has practiced in Pikeville for 29 years.

“The people we have here are visionaries,” he said, speaking to the panel at the forum. “We need to make things better. Apathy is an attitude, not an action. We need to continue to have vision, we need to be pro-active.

Read more: The Williamson Daily News – Public shows support for Pike airport

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Stalled? Pike Fiscal Court balks… (Pikeville) Appalachian News-Express

Article originally posted to the (Pikeville) Appalachian News-Express Web site http://news-expressky.com/

By Chris Anderson
News Editor

A consultant hired to help attract commercial air service to the Pikeville-Pike County Airport said thisweek that the prospects for attracting a commercial carrier to the county may take a nose dive following recent fiscal court inaction.  At a special meeting of the Pike County Fiscal Court on Monday, county officials failed to pass a resolution supporting the efforts of several agencies to attract commercial air service to the Pikeville-Pike County Airport. The court also expressed strong opposition to a request for the county’s support in using $1 million in multi-county coal severancetax money as part ofthe efforts to attract commercial service.

During Monday’s special meeting, Pike County Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford told air service consultant Luke Schmidt several times that he and the other fiscal court members support the efforts of the City of Pikeville, the Pikeville-Pike County Airport Board and the Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce to attract a commercial air carrier to the Pikeville-Pike County Airport.  Although the court members expressed support for having commercial air service at the airport, they failed to make a motion to pass a resolution which would have pledged support for the plan.

According to the proposed resolution, the court, had they approved the resolution, would be in support of commercial air service at the airport and the efforts to secure the service. The proposed resolution, which received no motion for approval from the court members, made no mention of supporting the use of multi-county coal severance funds in the effort, which Schmidt said was vital to the plan’s success.

The lack of an approval of the resolution came after a question by the News- Express last week  regarding the multi-county coal severance funds, which was answered by Rutherford spokesperson Brandon Roberts, who said a resolution would be presented and likely approved by the court. With the court’s lack of support for the plan and unwillingness to sign off on the multi-county coal  severance use, money already secured through a federal grant may be in jeopardy, Schmidt said.

“If we’re not successful in raising this money through the coal severance tax, not only will you not get a carrier, but then we’ll have to return that grant to the federal government. Some other airport would get to use it,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said grant funds secured by the City of Pikeville through a federal aviation grant — whichtotaled $750,000 — were planned to be matched bymulti-county coal severance funds. The plan was outlined in the City of Pikeville’sapplication for the grant funds, Schmidt said.

Schmidt said during the meeting that the Floyd County Fiscal Court had already passed a resolution in support of using the multi-county funds and told the News-Express in a recent interview that another county’s court would likely express support for the same sometime this week. Members of the Pike Fiscal Court, however, said the money could be used better elsewhere and the matching funds for the plan should come from the Pikeville- Pike County Airport Board, which Rutherford said possesses a bank account with a balance of more $6 million.

Dist. 3 Pike Magistrate Leo Murphy said the multicounty coal severance funds should not be considered for the plan. “If we’re going to use it, I’d rather see it come out of that $6 million that’s there already because we have so many things in Pike County that we need right now and we’re going to have a lot more needs in the future for our tax money,” Murphy said, adding that an area of his district — referring to the Ridgeline Road area — has no water service and water is having to be transported to the area. “I think we got a whole lot more needs for severance money than what that’s for.”

According to discussion at the meeting, however, the airport board’s bank account may be off limits. Rutherford said airport board officials received a letter from the federal government stating that the funds must stay in possession of the airport board. Schmidt repeated a similar explanation several times when questioned by the court as to why the airport board’s money was not being considered. Dist. 5 Magistrate Hilman Dotson said he did not understand the money situation in regard to the plan and the airport board’s involvement. He said he also believes the multi-county coal severance money could be used better elsewhere.

“We don’t have any control over the airport board and how they do their affairs or what they used their money for,” he said. “I would much rather see this coal severance money used for  the promotion of tourism in Pike County. We’re talking about jobs, economic development. You know, that would get our jobs going if we have some money to promote our trail system, our tourism and get things going in Pike County.”

Dotson said he is for anything that could be done to get commercial air service in Pike County, but did not understand the reasoning for why the resolution was needed.

Rutherford’s main point of contention, however, seemed to revolve around the timeframe on which the county was approached for support. At the beginning of Schmidt’s address to the court, Rutherford detailed the efforts by the county to establish the airport after plans for an airport at Marions Branch, now a part of the City of Pikeville, fell through. Rutherford said the county paid to have a study performed which ultimately resulted in the establishment of the current airport.

Rutherford stated several times during the meeting  that the City of Pikeville hadnothing to do with the establishment of the airport and now, he is “disappointed” that the county has allegedly been left of the planning and efforts to attract a commercial carrier to the airport. “Along the way, this body got left out,” Rutherford said. “Seems that, for some reason unknown to me, they (the fiscal court)  were never mentioned. We kept reading the paper, and news releases would go out that we were going to have a commercial airline service and that the  city had filed for some $800,000 and then the announcement came out.”

Rutherford took several shots at the City of Pikeville during the meeting, including its annexation of the airport into the city limits, an issue for which Rutherford said Schmidt is not responsible. “You can’t help all these other issues,” he said. “You couldn’t help it when the city, without even coming and talking to us, run a 10-foot corridor up a hollow, took the airport into the city without even coming down here and consulting us. I mean, you know, come on now, we build the airport, we get it up and running, the city comes in and runs a utility corridor, takes it in. Them side issues, you can’t handle.”

Rutherford also referenced the county’s alleged lack of inclusion in the commercial air process process when Schmidt said he was not requesting money from the Pike County government, but was instead requesting only a pledge of support for the use of multicounty severance tax funds.

That statement was not well received by Rutherford, who said multi-county coal severance funds are Pike County dollars and that Pike County pays 32 percent of the state’s coal severance tax dollars. “That’s for economic development and that’s for jobs and that money is for infrastructure and I would agree this comes under that,” Rutherford said. “But this application, we were not asked to be a party to this application, I’m talking about this body (the fiscal court). Nobody talked to us about it. Nobody advised (the fiscal court) about it.

“We … was very surprised when you walked in and then said, ‘Now we want to get $1 million  through you all.’ That is Pike County (money). That’s mined by people in Pike County — coal miners that’s gone under these hills and mined that coal,” Rutherford said.

Later in the meeting, Rutherford blasted Schmidt for requesting money for the project. “I’m disappointed — I’m sure that the rest of the people are, sitting here at this body — that we’ve been left out of the process and then brought back in it when you needed money,” Rutherford said to Schmidt.

Others took issue with the timeframe of county’s involvement, as well. Dist. 1 Pike Magistrate Jeff Anderson, in whose district the Pikeville-Pike County Airport lies, said the county was being brought in on the “butt end” of the plan. Anderson added that he does not believe commercial air service will be successful in Pike County. Anderson also took issue with Schmidt telling the court he could not name the two airlines which have expressed interest in serving the Pikeville-Pike County Airport.
Schmidt said the process of attracting the airlines would be very “transparent” the county supports the use of coal severance funds, but Anderson said transparency is lacking in the plan. “If you’re going to write a check for $1 million, I think we all need to know who the payee is going to be,” Anderson said, adding that Schmidt not being able to name the airlines is not very transparent. “I know your remarks were sincere, but I’m like the judge, we weren’t included initially.”
Anderson said he understands some people know names of carriers, and Schmidt confirmed such. Schmidt said the City of Pikeville, the chamber of commerce and the airport board know who which airlines are interested. “I don’t know why … this court needs to be kept in the dark if we’re going to be asked to vote to commit $1 million of multi-county money,” Anderson said.
Dist. 6 Magistrate Chris Harris also criticized the plan, saying the current proposed plan puts  taxpayers of the hook if the service is not successful. Harris said he met with Schmidt at the request of former Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President Brad Hall. Harris said he is not if favor of the plan. “My opposition to this proposal doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not the city asked us to be a part of the grant application or not. It just has to do with the fact that I just don’t think it’s a very smart use of tax dollars,” Harris said, adding that he would only support the  plan if it called for the airline to be self-supporting.

“If we supplement their income now to get them  going, then in another year or two years, we’re going to be supplementing their  income again. So if it’s a good idea, and the airport board wants to put their money into it then I say that’s what they should do. I can’t say that I support it because I don’t think that it’s a good use of taxpayer dollars.”

Schmidt said model for the plan allows all parties to the plan to have input into the contract in order to get everything they want up front. Schmidt said the revenue guarantee for the plan would only be used if airline reports monthly shortfall on its revenue target. Money would then be used to make up shortfall, he said. “It would not be a blanket subsidy. We’re not in favor of that,” he said. “We want to get this carrier in here; we want to get them to a sustainable position as quickly as possible.”

Appalachian News-Express • Wednesday, June 27, 2012 • Page 11A