City OKs airport hangar repair

The City of Pittsburg is in the middle of a drought. But tell that to the hangar at Atkinson Municipal Airport.

When the only major storm in the last month snuck up on the north side of Pittsburg on July 7, it caused powerful winds that damaged one hangar at the airport. Pittsburg Public Works Director Bill Beasley showed pictures of a garage door that was blown into one of the hangars, stripping away insulation in the process. And that was just one portion of the damage.

“Inside the building, the wind pushed up the partitions,” Beasley said. “The big hangar door was pushed in by the force of the wind. You can’t imagine the amount of pressure on that door frame.”

In fact, the damage was so bad that officials were and are worried that the hangar door was going to be rendered unusable. Since that date, the doors have been opened once — to move the three planes that were inside the hangar to other available space. It hasn’t been opened since.

“The angle at the base of the wall was blown completely out,” Beasley said. “The insulation from the inside is coming out, and it bent the roof panels from the wind pressure.”

City officials have informed the insurance companies and sought quotes for the repair of the building, and the low quote comes in at about $15,400, which includes $2,000 specifically to repair the bent hangar door and frame. Beasley asked the Pittsburg City Commission on Tuesday to pay for the deductible, $10,000, out of the jobs bill fund that is regularly replenished by hangar rentals. The rest of the cost would likely come from insurance reimbursement, he said.

The three relocated planes will eventually be moved back in once repairs have taken place, which could be within a month or more.

“It was freakish, it really was,” Beasley said. “It came out of nowhere. We have the EagleMed pilots stationed out there, and when they went to the storm shelter, the winds were in excess of 65 knots (about 75 mph). To do as much damage as it did to the door and the truss that is there to support the door, but it bent it the way it did is a lot of pressure.”

City commissioners also approved the regular special assessments against landowners who did not pay for the cost of demolition, weed removal or trash collection after the city was forced to perform those services.

Commissioner Marty Beezley and Patrick O’Bryan each stressed that the city be no cheaper than an outside source on those levies and Beezley said that the punishment “should be even more stringent.”

Some of the special assessments are more than $2,000, which O’Bryan said was “not chump change.” City manager Daron Hall said that all told, the special assessments totaled $90,000 in one year.

“You can get their attention when you take them to court,” Hall said. “Nobody wants to stand in front of a judge and explain why they didn’t take care of their yard or why they didn’t pay the fines.”

Beezley said she was tired of the same names coming up on the special assessments.

“They’re the same every year. They don’t intend to pay. What they intend to do is wait us out,” she said. “[I wish] there was some way to recoup that money, because everything we do to recoup that money costs money.”

in other action, the Pittsburg City Commission:

• heard 2013 budget requests from the Joplin Regional Prosperity Initiative, Pittsburg State University Prevention and Wellness, the Southeast Kansas Community Action Program (SEK-CAP), Pittsburg Community Theatre and Pawprints on the Heartland.

• approved sponsorship of the 2012 emergency solutions grant for SEK-CAP. The grant request is for more money than in past years, partly to cover the change from Emergency Shelter Grants to Emergency Solutions Grants, which include homeless prevention and rapid rehousing programs, in addition to the existing programs and shelter operations.

Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 140.