Commissioners approve submission of grant application for airport terminal

George Bormann, Sallisaw’s economic development and grants director, channeled his inner Will Rogers at Monday’s Sallisaw City Commissioners meeting.

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression,” Rogers is credited with saying, and Bormann likes to invoke the Oklahoma social commentator’s sentiment to use as his own when talking about Sallisaw.

“We have a good, firm, solid investment [at the municipal airport], and as you’ve heard me say before, when people fly in, that terminal building, that airport’s the first look they get of Sallisaw,” Bormann told the commissioners as he made an appeal to submit an application for grant funding for what will surely be a multimillion- dollar construction project.

“Back in 2022, we applied for and were granted a terminal construction project through the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission,” Bormann reminded the commissioners. “That grant program — it’s a 50/50 grant — increased from a $500,000 grant to a milliondollar grant. Of course, the city’s obligation of that project will be a million dollars, which can be problematic, as you very well know.”

But the Federal Aviation Administration offers grant funding that City Manager Keith Skelton said is “much more favorable than on the other grant that we were looking at.”

And Bormann concurs. “This FAA grant, on the other hand, is for a 95/5 match, so the city’s obligation would be 5% of the project. On our application, we have a $5 million project slated, but it can be anywhere from $2 million on up,” Bormann explained. “But our obligation would only be 5% of the total project, which will free up some funding. If we don’t apply for this grant, I don’t know how feasible the construction will be, given the match requirements, to be quite frank.”

The FAA award has a $5 million ceiling, so the maximum obligation for the city would be $250,000. If the cost of the project is less than the ceiling, the city is only obligated for 5% of the total project cost.

Should Sallisaw be awarded the FAA grant — and Skelton emphasized that Bormann’s petition “is just a grant application — it would be the latest in funding which has minimal impact on city finances.

“Through grant funding, the city’s been able to prioritize airport operations at minimal cost to the city,” Bormann told the commissioners. “Our normal NPE — non-primary entitlement funding — is a 10% match, so really it’s pennies on the dollar for the city. We’ve sought out some innovative ways to really stretch this out, and really get the biggest bang for our bucks.

“We need to have our best foot forward, and this is another project that’s pennies on the dollar … If we were awarded,” Bormann said.

“Over the years, a terminal is going to be very important to the city,” Skelton said, lending credence to Bormann’s assertions. “This is an opportunity for us to get our foot in the door and say we’d like to have a little bit of this pot of money to do our terminal.

“If we are [awarded the grant], we’ll definitely do what we can to come up with the match, but we’ll also try to find some partners that would partner with us as well.

“If we were awarded this grant, there’s a good chance we would have partners that would come in and help us with the match money as well. So that is definitely something we would take a look at,” Skelton said.

Skelton said several ideas have been discussed for the new terminal, including a gathering room, aviation museum and restaurant.

The commissioners unanimously approved Bormann’s request to submit the grant application for FAA funding.

The commissioners also approved a resolution adopting the terms and conditions of the USDA Rural Development “Community Facilities Grant Agreement,” and authorized Mayor Ernie Martens to sign and execute the agreement. The USDA grant provides funding for non-revenue-generating departments.

The funding will be used to replace outdated storm sirens that are not working. Grant funds and city match is a 55/45 split. Total project cost is $69,900, of which the city’s obligation is $31,455. The application was approved to repair one nonfunctioning siren and to add a siren on the west side of the city.

The commissioners also approved a consent agenda that confirmed the appointment of Reece Bush to the Sallisaw Planning Commission for a three-year term.

Also approved was a slate of regular meeting dates for 2024, which continues to be the second Monday of each month. The only exception to the calendar is for the November meeting only, when it is moved to the second Tuesday (Nov. 12) due to Veterans Day being on Monday, Nov. 11.

The next meeting for the city commissioners and the Sallisaw Municipal Authority is 6 p.m. Nov. 9 in the City Council Chambers, 113 N. Elm Street. This is a special meeting, which replaces the Nov. 13 regular meeting. The change allows city staff to attend the American Public Power Association Customer Connections Conference in San Antonio.