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BEN CONLEY
TheDPost.com
MORGANTOWN — Assistant City Manager and Acting Morgantown Municipal Airport Director Glen Kelly recently told members of city council that he doesn’t believe the airport will reach the 10,000 enplanements needed to ensure critical Federal Aviation Administration funding this year.
He also told them why.
“Our enplanement rate is off significantly, as is every other Essential Air Service (EAS) airport in the state due to Silver’s poor service,” Kelly said.
Moderator cut: quote shortened, copyright protection
Im just curious about who would need to ride a plane from Morgantown to Clarksburg? other than for fun I dont see a point in payin $30 to ride a plane 30 miles or whatever it is to Clarksburg....now the $60 to D.C. sounds like a good deal though....
They really need to get that temporary, somehow permanent acting manager out of there and hire a real professional to run the place. It will take some real intervention to straighten out this mess, and it might take 3 or 4 years to get the runway expanded to the point where it will handle the flights to vacation destinations and charters necessary to get the numbers in place.
Or course, I believe the City Manager is dead weight too, but I don't mean to stir up any controversy with that. Our city is chomping at the bit to make strides forward, but our appointed leadership is sorely lacking in vision and ability. It is up to city council to make the changes necessary to make that happen.
They really need to get that temporary, somehow permanent acting manager out of there and hire a real professional to run the place. It will take some real intervention to straighten out this mess, and it might take 3 or 4 years to get the runway expanded to the point where it will handle the flights to vacation destinations and charters necessary to get the numbers in place.
Or course, I believe the City Manager is dead weight too, but I don't mean to stir up any controversy with that. Our city is chomping at the bit to make strides forward, but our appointed leadership is sorely lacking in vision and ability. It is up to city council to make the changes necessary to make that happen.
You're off base with this one. Retired Col. Glen Kelly is the reason the runway may get extended. Without him, it won't happen. He is one of the very few "professionals" the city has. Kelly probably knows a thing or two about aviation, as he is a helicopter and fixed wing military pilot. The runway project would have already happened by now, but city manager Terrence Moore derailed the plan put in place by Kelly and then manager Dan Boroff in 2011. You see, without the military help, Morgantown will never be able to extend the runway. The enplanement mess is not the fault of the airport. Its the same way all over the state. The future of Hart field is military aviation to support Camp Dawson, and to provide WVU will the runway they need to land all big 12 team planes.
You're off base with this one. Retired Col. Glen Kelly is the reason the runway may get extended. Without him, it won't happen. He is one of the very few "professionals" the city has. Kelly probably knows a thing or two about aviation, as he is a helicopter and fixed wing military pilot. The runway project would have already happened by now, but city manager Terrence Moore derailed the plan put in place by Kelly and then manager Dan Boroff in 2011. You see, without the military help, Morgantown will never be able to extend the runway. The enplanement mess is not the fault of the airport. Its the same way all over the state. The future of Hart field is military aviation to support Camp Dawson, and to provide WVU will the runway they need to land all big 12 team planes.
The military help is going to take place, and I am not criticizing the Colonel's flying experience or skills, nor his professionalism in that regard. It's good that he is helping arrange the runway extension as he works for the city and is doing his job in that regard, but we need more than that at this point. If I'm not mistaken, he was the assistant before the last professional administrator left. He can return to his regular slot. I'm not suggesting that he should be fired. He has been the acting director for some time. Acting directors often return to their previous positions. And, while Silver's poor performance is not the fault of the airport, a seasoned professional from a fringe area airport near a big city would have far better connections to get the commercial side up and running and have the contacts in place to make that happen. I agree that military aircraft will be a big part of the airfield's purpose, as well as Mylan (once the runway is extended) and B12 flights, but there is every reason to believe a professional manager well versed in commercial operations could get Silver replaced, and bring in air carriers that serve vacation destinations.
My personal opinion is that Hart field will serve other military functions besides Dawson at some point in the future too. It is close enough to larger population centers to provide rapid deployment capabilities for major resources located there, which is very valuable in times of mobilization. There are other assets in our state that do not share that characteristic.
As for the $59 trips to DC... that's a good idea, but nobody is going to take a commercial plane to Clarksburg. By the time you drive to the airport, park you car, and check in you could already be there in your car. Now, if they add a flight to say Charleston, WV that might be a winner. That is actually a 2 1/2 hour trek and there are plenty of people who float back and forth between those destinations.
Last edited by CTMountaineer; 08-30-2015 at 09:37 PM..
They really need to get that temporary, somehow permanent acting manager out of there and hire a real professional to run the place. It will take some real intervention to straighten out this mess, and it might take 3 or 4 years to get the runway expanded to the point where it will handle the flights to vacation destinations and charters necessary to get the numbers in place.
Or course, I believe the City Manager is dead weight too, but I don't mean to stir up any controversy with that. Our city is chomping at the bit to make strides forward, but our appointed leadership is sorely lacking in vision and ability. It is up to city council to make the changes necessary to make that happen.
Your suggestions at improving our city's government usually revolve around either voting a new council in or, now, firing those currently in power positions. Mikorski does a great job and just anybody who is willing to direct that mess of an airport is rather saintly... Consider the number of "permanent" directors that they churned through before Kelly agreed to work the job. It isn't easy running an airport this small and simply keeping it afloat.
The focus needs to be on improving services and hoping that the expansion brings more flights in the future. The nature of having two rural airports in north central WV is hurting both. It's too bad -- one airport in the Fairmont area would have benefitted all of us more but we wil continue to see Morgantown and Benedum pitted in an us vs them contest, to everyone's deficit.
Your suggestions at improving our city's government usually revolve around either voting a new council in or, now, firing those currently in power positions. Mikorski does a great job and just anybody who is willing to direct that mess of an airport is rather saintly... Consider the number of "permanent" directors that they churned through before Kelly agreed to work the job. It isn't easy running an airport this small and simply keeping it afloat.
The focus needs to be on improving services and hoping that the expansion brings more flights in the future. The nature of having two rural airports in north central WV is hurting both. It's too bad -- one airport in the Fairmont area would have benefitted all of us more but we wil continue to see Morgantown and Benedum pitted in an us vs them contest, to everyone's deficit.
I agree with your last paragraph, but don't see the Colonel as being up to the task on the commercial side. As to the 2 airports, unfortunately that boat has passed. One in Fairmont would have served us all better. Our situation in that regard is similar to Huntington and Charleston except that Clarksburg and Morgantown are much closer together, making the Fairmont location even more compelling. There weren't enough people in office with the vision to see that, so we are stuck with 2 competing airports. Personally, I see Clarksburg as filling the commercial niche and Morgantown the others, but we need a small commercial presence here to meet federal numbers for funding.
As to the first one, I really don't see how things can be improved if there aren't some changes in status quo leadership on council, although I have seen some signs of better performance there lately. What I don't see is a vision for the future that would move our city foward to maximize its potential. They haven't even put lights in place on the city's portion of the rail trail connecting hotels to restaurants and so forth, but they shove higher than national average pay raises to city employees as though that will somehow serve our residents.
As to Mikorski... we'll just have to disagree on that one. He keeps pushing for those pay raises for his long time crony employees, but has not addressed the issue of poorly kept properties (they aren't even pushing people to power wash and paint up the outsides of their properties), is not advancing ideas for civic improvements (we have the most affluent city in our state, but nothing significant has happened in our park system in decades... White Park is a jewel just waiting for development). Pressure needs to be put on High Street property owners to spruce up the fronts of their buildings ... not being done, and it is high time for our city to develop a first rate civic center which ties in the Wharf and draws people to town. Mikorski is firmly wedded to the Old Guard, and they will never get a divorce.
Last edited by CTMountaineer; 08-31-2015 at 12:59 PM..
White Park is a jewel just waiting for development.
White Park was nice -- the bicycles have ruined the wooded portion though. It used to be nice -- Now it's full of fools riding their bikes dangerously fast -- if I try to take my dog over there it almost always ends up getting run over by some careless "mountain" cyclist.
White Park was nice -- the bicycles have ruined the wooded portion though. It used to be nice -- Now it's full of fools riding their bikes dangerously fast -- if I try to take my dog over there it almost always ends up getting run over by some careless "mountain" cyclist.
If you want to see what could be done with White Park if somebody in charge had vision, take the short ride up to Wheeling and go to Shenck Lake at Oglebay Park. The very same approach could be used at White Park, and it could be a welcoming place for locals and visitors for all sorts of activities, have a really nice lake presence, flower gardens, picnic shelters and playgrounds, ample parking, manicured grounds and so forth. Putting a few million there could turn it into a showplace. It is currently poorly maintained, neglected, unlit, underutilized, and largely forgotten by local residents. What a waste of a wonderful resource, but there is nobody in city government with the common sense to realize that or the vision to do anything about it.
It's just like the horrible sewage pump station by Ruby Park... ignored because dealing with it would interfere with pay raises for cronies/employees, and after all, it isn't in the front yards of the council members. Somebody really, really needs to take charge of our city government for our town to be all it can be.
a seasoned professional from a fringe area airport near a big city would have far better connections to get the commercial side up and running and have the contacts in place to make that happen
I may be mistaken but when you are an EAS airport, you take what the government will approve.
Parkersburg tried to pass a 5 year levy to get out from underneath the EAS so they could negotiate with multiple airlines and different hubs but this area no longer has vision either. There was a potential to build a real airport in place of doing what the government will allow but that is just not to be.
I much prefer flying from the MOV Airport than driving to Charleston, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Akron/Canton, or Cleveland.
60$ flights to DC sounds like a deal of a lifetime ...... until the plane crashes due to " bad service " .
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