The Collegedale Commission is taking action on issues at the Collegedale Airport that local pilots believe are overdue. Three pilots who have long had hangar leases there spoke at the Monday night commission meeting asking for the city to dedicate money for making certain safety improvements to the airport.
The city has already appropriated $200,000 to begin needed work at the airport, though some of that is cosmetic. On Monday night the commissioners in a unanimous vote set aside another $296,390 into a restricted fund for the airport that will be added to original funding for safety projects. Airport Director Ryan Byford said that a capital improvement plan for the airport is being finalized that will help prioritize the projects.
At the meeting, the municipal codes ordinance was amended regarding increasing permit, plan review, inspection and development fees. It has been 15 years since these fees were increased in Collegedale. The commissioners were told that this year, expenses exceeded revenue by $340,000 because all aspects of what it costs to run the city have increased including expenses such as salaries, benefits, codes enforcement operations, inspections and third party contracted attorneys and engineers, to name a few.
The recommendation from Municipal Technical Advisory Services (MTAS) was to raise those fees up to similar rates charged by other municipalities in the surrounding area. The commissioners want to be pro-development but want to close the gap to stop losing money. That is expected to happen within two-five years with this move. The commissioners see the increased fees as one way not to over-burden city taxpayers. This is viewed as a good time to implement the increases in fees since it is before several planned large, new developments in the city have begun submitting permits.
About a year ago, Collegedale received a grant that gives retention incentive grants of up to $10,000 in bonuses at specified longevity marks for officers. Police Chief Jack Sapp said this would only apply to five of the city’s officers. The chief said that he had been approached by a business owner in the city who offered to donate $69,000 to the police department to be used as one time, $3,000 incentive bonuses to the other current full-time officers with at least one year of experience. City Attorney Sam Elliott said that the city is allowed to receive charitable gifts that can be used as the city sees fit. The vote was unanimous to accept this gift and use it for the police retention.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Collegedale Commission falls on Labor Day so will be moved to the following day, Tuesday, Sept. 3, at 6 p.m.