Installation is underway on a new, $10,000 security system at Pine Bluff Regional Airport, Grider Field, while a project to repave a road that leads to aircraft hangars still awaits state funding.
The news was announced Thursday at the regular meeting of the Pine Bluff Aviation Commission. Commissioners also voted to increase the salary of the position of flight lineman, and said that the airport’s bookkeeper is resigning because her family is moving to another city in Arkansas.
The commission voted in December to accept a bid of $9,897.67 from Arkansas Electronic Security to install security cameras at the airport. The cameras will be placed in the area in and around the terminal building, the airport’s three storage hangars and in the area where planes are loaded, unloaded and refueled.
Airport Manager Doug Hale said Arkansas Electronic Security should finish the installation by the beginning of next week. The cameras provide color video and “quality” resolution, he said.
“I’m very pleased with what I’ve seen thus far,” Hale said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Hale said the airport has still not landed roughly $200,000 of requested funding from the state to re-pave the northern half of Hangar Row, which connects the airport terminal with aircraft hangars. It is instead in a holding pattern until the Arkansas Department of Aeronautics dispenses the needed revenue. The ADA is funded from taxes on fuel sales. That source of revenue has declined along with the price of oil, Hale said.
The commission voted to increase the salary of the position of flight lineman from $25,000 per year to $28,000. The flight lineman is responsible for refueling aircraft, moving them in and out of hangers and inflating tires, among other duties. The position is currently open after the previous flight lineman resigned in early January to take a job in Dallas, Tex. Hale said in January that four people had applied to the job, which was then listed at a pay of $12.50 per hour.
The commission also received the resignation of the airport’s bookkeeper, who is moving to another city in Arkansas.
“She is terminating her employment due to relocation,” Hale said.
Additionally, the commission is seeking to make the airport easier to find for visitors driving from U.S. Highway 65. Hale inquired about taking out advertising on a nearby billboard, but at $400 per month he said the cost would exceed the airport’s annual advertising budget. Instead he plans to see if the owner of a property located at the turnoff from the highway to Grider Field Ladd Road would allow the airport to put up a sign.
The Pine Bluff Grider Field Aviation Museum will hold its annual fundraiser on May 20 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Hale said. Tyson Foods has agreed to sponsor the event with their cooking team. Dinners will be $10 per person for the fundraiser, which will include a free air show.
In other notes, the staff is working on winter maintenance of mowing vehicles ahead of the imminent growing season, and a leaking fuel pump was repaired for $1,500, he said.