10
Week of September 17, 2014
MC WEEKLY
Peru airport
takes off
Hot air balloon rides. A
skydiving club. A pilot
school. They’re all things
that might be coming to the
Peru Municipal Airport.
With its 4,400 foot runway
and 140 acre property, the
airport may not be the big-
ge st community airport
around, but that doesn’t
mean great things can’t hap-
pen there, said Jim Clary,
president of the Peru Board
of Aviation Commissioners.
And if the aviation board
has anything to do with it,
great things will happen
there, he said.
Last year, the board took
over operations of the air-
port for the first time since
the facility was installed in
1972.
From the beginning, when
the airport was built, the city
contracted with an operator
to maintain it and see to its
day-to-day operations.
Last year, though, the op-
erator told the city it didn’t
want to renew its contract.
Rather than seek out an-
other third-party to run the
facility, the aviation board
decided it’d try its hand at
keeping up the airport.
“We had some time to
think about it, and we
thought, ‘Let’s try it,’” Clary
said. “We felt like rather
than the financial resources
going to a third party, we
could leverage the money to
make it go a little further.”
That led to more brain-
storming from the aviation
board. The more they looked
into, the more ideas they
had to turn the airport into a
real destination.
Over the last year, they’ve
started taking steps to make
that goal a reality.
The board started with
some nuts-and-bolts im-
provements to make the fa-
cility more functional and
attractive.
They purchased a mower,
power washer and trimmer.
They repaired the furnace
and doors in the airplane
hangar, replaced some leak-
ing windows in the terminal
and cleaned the carpet and
furniture. They cleaned out
debris, built an air lock be-
tween the hanger and termi-
nal office and installed a se-
curity system.
It wasn’t just the aviation
board doing the work. Clary
said some of the pilots and
tenants who frequently use
the airport also jumped on
board to help make im-
provements.
One pilot repaired the au-
tomatic gates, saving the fa-
cility a $500 repair bill. An-
other pilot purchased and
installed security cameras
and signs, as well as a new
flag and flag pole.
“The tenants got really in-
volved with helping us out,”
Clary said.
One of the biggest im-
provements was landing a
federal grant to install a new
electric system. The previous
system was put in when the
facility was first built and
was starting to falter.
Airport Manager Kelly
Wolf said it’s been a busy
year at the airport, and all
the work is establishing a
good foundation to do even
more things in the future.
“We’ve got a lot accom-
plished,” he said. “There’s a
lot of good stuff happening,
and things are really looking
up out here.”
Peru Mayor Jim Walker
said he’s been impressed
with the aviation board’s en-
thusiasm for upgrading and
expanding the airport.
“With the new team we
have in place and all the
things they’re doing, the air-
port is much improved,” he
said. “I’m very pleased with
BY CARSON GERBER
MC WEEKLY
■
Aviation board
has big plans for
facility after taking
over as manager
Tim Bath | MC Weekly
IN THE HANGAR:
Jim Clary puts away his 1980 Piper Archer II with the help of airport manager Kelly Wolf at the Peru
Municipal Airport.
>>
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AIRPORT
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