Clarendon’s Smiley Johnson Municipal Airport will be receiving more than $80,000 worth of improvements after several donations have helped raise matching funds for a grant.
The city had initially planned to use $15,000 left over from a previous grant project to match the 50/50 Routine Airport Maintenance Program grant administered by the Texas Department of Transportation.
With the state funds, that would have paid for $30,000 for crack sealing and fog sealing of the runway; but the RAMP program was approved to match any amount up to $50,000 for a possible total of $100,000 worth of improvements. The city’s new airport board saw an opportunity to do more work that originally planned.
“I’m very pleased at the effectiveness of our airport board,” City Administrator David Dockery said. “This will help improve our airport runway, tarmac, and striping, and priorities have been identified for future improvements.”
The board, consisting of Chris Schollenbarger, Chancy Cruse, Bubba Newhouse, John Morrow, and Machiel Covey set about to raise an additional $25,000 through donations. They exceeded that goal by bringing in pledges totaling $25,250, of which $22,750 has been collected.
Covey said the airport board is greatly appreciative of the support it has received for improvements to the airport and credited Dockery with providing guidance for the project. Covey also said the board hopes to make radio upgrades at the facility its next priority.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.