KENNESAW — The board advising the Cobb Board of Commissioners on the needs and operations of Cobb County Airport-McCollum Field has a vacancy and is looking to fill the post by the end of the year.
The Airport Advisory Board, created by the county commissioners in 2008, is composed of nine members representing the county, the airport’s fixed-base operator, Hawthorne Global Aviation Services, the city of Kennesaw and pilots based at the airport, according to Karl Von Hagel, airport manager.
“We greatly appreciate their efforts,” he said. “They’re very instrumental in providing us guidance, and I can say they were very instrumental in helping get the customs facility moving forward.”
Von Hagel is referring to the new $800,000 customs facility being built at the airport by Atlanta-based YLH Construction Company, which will allow for international flights to arrive at McCollum Field without making a stop at a different airport for customs inspection beforehand. The facility is being financed by Hawthorne Global.
Members serve two-year terms, Von Hagel said, and the term for its chairman, William Campbell, who represents the pilots based at the airport, expired Oct. 6. Von Hagel said Williams, a pilot and small business owner who owns a plane based out of McCollum, is still a member of the board at present, but because the board only meets every other month, there will likely be a new member before its next meeting Dec. 1.
Von Hagel said as airport manager, he accepts nominations from the public to find a candidate to fill Campbell’s seat on the board.
“Anybody can nominate themselves and send me their information,” he said.
There is no requirement stating the member representing the pilots must be pilots themselves, Von Hagel said, although that is traditionally the case.
“I think intuitively since you’re representing the pilots on this airport about this airport, it would be advantageous that they are a pilot at this airport,” he said.
Up to three candidates are presented to the Board of Commissioners, which makes the final decision on the appointment. Von Hagel said if he receives more than three nominations, he polls the pilots based at the airport and chooses the three candidates receiving the most votes to present to the county commissioners.
The board helps with future planning of the airport by giving suggestions to the county commissioners regarding future planning and improvements to the airport, Von Hagel said. It also helps with marketing the airport and reviews noise and aviation ordinance issues, he added.
“At the meetings, we also review the traffic statistics for the state, how our activity compares to either the growth or decline of other airports of the state,” Von Hagel said.
Commissioner Helen Goreham, a member of the AAB who represents the area, said she was a driving force in creating the board in 2008.
“I noted that this major asset for Cobb County did not have an advisory board,” Goreham said, adding other major assets for the county — parks and libraries, for example — had advisory organizations.
Goreham said the board is working on updating the master plan for the airport to make sure McCollum Field is ready to handle any new developments in the county.
“One is now that the new Braves stadium is going to be in Cobb County, will that potentially have an effect on the airport?” she said.
Goreham said the airport is not equipped to handle the large charter planes visiting teams will use to fly into the area for games, but there is potential for fans with smaller planes to use McCollum on their way to the new SunTrust Park in Cumberland.
Other developments the board will be taking into account are the growth of Kennesaw State University, the effect the new customs facility may have on air traffic, the new LakePoint sports facility in Emerson — which is about 14 miles from McCollum Field in Bartow County — as well as the county’s burgeoning film industry, Goreham said.
The airport has an economic impact of about $112 million each year and supports more than 800 nearby jobs in hospitality and restaurant industries, according to county officials.
The board can only provide advice to the commissioners about the airport and has no unilateral power to make decisions, Von Hagel said. Any action based on the board’s recommendations must be approved by the county commissioners, he said.
The board is composed of a county commissioner, three members appointed by the Board of Commissioners — one by Cobb Chairman Tim Lee, one jointly appointed by Commissioners Helen Goreham and JoAnn Birrell and one jointly appointed by Commissioners Bob Ott and Lisa Cupid — one member representing the FBO, Hawthorne Global, one member representing Kennesaw, one representing the Town Center Community Improvement District, one representing the Cobb County Development Authority and the member representing pilots.
Members of the board include Kennesaw Mayor Mark Mathews; Butch Thompson, appointed by Ott and Cupid; Carter Chapman, appointed by Goreham and Birrell; Sean King, appointed by Lee; Tom Auten, representing the FBO; Goreham; Vice Chairman Kelly Keappler, representing the Town Center CID; and Clark Hungerford, representing the Development Authority.
The terms for Chapman, Keappler and Hungerford also expired Oct. 6, Von Hagel said, so the groups they represent will likely appoint new members before the board’s next meeting.
Von Hagel said first bricks for the walls of the new customs facility were laid Friday. The facility is expected to open next summer. Additionally, he said the first set of walls for the airport’s new 78-foot, $2.9 million control tower should be going up Monday. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based Moss & Associates Inc. is handling construction of the tower, expected to be in operation in January.
Story ► The Marietta Daily Journal - Advisory board vacancy set to be filled by the year s end
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