Port of Moses Lake staff plans long-term changes

Roof repairs, passenger numbers points of discussion

MOSES LAKE — For the Port of Moses Lake, a weekend retreat meant movement forward.

The port district held its annual retreat Friday through Sunday in Leavenworth. Port management staff and the board of commissioners attended the retreat.

"It's to be able to get away from the daily routine of telephones and day-to-day operations, be able to sit down and concentrate on the needs of the port and put together a financial budget," said port manager Craig Baldwin. "I think it went really well this year. We were able to cover a lot of areas, talk about the good that we've done and be able to offer as a draft budget one that looks really good and falls within budget limits."

In an e-mail to the Herald, Baldwin outlined the activities of the retreat, which included staff presentations to port commissioners, statistical information and accomplishments for the 2005 budget year.

According to Baldwin's e-mail, maintenance superintendent Scott Olson described the work completed on Grant County International Airport runways, including rehabilitation, paint markings and signage. Work also included maintenance, repairs and upgrades in the port's industrial park.

Industrial development manager Albert Anderson gave a review of the projects that the port and Grant County Economic Development Council have worked on, discussing several potential businesses that the port is presently working with, and briefing commissioners on the goals established for 2006.

"It went very well," said Larry Peterson, president of the board of commissioners, of the retreat. "We set some long-range goals very nicely and had a very enjoyable time doing it." Peterson described long-range goals as occurring within a five-year time frame.

Peterson added that the port took a look at the roofs on its industrial facilities, and had a consultant make an evaluation.

"We decided to take about $1 million out of reserves to redo the roof on the Japan Airlines hangar," Peterson said. "That's a big bite, but we're at the point of Band-Aiding it each year, which doesn't make sense after a certain point."

The port also discussed current airline passenger statistics, Baldwin said in his e-mail. It was noted there was significant improvement to the airline service, and passenger numbers have been up the last six months over the same time in the previous year.

One of the challenges the port has faced has been working to maintain the Essential Air Service. The program was formed by the FAA in the 1970s with the deregulation of air carriers and provides air services to smaller communities. The program subsidizes flights.

The contract was up for renewal when Baldwin took over as port manager in July 2004, and he was told that the program was in jeopardy because of the cost per passenger. That number is determined by taking the air carrier's costs to operate out of the community and subtracting expected passenger revenues, leaving a deficit, which becomes the subsidy level for the air carrier to break even.

"That's when the government says, 'We'll step in and pay this,'" Baldwin explained earlier this year.

At the end of the year, the program is evaluated. The number of people that actually flew is divided into the subsidy level, and has to be below a certain rate per passenger. The port was above the rate last year, so the Department of Transportation informed them of the need to find a way to keep costs down, or lose services.

It is estimated that the port would end the year with approximately 8,000 total airline passengers, up by approximately 10 percent over last year.

"The numbers are looking better, and we still need to really promote that, because we've got to get those numbers up even higher than they are right now to maintain our Essential Air Service subsidy to the airline," Peterson said.