Wilson Creek port meeting in new locale

Blackman, Lesser to be sworn in Wednesday

WILSON CREEK - The next time the Port of Wilson Creek meets, it will be in a new location.

At its meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m., the port district will meet in Wilson Creek Town Hall, located at 254 Railroad St.

Previously, the port district had been holding its meetings in an annex of the local fire station, located at 104 Fourth St.

"It's cold down at the other place and the acoustics were not good," explained port Commissioner Sheldon Ralston. "We didn't have any place to put our paperwork. It just was not working as well as it should."

The move is permanent, Ralston said.

"We will have a better place for the public to come, and we will be able to bring our maps and plans, lay them out and look at them and have a place to do it," he said. "We have a much nicer, larger conference table at Town Hall and better everything."

The meeting Wednesday also marks the swearing in of new commissioner Roger Blackman, replacing Gary Ribail, as well as Ron Lesser, who was re-elected to his position in November.

Ralston said the port's airport layout plan is completed and the port has been working to bring the Wilson Creek Airport up to standards.

"We have a grant request in that has been approved for the threshold relocation," he said. "That should be at least started in the spring."

A feasibility study is close to winding down. The port is collecting last-minute data to examine industrial and economic development, and the cost of providing potable water to port property, to bring larger capacity electrical power to where an incubator building is projected to be, or a pilot area and equipment storage for the airport. The port is also looking at the septic ability to do away with waste.

"The other thing the feasibility study is doing is looking at what the costs are involving all these projects, and also whether we can even begin to afford what we would like to do," Ralston said. "And also the viability of bringing businesses into the area. All I can say is nowadays, things are very expensive."

Engineering firm Century West has been doing the work, he added.

"We look forward to continued growth, doing good projects and doing good things for the people," Ralston said.