Plans to repave runway ready for takeoff

Aug. 7—This article is the second in a series about city services, capital projects and the 2022 fiscal budget for the city of Palestine.

The city of Palestine is making plans to repave the main runway at the Palestine Municipal Airport.

During Tuesday night's public hearing on the proposed city budget, residents questioned the council and city administration about why they were budgeting $315K for work at the airport for the 2022 fiscal budget when there are other projects, like streets, that are more widely used by the community.

City Manager Teresa Herrera explained the city plans to set aside $315,000 as matching funds in a 25/75% Airport Texas Department of Transportation Grant of $1,530,000 they will use for runway improvements. This project is on the heels of the city completing a laundry list of non-compliance issues at the airport after reports were made to TxDOT.

"I want people to understand, our new council has inherited a mess," Herrera said on Wednesday.

The Palestine Municipal Airport, KPSN, located four miles north of the city at 1278 ACR 421, is a general aviation airport with two runways. According to city records, it was built in 1933 as a potential secondary airport, to support the air force base in Waco. Today, its primary functions are to serve as a fuel farm for aircrafts, provide transient aircraft with fuel and runways for landing and takeoff, for flight training and for terminal resting areas.

According to the city website, the airport serves approximately 29 local planes and 35 transient planes per month, this includes jets owned by Sanderson Farms and Walmart.

The primary runway is 5,005 feet long and 100 feet wide. The crosswind runway is 4,002 feet long and 75 feet wide.

The city has had a lease agreement with Palestine Jet Center to provide services and upkeep to the airport since 2012. This agreement states that the city will be responsible for any major improvements and any improvements costing over $500. That 20-year lease agreement states it will be revisited by the council and the company every five years, but was not addressed in 2017.

At Tuesday's public hearing Herrera said the city is operating this airpot as a complete loss. The city budgets around $100,000 a year for maintenance and upkeep. Hererra reported that all service profits are going to Palestine Jet Center.

In the 10-year time period of Palestine Jet Center leasing the facility, Herrera said there has been a lack of communication between it and the city, leading to the non-compliance issues and dilapidation of the entire facility.

Herrera said that after Dr. John Dorsett made a public complaint during a recent city council meeting that they city was not meeting their obligations at the facility, she and her staff began to look into the problems, making contact with the owner of Palestine Jet Center, Gaylon Addkison.

The two parties were working to find out what the problems were at the facility and address them when TxDOT received a complaint and did their own inspection for non-compliance issues.

The city receives funding from TxDOT yearly and actively applies for grants from TxDOT for renovations and upkeep at the airport. In August of 2020, the city used a TxDOT grant to replace the airport's 20-year old Automated Weather Observation System, also know as AWOS. The replacement was completed by the end of the year.

However, this year, Palestine was in danger of losing the funding they receive from TxDOT due to the non-compliance issues TxDOT found.

Those issues included overgrown trees and foliage obstructing landing visibility, damaged and broken runway lights, an outdated windsock, weeds growing in the cracks on the runways and a damaged patch of asphalt on the main runway. The self-pay pump was also broken.

According to Herrera, all non-compliance issues have been addressed and now the city is working to address other issues that have been brought to light.

"I don't know how long it was not working, but when I was notified that is was not working, we ordered that it be fixed and that was $40,000," Herrera said. "That was less than a month ago. Once we found out there were problems, we were out there addressing them."

Through the TxDOT grant the city is applying for, they will repave the primary runway. Herrera said there are no TxDOT grants available for the crosswind runway, and the city may be forced to close it due to its dilapidated state if another solution can't be found. Rehabbing it would cost around $200,000. Herrera said the city could patch it, but that would only buy them around a year's time. They are currently sending out a notice to airmen that says pilots who land on the crosswind runway will be landing at their own risk to their plane.

There are other issues at the airport that need to be addressed as well.

Through online research and conversations with Herrera and Palestine Jet Center owners/operators, Gaylon Addkison and Daniel Addkison there seems to be some confusion about who is responsible establishing charges for service and why they are different on various websites. Tammie Mays, who purchased shares of Palestine Jet Center last year, said updates would be made to the city and other website.

Mays said the breakdown in communication between the city and the airport began to develop around the time that Tim Perry, a former Public Works Director, left.

Palestine Jet advertises on its business card that they provide hanger rentals, aircraft rentals, aircraft charters, aircraft instruction, aircraft broker, a courtesy car (availability must be cleared prior), Jet A 100 LL Fuel and a deli open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Planes may fuel with AvGas or Jet-A fuel at the self-serve pump by credit card 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A Jet-A fuel truck is available. Staff is on hand during business hours to assist with fuel pumping if requested.

Online information said the airport has pilot-controlled runway lighting for night landings,even when the light fixtures were broken.

While the city advertises that staff may be called out after business hours for a $25 on-call fee, Daniel Addikson said the fee for after hour calls is $50. And while the city advertises there are no ramp fees, Palestine Jet charges ramp fees of $150 for jets that land at the airport and do not purchase fuel.

"If they purchase one gallon of fuel, then there is no fee," Gaylon Addikson said.

A courtesy car, a Mercedes, is available for short term use on a first-come, first-serve basis.

In the main airport office, there is a foyer/lounge with small kitchenette, a conference room with a large kitchen, pilots sleeping room with a bathroom and shower. They offer satellite TV and WIFI for pilots and travelers.

While the building is clean upon inspection, there is a lack of professional concierge service to what is offered and an unkept atmosphere, with empty hangers on the shower bathroom door, computers lying in the floor of the conference room, miscellaneous items stacked in the conference room kitchen and stained ceiling tiles. And deli services seem extremely limited.

Daniel Addkison said that their company leases a hanger and a Quonset hut from the city and rent them out for a fee and that contracts for land leases for private hangar construction are also available through the city. Daniel Addikison, who lives at the airport and provides 24-hour services for Palestine Jet, did not know how many privately owned hangers were on the premises, but verbally counted around 30 or 35.

There is room to allow for more private hanger property leases. Herrera said they are currently working on the airport's master plan in order to apply for the TxDOT grant and to plan for future growth at the facility.

Mays, who is also pilot, hopes that the city can find a solution for the repairs needed on the crosswind runway.

"It would be a shame to lose it," Mays said. "We have a lot of pilots that use it and there are very few airports of our size that have a crosswind runway."