Hollister Municipal Airport Manager Bill Gere has secured a
$600,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration in
negotiations he hopes will turn around the FAA’s tumultuous
relationship with the city.
Hollister – Hollister Municipal Airport Manager Bill Gere has secured a $600,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration in negotiations he hopes will turn around the FAA’s tumultuous relationship with the city.
The FAA has specified Gere and his staff must use the grant money to build a security fence around the perimeter of the airport; 25,000 feet long and six feet high and equipped with card-reading security gates. City engineers have estimated the project will cost around $450,000, leaving another $150,000 that should more than cover the airport’s administrative costs, according to Gere. And, he said, there’s a promise of more funding to come if the project goes well.
“Basically they said, ‘If you guys can get right on it and prove you can do a good job, we’ll give you $1.5 million more by the end of the next fiscal year to do pavement rehab and start building new runways,'” Gere said. “We have got so much money coming in, I need a bigger shovel.”
In fact, Gere said, he went into one recent meeting with the FAA with a $10 million list of wishful-thinking projects hoping to get money for only one or two of them.
“They said, ‘There’s no way we’re going to fund more than half of these,'” Gere said.
Al Martinez, director of the local Economic Development Corporation, said more funding for airport improvements could have trickle-down effect that would help boost Hollister’s economy.
“The airport is attractive to people with small planes because it’s one of the only places you can keep a small plane,” Martinez said. “I know we’re in demand for space; there’s a waiting list. So if you build more hangars, more people can come in with their planes and spend money in the community.”
The working relationship between the FAA and the Hollister airport has not always been as promising as it’s looking now, according to Gere, who said the last time the Hollister airport got an FAA grant was five years ago.
“When I started here last year (in November), the FAA wouldn’t allow our engineers to even come meet with them,” said Gere. “Basically we hadn’t been asking for money, and when we did we would screw up the paperwork. So I sweet-talked them – or badgered them – into meeting with me and I didn’t ask for a thing.”
Instead, Gere asked questions about how to fill out various forms and grant applications to get on the Administration’s good side, and left with a meeting set up between the FAA, himself, City Engineer Matt Kelley and City Planning Manager Susan Heiser.
“Susan started talking to the (FAA’s) environmental person about CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), Matt started talking to the engineers, and when we left they gave us $600,000,” said Gere. “It’s just really, really wonderful to see all these positive things happening. Everybody’s working together and doing good stuff.”
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at [email protected].
