Monona holds off on putting airport up for sale
By Audrey Posten, Times-Register
The Monona Council, at its July 6 regular meeting, agreed to give the Monona Airport Board until Oct. 1 to develop options to increase funding at the airport before determining if the property should be put up for sale.
A potential buyer approached the city about purchasing the airport property, which is located three miles southeast of Monona, over a month ago. Declining revenue and a drop in use has forced the council to seriously consider the idea.
“We haven’t finalized the year end, but right now, they dropped $3,900, so they have a little over $4,000 left in their account. If we have another year like we did this year, they will be almost to $0,” said city administrator Barb Collins.
Collins noted that the airport doesn’t indirectly cost the city anything. It was designed to fund itself.
“But it’s going to start costing the city,” she said. “Right now, they’ve had enough revenue, but it’s on a definite decline.”
Fuel sales have gone defunct, and the airplane hangars are now too small to house large campers, eliminating potential storage income. Collins said the current occupants include “some boats and antique cars and storage for some planes that are hoping to be sold sometime.”
Councilman Andrew Meyer said the airport’s sustainability has sparked discussion since its inception.
“They received a lot of push back when they did it initially. They spent $20,000 in 1968 for something you can put about 12 people’s airplanes in, and half of them didn’t live in the town,” he said. “I can’t imagine sitting at a meeting and being, ‘OK, people, here’s what we’re going to use your money for.’”
The council agreed to give the board more time if it can come up with a way to make the airport more self-funding.
“If it doesn’t self-fund, I don’t see the point of continuing to spend money,” councilman Preston Landt said. “We may as well use the money [from the sale] to fix a street.”
Lange intends to resign
At the end of the meeting, councilwoman Heather Lange announced her intention to resign from the council, effective in August. She said her family is moving out of the community. Lange, who was just re-elected to a four-year term in November, has been reaching out to residents to see if they’d be interested in filling the vacancy. The only woman on the council, she said, “it would be nice to have a woman in the seat.”
Library remains closed
Murphy Helwig Library Director Heidi Landt told the council the library will hold off on reopening to visitors until construction on Page Street wraps up.
“Until it’s safe to get to the library and park reasonably close, we don’t want to open,” she shared. “And the construction company prefers that people not be traipsing through.”
Landt said staff will continue to deliver materials to patrons or leave them in a safe pick-up spot.
“People are still able to get their materials,” she said. “That’s working really well.”
No interest in EV charging station
The council was not interested in applying to get an electric vehicle charging station through a project proposed by the Clayton County Energy District (CCED). The energy district is seeking grant funds through the Upper Mississippi Gaming Corporation to install four charging stations in Clayton County communities in an effort to stimulate tourism.
While the idea would be beneficial for more tourism-oriented communities, the council said Monona does not have enough amenities, particularly downtown, to attract people for the several hours needed to charge an electric vehicle.
