Airport agrees to one-year contracts for cities, counties

The Delta Regional Airport Authority Board last week discussed issues pertaining to securing the airport’s annual funding from Forrest City. During the meeting, the board also voted in favor of renewing its five-year lease with Edmund Barnes for the farmland at the airport. Board members Peggy Wright, Nancy Jarratt and Angie Smith were absent. According board chairman Shannon Hobbs, due to Wynne still recovering from the tornado in 2023, the city has requested a one-year contract rather than the traditional three-year contract. "I did meet with the Quorum Court for Cross County and there is no issues with Cross County," said Hobbs. "They are going to wait until we reissue them a letter. The City of Wynne, according to the mayor, after the tornado, the funds are tight, plus the farming economy. Wynne is like a lot of other cities in the Delta that relies heavily upon farming. Since funds are tight, they have asked that they not be obligated to a three-year contract. They would like to do one year at a time. "They did approve a one-year contract already, so we have the funding available if we need it. Ready to go," continued Hobbs. "We are asking for $15,000 per entity." "I did ask the mayor of Forrest City and he said no," said board member Brenda White. "He said he does not want to approve it?” asked Hobbs. "No," said White. "Alright, so I am going to have to go see the mayor of Forrest City," said Hobbs. White told Hobbs that after "sweet talking" Mayor Larry Bryant of Forrest City, his answer was still no to the requested $15,000. "You have to go do your sweet talking," said White. "I have done my sweet talking. Maybe he has changed his mind, but he has not told me that. Since we all met together before, I volunteered to go speak with the mayor. His answer was no to the $15,000.” According to Hobbs, without the funds from the cities of Wynne and Forrest City as well as Cross and St. Francis counties, the airport cannot afford to continue to have a full-time employee. "I was not aware of this at the moment," said Hobbs. "Let me be clear, for the record, if we do not get the funding from the counties and the cities, we cannot have a full-time employee at the airport. I don't think we can budget it. We just cannot pay that out of our pocket. The jet fuel traffic that we have relies on having an employee. They are not going to fuel themselves. Basically, operations at the airport will come to a near standstill. I will make an appointment to go see the mayor of Forrest City before the next meeting." Hobbs said the DRAA will be requesting one-year contracts from all entities rather than the three-year contracts they requested in the past. "St. Francis County called and they have their funding ready," said Hobbs. "Basically, we have Wynne, Cross County and St. Francis County funding. So, I will go see the Forrest City mayor or city council and visit with those guys between now and the next meeting. Then, maybe we could entertain this. If you (White) want to, prep the mayor before I get there and let him know that we will be asking for a one-year contract rather than a three-year contract." According to White, Bryant has an issue with the airport being located in Colt, which ultimately led to the closing of the Forrest City Municipal Airport. "I ain't that cute, Shannon," said White. "I try. When are you talking about going to see him? I will call him in advance. We text and call each other. To be honest, the mayor has a little, what you call in school, an issue. He has an issue with us having this airport and that being why Forrest City doesn't have an airport. He is a little sour. I tried to do my best sweet talking as a woman, as a board member and as a human being, but he was not down for it, the fact that we are here and we have an airport and Forrest City doesn’t. I think the mayor should get over it." "Let me rephrase that, this is Forrest City's airport," said Hobbs. "Forrest City used to have a municipal airport, but now they do not." White said she planned to get with Bryant once more and try to speak with him again on this matter. "I will talk to the mayor of Forrest City and kind of sweeten the pot," said White. "It is here now and we want some type of airport. We have to have this and now we are here. We are no longer over there. I am going to try and convince him to come on board. I am going to try and get the mayor with another talk and then I will let you talk with him. It's already defeated. They don't have an option. We want and we need a Forrest City airport and it is right here." According to Hobbs, while awaiting a response on the farm lease from the Arkansas Attorney General's office, other attorneys looked at the lease and decided that the DRAA should be able to renew the lease with whomever they choose rather than rebidding the lease. "I had a couple of other attorneys interpret this and what they are saying is that they do not see a problem with us going ahead and renewing the lease with who we choose," said Hobbs. "They did not have a copy of our bylaws to see if there was anything in our bylaws that contradicts this. We need to check those and make sure we do not. We have 298 acres currently under lease and the tenant has actually cleared and prepped another 75 acres. He is offering an additional $175 per acre of that. It will be a 20% increase and increase our total rent to $65,275 a year. That will help us with some of those additional expenses." "He prepped this ground on his own?” asked board member Chad Runsick. "He did," said Hobbs. "That is a big challenge," said Runsick. "It is," said Hobbs. Hobbs said Barnes has also offered to clear brush that has grown up near the runway, also free of charge. "It gets a little bit better than that," said Hobbs. "We were looking at a pretty good sized expenditure in the next few months. On the west side of the runway, the trees have grown up the whole length of the runway, through the ditch and up the other side. He has actually offered to clear those, mow it down and groom that where we can maintain it from this point on at no charge, if he gets the lease. I think we have a win-win situation with this. Mrs. Nancy (Jarratt) is actually the one who has corresponded with the tenant and she has recommended that we give the tenant another five-year contract." Hobbs told the board that the additional funds from the newly cleared and prepped 75 acres of farmland will help with insurance expenses. "As the chairman, I do not oppose," said Hobbs. "I think this is wonderful for the airport. Those additional funds will help us with our additional insurance expense, and like everything else over the last five years, everything has gone up. We will make it work somehow, but this will help a lot." The board voted unanimously in favor of entering into another five-year contract with Barnes to lease the farmland.

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