The newly formed Taylor County Airport Committee will go ahead with the next phase of a multimillion dollar airport project in Medford.
Members voted Thursday to go along with plans the previous committee approved. The previous committee was entirely replaced in December. According to a special attorney brought on by the county it had to do with a strained relationship between the committee and Airport Manager Jim Wood.
The airport will build a new aviation weather system, known as AWOS, in a different location on the airport grounds to make room for future airport development.
First they'll fix the current AWOS with used parts. Either way, Wood says the aiport, and the pilots who use it, need a working system.
"The silometer that shoots the laser beam to the sky and shoots it back down it tells the pilots where the cloud cover is, is currently out of order right now," he said.
The temporary fix won't cost the county anything, but the county is responsible for 20 percent of the cost of a new AWOS at $26,000.
The Taylor County Airmen Association is for fixing the AWOS but say the multimillion dollar expansion project which includes building a new terminal building and taxiways is unnecessary with flight activity so low.
A pilot addressed the committee Thursday asking if they've considered the airmen's concerns, but remained silent.
The committee meets again Feb. 22 at 1:30 p.m.
