It’s not easy to put bad news on our front pages, especially when it’s local.
We want to project Allen County as a safe and friendly place to live and do business.
So it was with some reluctance that we reported Tuesday’s discussion between Allen County commissioners and their ultimate decision to deny Vince Hill, a Kansas-City based pilot who for the last 10-plus years has rented numerous hangars at the Allen County Airport, privileges equal to those of local tenants.
Instead of rolling out the carpet to attract out-of-towners, commissioners are pulling it out from under them.
Last week, Hill told commissioners he wants to grow his business here and that he’d like to rent the airport’s newest hangar.
Hill owns Black Horse Aviation, a business that refurbishes vintage airplanes, a real niche. He currently is the airport’s biggest tenant, renting five of its 18 hangars.
Over the past several years Hill also has single-handedly sponsored fly-ins and car shows. Last fall he sponsored “Warbirds and Wheels,” which featured a display of vintage aircraft and hot rods. Proceeds from its food sales, an estimated $2,500, went to the local school district’s special education programs.
In 2022, he held a fly-in that honored Vietnam veterans, showcasing military aircraft from 1971 and 1972.
Hill said that he had been waiting several months to hear whether he could rent the new hangar, so that his crew could perform maintenance on an expanded fleet.
He left the meeting none the wiser.
After Hill’s departure, commissioners:
1. Devised a list for possible renters for those who live in Allen County and those not, giving preference to those in-county;
2. Raised the rates of the airport’s two new hangars from $400 to $600 a month;
3. Said they would not build another hangar as budgeted, but instead hope for a “private investor” to build one.
Commissioner Jerry Daniels was alone in his opposition to the latter two items, overruled by Commissioners David Lee and John Brocker.
Daniels argued the higher rates — which, according to airport manager Robert Poydack are substantially higher than the area rate of between $300 to $450 a month — would deter potential clients and that expecting a private citizen to build a hangar at the airport was akin to asking a motorist to buy the county a road grader for the upkeep of its roads.
Last week’s decisions affected this week’s.
