County Airport Manager Shannon Barnhart addresses Public Facilities Committee (June 20, 2023)

The Chautauqua County Airports in Jamestown and Dunkirk have been awarded a total of $306,000 from the FAA for upgrades.

County Airport General Manager Shannon Barnhart asked the Legislature’s Public Facilities Committee to accept the grant, “At Dunkirk, the taxiway Alpha East construction project, we’ll be rehabbing the taxiway. And then, at Jamestown we’ll be rehabbing 34 guidance signs that right now that are in poor to very poor condition. We get docked every year on our FAA inspection, so we were awarded $153,000 per airport that has to be used within a five-year period.”

She said the grant has to be accepted by the County by June 30.

Barnhart added that grant make it possible to do upgrades that are required under FAA safety standards.

The Public Facilities Committee also received an update on the CARTS hub project in downtown Jamestown from Public Facilities Director Tim Card.

Card said bids had been received for the project at 215 East Third Street, “The bids came in just a little over $800,000 and we had budgeted for $500,000. So, we only had one company that bid it. So, upon recommendations from LaBella, the engineers, what we’re going to do is go back out to bid in the fall, probably September, because a lot of these contractors are so busy with school projects and things that they have a timeline with, I think if we wait and go out to bid in the fall we may have a little more success.”

Card said the City of Jamestown is moving forward with removing fuel tanks from the site.

He added that the renovation will include reducing the three bays in the former service garage to two bays with one being a waiting room for passengers and the other being a breakroom for CARTS drivers. He said the parking area also would be redone.

EMS Council Chair Larry Barter addresses Chautauqua County Legislature (April 26, 2023)

A local law that gives volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance workers a break on property taxes has been approved by the Chautauqua County Legislature.

The local law provides a 10% exemption on real property taxes for volunteers who have been in the service for at least two years. For volunteers who are active and have 20 years of service, it provides a lifetime 10% exemption. A second local law approved allows the spouses of volunteers killed in the line of duty to retain that tax exemption as long as they don’t remarry.

Legislator Terry Niebel, one of the sponsors of the bill, spoke in support of the local law, “Without their services, we could easily be spending millions of dollars. Like most counties in New York State, Chautauqua County is experiencing a serious shortage of volunteers. With the two local laws on the agenda this evening, we’re offering the best benefit package allowed by the state.”
Niebel also urged other taxing districts in the county to consider offering the exemption.

The legislature also approved using $50,000 in American Rescue Plan funds toward a market study for the Jamestown Airport. The Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency had approved $25,000 in funding toward the $75,000 project in January.

County Executive PJ Wendel said the study is a necessary part of the Essential Air Service (EAS) application to the U.S. Department of Transportation. He said EAS provides subsidies to airlines to reduce the ticket prices, thus making it more affordable for flyers, “Once this (study) comes back, we are ready if we need to pivot and focus from a commercial airport to a general aviation airport. Shannon (Barnhart) has the tools and the skills. We’ve already got some plans and things we’ve talked about in chatter on what we can do as far as increasing smaller what they call T-hangers, increasing the operability of the airport.”

Wendel said with the Legislature’s approval the county will now do a request for proposals (RFP) to contract with someone for the study.

Jamestown Airport

The Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency Board has approved using $25,000 toward an Airport Market Analysis Study.

IDA CEO and Deputy County Executive of Economic Development Mark Geise said the goal is to do the study as part of hopefully bringing back Essential Air Service to the Jamestown Airport.

The County had proposed in 2021 using $75,000 in American Rescue Plan funds for the feasibility study, but the County Legislature voted it down.

Geise said the IDA’s contribution of $25,000 will lower the cost of the study to the County to $50,000.

Jamestown Airport Manager Shannon Barnhart said the study will look at various data points, “You know, it’s a possibility that air service may not be the best thing for Chautauqua County, but we don’t know. We hope that it is. But without any data showing that people are actually going to fly, we hear every day people want air service back, but, ‘Did you ever fly? You know, are you going to fly? How many times are you going to fly? Where do you spend your money now?’ Someone has to get out there and do that. We do not have the resources within the county, or myself, to go out and do that study on our own.”

Barnhart said the feasibility study is the missing piece in the application to the Department of Transportation. She said it’s the County’s intention to use the study to work with an airline in the application for EAS designation.

County Executive PJ Wendel said there’s also a plan in the event that the study doesn’t go they way they expect, “And Shannon has a plan to shift gears and move towards how do we make this a general aviation airport and how do we start to gain revenue and build that base up again? So, I think this is important, it’s vital, and it’s really going to finally answer the question we’ve been asking and that question hasn’t been answered.”

Geise said he anticipates a resolution will be brought before the County Legislature in February for the remainder of the $50,000 needed to fund the study.

EDITOR’S NOTE: As a point of transparency and disclosure to our audience, the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency is a corporate underwriter for WRFA and has provided a financial contribution for the general operations of the station within the past year. Funding we receive for General Operations is not used to fund our coverage of local news in the community. That is only made possible through a Community Service Grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

Chautauqua County Legislature Meeting (October 26, 2022)

The Chautauqua County Legislature has approved the 2023 County Budget with a 30-cent tax decrease.

The new property tax rate will be $7.80 per $1,000 assessed value with a real property tax levy of $69,681,835.

There was no change in the approved levy and tax rate from what County Executive PJ Wendel proposed in his budget last month.

The Legislature also approved an emergency resolution regarding the lease of the Jamestown Airport Restaurant.

Airport Manager Shannon Barnhart read a letter from Studio D Catering Owner Diana Scott requesting the lease agreement, “We believe that the Jamestown Airport Restaurant would be a great fit as we expand our private catering, begin to offer grab-and-go breakfast and lunches to more than 150 employees within a three-mile radius of the Airport.”

Studio D Catering has been in operation since 2015 and had lost its lease for its space in downtown Jamestown in 2021. Barnhart said the necessity of the emergency resolution was due to the holiday season starting next month and the catering company’s need for event space.

Chautauqua County Legislature at a special meeting on September 12, 2022

The Chautauqua County Legislature approved a resolution accepting a $669,915 grant for the Dunkirk Airport at a special meeting Monday night.

Airport Manager Shannon Barnhart, speaking at the meeting, said that money from the Federal Aviation Administration would go toward upgrading the lighting on the crosswind runway to LED lights. She said it is required to have fully working lights on the runway. Barnhart added the project has already been approved and that the legislature was just accepting the grant award.

Legislator Elisabeth Rankin noted that 90% of the project will be funded by the FAA grant, “As we support the airport infrastructure, the infrastructure needs support and funding, this grant is vital to the support of safe and effective operations at the airport. And I’m in favor of this funding and of this resolution.”

The total cost of the project is $744,351 with a 5% share of $37,218 coming from both the county and the New York State Department of Transportation.

Shannon Barnhart, Manager of Airports, and PJ Wendel, Chautauqua County Executive

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel has announced the appointment of Shannon Barnhart as the new Manager of Airports for Chautauqua County.

Barnhart replaces former director Ron Almeter.

Wendel discussed his efforts to hire a full-time airport manager in his State of the County address, “To give our county airports the proper attention that they need to take our airports in new directions for economic development, expand services, and generate revenue for Chautauqua County.”

Barnhart previously served as an aviation planning project manager at Crawford, Murphy & Tilly, Inc., where she assisted airports with obtaining funding and executing projects to better their facilities. Prior to that, she served as a Planning Manager for the City of Cleveland Department of Port Control, which oversees the planning and noise sections at Cleveland Hopkins and Burke Lakefront Airports in Cleveland, Ohio.

Barnhart earned her Associate’s degree in Travel and Tourism at Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y. and her Bachelor’s degree in Aviation Management and Operations at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. She also has a Master’s degree in Aviation Safety from the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo.

Barnhart and her family currently reside in Randolph.