Officials extend land lease for airport

Lorain County commissioners extended an agricultural land lease agreement for the county airport in a lengthy Oct. 3 meeting.

This extension, which runs from February 2019 to February 2020, is the last one available under the current lease agreement between the county and DechantNotley Farms.

The rate for the lease is $201.50 an acre.

The county owns 616 tillable acres, according to Karen Davis, facilities director for the commissioners.

County Administrator James Cordes said the lease is the major revenue source at the airport bring in.

“Raising corn is our big revenue stream, and leasing this land for that has been very productive,” Cordes said.

The land in front of the airport, along Russia Road in New Russia Township, was first planted with corn a few years ago and since the recession, the facility hasn’t seen near as much use, he said.

The facility is funded mainly through federal dollars from the Federal Aviation Administration, Cordes said.

Also, the commissioners approved a $14,891 contract to United Survey Inc., of Oakwood

Village, for video inspection and cleaning as part of the Sheffield Lake Sewer Improvement Plan.

Work is scheduled to begin Oct. 3 and conclude on or before Nov. 16.

Commissioners also established a minimum user rate for homes in Pheasant Run Village in LaGrange at

400 Gallons a day for residents who’ve not installed a county approved water meter.

Cordes said there are not many holdouts left in the development who are refusing the new meters and that the homeowners association was the group pushing those receiving the new meters to have them put in a different spot than the old meters.

“I think we had about a 99 or 98 percent compliant

rate, and of course, there’s a few who didn’t want to comply,” he said. “And allowing them to not comply really puts a bad taste (in the mouth of) those who did.

“We can’t read those meters; they have to be read manually rather than electronically. So, we’re establishing a minimum rate.”

Cordes added that the rate is based upon “historical family usage.”

“So, it’s not some number that we just plucked down

to be mean to people,” he said adding that he hopes it’s an incentive for people to make the switch to the accepted meters.

In other news, the commissioners declared October as Manufacturing Month.

Don Romancak, director of community development for Lorain County, said this year’s celebration is focusing on Riddell.

“It is actually a name brand known across the country, and its home is in

Lorain County,” Romancak said. “(They) recently moved into a greatly expanded facility, recommitting their commitment to our county and to our workers.”

Romancak was referencing the recent move Riddell made from its former facility in Elyria to a massive plant on Center Ridge Road in North Ridgeville.

The county is making a push to educate area students that manufacturing

“is a viable career choice,” he said.

“There are many pathways to success in life, and one of those is one that we tend to have forgotten about over the years: manufacturing,” Romancak said. “So, we’ll be going out to 12 schools with panels of manufacturers to introduce students to careers in manufacturing.”

“Lorain County makes stuff,” Commissioner Ted Kalo said.