Falcon Field

officials are worrying that construction on its commercially-designated

Hangar Area B won't be completed on time.

Airport Manager

Jim Savage told the Airport Authority Wednesday night that the project

slowed down significantly over the holidays, partially due to weather

conditions over the past few weeks.

But Savage

also contended that the contractor, Cline Construction, should have started

the job earlier than it did. The project didn't get underway until mid-October,

he said.

"At some

point, we're going to have to request another meeting and perhaps be more

forceful," Savage said.

If the project

is late, Cline is subject to pay $750 a day in liquidated damages to the

authority, Savage noted.

"It's

really kind of frustrating they haven't put more than a handful of people

here (working on the project)," Savage added.

Even though

there's a chance the project won't finish on time, the authority is forging

ahead with plans to lease the hangar area space. Currently, deposits have

been placed on two of the six hangar areas.

The authority

has set Feb. 15 as the final date for anyone with deposits for the area

to sign a lease contract or have their deposit returned. The authority

will require payment of a year's rent in advance, but those funds won't

be deducted until the area is ready for them to build their hangars.

"We want

someone to come in right behind us and start building," said authority

chairperson Catherine Nelmes.

The authority

also discussed beginning the planning process for the next six-month budget.

Nelmes said she wanted to see a list of the necessary improvement projects

the authority needs to fund and complete.

"We need

to see how many immediate expenses we'll have coming up and I think it

will be significant," she said.

Nelmes was

reappointed chairperson of the authority while H.E. Buffington was reappointed

its secretary-treasurer. The authority has no vice-chair, but the secretary-treasurer

runs meetings in the absence of the chairperson.

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