Building Iron County Michigan

It is apparent that despite the earlier failed attempt
to build a new county airport, Iron County has
never given up on the idea. In the long term picture,
I think the County Board has this one right. It is
my guess that a builder/developer, or at least a pool
of them, has already been chosen. This is the moment,
perhaps the last possible moment, to get the rest of
the project right.

This is the time for our EDC to sit down with a
builder/developer or few to figure out the manning
and staffing for the airport project from this point
forward. We need to know as soon as possible
precisely the type, caliber, and number of skills
and crafts necessary to complete the project, and
we need to immediately provide, at county expense,
such training as is necessary to complete the skill
sets required for the project so that from the
moment that ground is broken, we can assure
that local people are building their own airport.

Ideally this would also be true for all major con-
struction projects in Iron County's future. There's
no reason why it can't be.

As a practical matter, they will doubtless not all be
Iron County residents. We, as a community, need to
set some distance limit on how far away the workers
live as a permanent feature in their lives, meaning
where they live from today to a year after completion
of the new airport building project. I suggest a 100
mile distance limit. Perhaps less is better?

And finally, even more important, I think the public
needs assurance that this is not some "cargo cult"
(use your favorite internet search engine on the
words) project where a means is provided for
commerce that has no hope of success. The need for
any new airport for Iron County needs to be justi-
fied in advance. I'm in favor of it, but I too want
proof.

Bill Vajk