Greenville board approves airport master plan

GREENVILLE — A master plan for the Greenville Municipal Airport was approved by the select board during a March 4 meeting.

The plan was developed by Dubois & King with Aviation Director Guy Rouelle and Jen Riccardi of Dubois & King presenting on the plan developed over the last year.

Rouelle said several years ago the FAA was looking at small airports across the country. The agency said it only wanted to fund one of the two runways in Greenville. 

“When we started this master plan it really was how do we best utilize now that they’re no longer going to fund anymore?,” Rouelle said. “Is it going to be a runway that the town decides to maintain on its own, still to FAA standards even though they are not going to fund it or is it reused and for what purpose?”

Since then the FAA has reconsidered, in large part to the site having a lot of crosswind.

The master plan includes inventory, capacity assessment and facility requirements, including a plan for lengthening a runaway when the time comes and additional paving with potential funding sources.

A decade ago it was more difficult to show the need for the Greenville Municipal Airport, Select Chair Geno Murray said. “I believe now folks recognize the importance and the economic value of the airport,” he said.

In other business, the board heard from Fire Chief Sawyer Murray.

“Calls are up, last year we finished our busiest year on record,” Murray said. “It’s steadily increased since 2017. Following suit this year, we are already ahead of where we were last year.”

The fire department has provided a lot of EMS assists, responded to more car accidents and chimney fires compared to past years. Nuisance calls, such as fallen trees, are down, Murray said.

About $320,000 in grants have been awarded in the last three years for equipment such as gear and washers and dryers, forest fire fighting apparatus and a snowmobile and trailer. This helps cut down on what taxpayers need to cover.

A cost recovery policy is in place for non-residents/non-taxpayers as well as for someone’s third false alarm call.

“Since we’ve implemented it in 2024, we’ve brought in just over $17,000 in recuperate funds,” Murray said. 

A company handles this for the department in exchange for a small percentage of what is given by the insurance company.

“Sometimes we settle on a little lower price but it’s guaranteed to come back to us,” the chief said.

The department has 26 members with about 15 being active. 

“We could always use more help,” Murray said.

Moosehead Lake Region Economic Corporation President Margarita Contreni gave an update on recent  organization happenings.

“We decided to expand our outreach beyond having a countywide job fair, we are trying to reach other students beyond our region and attract them to our businesses,” she said.

The MLREC was at a University of Maine job fair, with nearly 70 attendees visiting the group’s table, and another job fair at Husson University.

Students from the Tri-County Technical Center in Dexter will be coming north to learn about the opportunities available.

“Recruitment of employees remains a big issue for our businesses and we’re pleased to help out through these initiatives as we can,” Contreni said.

She was asked to serve a strategic planning group for the Eastern Maine Development Corp. The work will help identify “what their priorities are and how to move forward,” Contreni said.