Greene commissioners approve airport agreement
WAYNESBURG – Greene County commissioners approved a license agreement Thursday with Waynesburg College allowing the college to use the county airport for a major NCAA cross-country meet in November. Commission Chairwoman Pam Snyder said the formal agreement means that the college will sponsor the event and the county will provide the use of the airport for the athletes to use.
The NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s cross-country championship will be held on Saturday, Nov. 11, and will feature 40 or more teams from the Mideast Region, the second-largest NCAA Division III region in the county. This will be the third collegiate meet that will be held at the county airport this year. The PAC conference championship will be held there on Oct. 28.
Snyder said the airport will be closed during the hours of the meet but will reopen after the event is finished.
Blair Zimmerman, men’s and women’s cross-country head coach at the college, said holding the meets locally is a “big deal” for the college and for the conference.
“We’re excited about it,” he said. “It’s been a lot of hard work to coordinate this, but it will be worth it.”
Zimmerman said he envisions the meets to be a regular fixture for the county in the future, even hoping that one day Greene County could host the nationals.
Snyder said commissioners saw the license agreement as “yet another exciting opportunity for the county to work with other entities.”
In other action Thursday, the commissioners authorized the payment of $100,418.84 for a change order for extra work and materials on the Greene River Trail.
Commissioner Dave Coder said Wednesday that the change order is necessary because of unforeseen drainage problems along the new portion of the 12-mile trail. The change order will be covered under the initial federal funding stream that the county received earlier this year. The funding, which totals $500,000, was awarded to the county through a federal transportation bill that was handed down through the state.
Construction on the new portion of the trail began last month, and Snyder said the county hopes the trail will be finished within a few weeks. Coder said roughly six miles of the overall trail have been completed thus far.
Commissioners also approved a contract with Wilbur Smith and Associates for the construction of the new county tennis courts, which will replace the ones that were previously located across from the county fairgrounds.
The old courts were demolished at the end of August. The courts would to be built on county-owned property on Rolling Meadows Road near the Greene County Historical Society and Museum.
Construction on the new courts is expected to begin Monday.
Commissioners also authorized a change order totaling $5,073.57 for general construction of the new aquatics center. Snyder said the change order would be used to purchase additional dirt and gravel that is needed because the ground had become saturated by water from the old pool.
Masscon Inc. of Uniontown was awarded the contract this past May for general construction of the new park. The total cost of the new center has been estimated at $3.3 million.