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Morristown City Council, in its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, authorized city staff to apply to the Tennessee Department of Transportation for the 2023 Aeronautics Economic Development Fund grant.

The grant application is for the purpose of designing and performing renovations at the Morristown Regional Airport, specifically to the Tennessee College of Applied Technology hangar and classroom building. TCAT uses the facilities to support job creation in the field of aviation via a long-term lease with the city.

“The city and the airport commission has been working hard for an extended time to make improvements to the TCAT facility at the airfield,” City Administrator Tony Cox said. “This is an important program for the training of aircraft mechanics. Individuals that go to this school are highly employable and have a very high placement rate.

“This is something we are seeing competitors from communities across the state trying to take this program away. If we could, we need to step up our facilities. This grant award would allow us to make significant improvements in those facilities that are desperately needed,” he said.

TDOT has $2.5 million available for this funding opportunity, which is a residual and recouped amount from previously awarded projects that were not able to proceed. The exact application amount is still to be determined.

A minimum 10 percent match is required. Council will be updated as the grant process moves along.

According to to city staff, the airport’s most recent capital improvement plan document includes designing a renovation of the TCAT facilities in this fiscal year and pursuing construction in FY 2024.

Council also approved a work authorization for Goodwyn Mills Cawood in the amount of $175,000 to provide architectural design and bid phase services for the TCAT project.

GMC was selected as the airport’s engineering firm of record through a recent solicitation by city staff.

A recent structural assessment of the office building and hangar reveal a longstanding settling issue at one corner of the office and several issues with water infiltrating around windows and seeping into the block wall.

The office was not originally created to serve as classrooms for the mechanic’s program, and while TCAT has taken advantage of the space as best they can, a renovation may allow for a more efficient and effective use of the space that may even allow for expansion of their program.

City staff noted that TCAT’s program at the airport has a 100% placement rate for its graduates and is an impressive asset in economic development for Morristown.

This project is slated for this fiscal year on the Airport’s Capital Improvement Program, and while not specifically called for in the FY23 budget, the airport budget has the flexibility with which to proceed, according to staff.