Commissioner Chris, chairman of the Pickens County Board of Commissioners, told a town-hall meeting that the county has absorbed control of the Pickens County Airport after recent state action and faces a roughly $300,000 annual operating shortfall that county officials say requires new management decisions and revenue strategies.

The airport’s Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) remains offline while the county and its contractor exchange material with the Federal Aviation Administration, county officials said. The county has postponed a federally funded fencing project and scheduled interviews for a permanent airport manager as part of a push to make the field more self-sustaining.

The shortfall and the AWOS outage are central to the county’s immediate priorities. “The reality is the airport’s operating at about $300,000 less than what it’s generating,” Commissioner Chris said. He and advisory-board members urged the community to prioritize getting the AWOS returned to service so jet fuel sales and other revenue streams recover.

At the meeting, Commissioners described steps already underway: forming an advisory board that includes several members from the airport’s prior authority; holding seven interviews in September for the airport manager position; and meeting with the contractor that holds the terminal/FBO contract to pursue value engineering and avoid restarting the Federal Aviation Administration approval process. “If we can, we’re gonna find a way to pull that off,” Chris said of keeping the terminal project moving without redoing FAA approvals.

Speakers at the town hall, including long-time tenants and pilots, urged the county to preserve a grass “grip” used for tailwheel and bush operations, to make the field more welcoming to visiting pilots, and to keep grass-run maintenance and training uses in planning. Jack Hunt, a tenant who said he’s used the field for 13 years, estimated a modest terminal could be built “for probably a million and a half dollars” and said restoring AWOS and an open terminal would help fuel sales return.

County staff and some speakers described operational constraints tied to utilities and local government jurisdiction. Officials said the city annexed the airport parcel in April to allow connection of sewer and water lines; the county retains property ownership and operational control but must work with the city to extend utility service. The county said the city has accepted the newly opened sewer lift station but has not yet approved the county’s requested expansion lines for additional connections.

County leaders said they temporarily put a fencing project on hold because funding and construction priorities now favor restoring AWOS service. The county explained that some external grants carry matching or pass-through requirements and that focusing on AWOS would better protect the airport’s immediate revenue stream, while fencing could wait.

Several speakers raised site-specific logistics: emergency access and addressing for hangars, drainage and a request for a small culvert to relieve standing water on a service road, and the cost trade-offs between using sheriff’s work crews versus contracting private crews for runway and grounds work. Officials said they will follow up with public-works and road departments and log those requests.

No formal votes or binding actions were recorded at the town hall. County officials described the advisory board’s first meeting as scheduled after the town hall and said staff will continue negotiations with the terminal builder and FAA to get the AWOS tower approved and the FBO under construction. Iris Harris, who identified herself as a former aeronautics official and a NASA-certified instructor, praised the county’s direction and urged patience with the FAA process.

The county asked the public for continued input and said more formal updates would follow as staff and the new advisory board complete inventories, refine policies, and report back to the board of commissioners.