Hansen honored for more than 20 years on county airport authority

On Tuesday, the Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners honored Arlene Hansen with a certificate of appreciation for her more than two decades of serving the county on its airport authority.

"I'd like to present a certificate of appreciation to Arlene Hansen. This is by the Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners, in recognition of her 20 plus years of loyal, dedicated service to the members of the Cheboygan County Airport Authority," said county administrator Jeff Lawson. "And the citizens of Cheboygan. We appreciate that."

The Cheboygan County Airport Authority is the owner of the Cheboygan Airport, located two miles west of the City of Cheboygan, at 1520 Levering Road. It is an airport that is open to the public and provides multiple services to surrounding communities, including being a landing location for AeroMed flights for people needing to be flown to larger hospitals for care.

The airport also offers fuel services for personal and commercial aircraft, as well as multiple hangars for the storage of privately owned aircraft.

Hansen thanked the county officials for allowing her the opportunity to serve the county by working with the airport authority and its other members.

"The airport provides much needed services for medical needs, mail services to the islands and offers other services that makes us vital to our community," said Hansen. "And God bless you."

There are nine members on the airport authority board, made up entirely of volunteers, as they are not paid for their service. The only paid member of the board is the treasurer, who is given a stipend for doing the bookkeeping for the airport.

The airport authority is responsible for the upkeep of the airport, as well as making the decisions as to which projects or improvements need to be done at the facility. Past projects have included improving internet connectivity and renovations to the terminal building where passengers wait for their flights.

The airport is funded by the county, as well as through grants at the federal and state level, and the income of renting the hangar space and sale of fuel.

Contact Features Writer Kortny Hahn at khahn1@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @khahnCDT.