Photo by Jim Burns
This year’s second annual Wings Over Batavia has already shown a promising sign of the air show's ongoing popularity: an uptick in attendance.
The 2024 event brought in some 2,000 additional people to Genesee County Airport, according to Tim Hens’ annual public works report.
There were approximately 11,000 attendees and volunteers on the premises this year, said Hens, the county’s public works commissioner.
Other figures that strayed from year one of the event were the 2,750 gallons of aviation fuel the county sold to the air show, resulting in $16,500 in revenue for the airport, he said.
Fuel sales spiked at the end of 2023, one of the first real increases since the pandemic, Hens said. The return of the Mercy Flight helicopter helped Jet-A sales. This higher level of usage has continued this year, especially as fuel prices have come down a little, he said.
Overtime costs for public works employees at the air show were identical to those cited in 2023: $6,308. There were no traffic, safety or security issues and only two minor injuries, he said — a volunteer lacerated a finger and a patron suffered dehydration — that required medical attention.
For a second year in a row, Hens noted the quiet (outside of the Labor Day festivities) due to the lack of construction but promised that it is coming.
A future project for 2025 will include the replacement of many incandescent runway and taxiway lights with LED versions. “This should generate future savings on electrical usage,” he said.
An equipment storage building is being designed for construction in 2025, to be mostly paid for with a state AIR-99 grant.
The county is working with OnCore Aviation, a start-up flight school at the airport, which has “great plans for the airport and the local aviation community,” Hens said. He believes “a successful flight school is essential at the airport.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, a senior engineering technician position paying $7 less per hour than the going market rate has remained vacant since May 2023, “with very few interested in the position,” he said.
“We also continue to have high turnover in positions,” Hens said. “We recently lost another very experienced heavy equipment operator who left for the town of Pembroke, which pays significantly more than the county.”
Work goes on, though, with the Fargo Road Bridge in Bethany under construction and scheduled for completion this fall and the Attica Road Bridge replacement design nearing completion and to go out for bid in 2025.
The county has eight federal aid or bridge or culvert projects programmed over the next three years, he said.
Other projects in progress, whether in the design or construction phase, include renovations at the Engine House on West Main Street to add an elevator and make the second floor more accessible; the Animal Shelter, mandated under state policy to be upgraded no later than Dec. 31, 2025, with the biggest change to be air-conditioned kennels; and Holland Land Office Museum’s several life-safety upgrades and Americans with Disabilities Act accommodations, also slated for 2025.
Under the county water category, “there’s always a lot going on with water,” Hens said.
Improvements continue at the city water treatment plant. The filter media was completely replaced, the new lime slaker and boiler were installed, the roof over the pipe gallery was repaired, some electrical and pump upgrades were made, and more is scheduled for the off-peak season. Hens believes there’s more reliability at the water plant, and it’s made a difference.
“We were able to make it through the summer without any type of water restriction,” he said.
Counter to that, there has been slow progress with Phase 2 of the county’s three-phase water project, he said. Investigation is being done about corroded materials at the Mumford and Churchville Pump Stations, and corrosion and its cause are delaying the completion of four remaining pump stations under construction.
Progress has been made on the Morgan Road Pump Station, but due to the related corrosion problems at other stations, the pump selection and ordering must be completed before the improvements and extra water needed can be brought online, he said.
”Without a resolution within the next several weeks, the Phase 2 pump stations might not be brought online until 2026,” he said.
The Phase 3 basis of design, a significant project requiring the entire county to be reevaluated from a hydraulic and water quality standpoint, is nearing completion.
Funding is also a major issue for the project's $150 million third phase.
“We continue to seek funds from anyone and everyone,” he said.
The county recently applied for and received a $30 million Water Infrastructure Improvement grant, and “we have whispers that we might be successful on the first $10 million from the environmental program funds set aside within the Water Resources Development Act.”
