A mission statement could help the flying public and anyone else know what Wiscasset Municipal Airport is all about, airport committee members and airport manager Frank Costa said Jan. 20.

The town-owned airport is committed to encouraging economic development, and offering a safe, reliable, friendly place for aviation, according to a draft mission statement Costa floated to the committee.

The draft gets into more specifics including well-groomed grounds and the airport’s relationship with schools. But committee members suggested Costa pare it from three paragraphs to one, and pull or rewrite his reference to offering the lowest fuel prices on the midcoast.

That’s a promise the airport can’t keep, because the price the town pays for any batch of fuel impacts the selling price, Chairman Ken Boudin said. Pilots can look up fuel prices around the country, so they will know if Wiscasset is the lowest in the area or not, he added.

Costa thanked members for their input. He asked them to provide written comments, as well, to help him revise the draft. When it’s ready, he will propose it to Town Manager Marian Anderson, he said.

The  mission statement was Costa’s idea. “It gives a direction. When you look at a mission statement, it tells the staff and anybody that comes to visit, or when they are visiting our website, that these folks are not just sitting there idle, they actually have something in mind that they want to do,” he said before passing out copies of the draft.

Committee member Steve Williams has worked on other organizations’ mission statements. They’re best kept short to encourage reading, and so they can go on stationery and other displays, Williams said.

“But I agree with you, in that it can be real beneficial to everybody concerned with the airport, in regards to defining, a little bit, who we are and what our primary purpose for existing is,” he told Costa.

Member Bryan Buck suggested using the term “flying public,” perhaps in place of “surrounding areas” when describing who the airport serves beyond Wiscasset. “You want to draw in people from away,” he said.

Although members favored shortening the draft, they told Costa that the parts he cuts could have use, in some form, outside the mission statement.

Furnace update

The town put the airport’s furnace replacement out to bid earlier that day, Costa said.

Boudin said he might contact Town Manager Marian Anderson to encourage her to seek bids from local companies. There are some very capable ones that might charge less than other firms for the job, he said.

The panel agreed with Costa to put off creating a garage door for the main terminal’s hangar, so that the building wouldn’t be open to the cold while the work is under way.

The furnace that broke down weeks ago dates to the 1980s, committee members said. The airport has been getting by with its two pellet stoves and two new, approximately $49 heaters for tenants’ offices upstairs, Costa said.

“As soon as the price of oil goes down, our oil furnace dies,” Boudin said.

Loaner car shuffle

Visiting pilots will still have a way to get around town, but not in the airport’s 1990s Chevrolet Impala. It’s no longer fit to be on the road and needs to be hauled away, to get it out of the way of snowplowing, committee members said.

The car had high mileage when it was donated the airport around 2010, members said.

There are no immediate plans to replace it. Newcastle Chrysler, which keeps two rental vehicles at the airport, has offered a free loaner for up to three hours at a time, Costa said.

“It’s very generous for them to do that,” Buck said.

Also Jan. 20, Boudin reported that Kevin Sprague does not plan to seek re-appointment; Sprague’s term ran out Dec. 31, Boudin said.

The committee meets next at 6 p.m. Feb. 17, at the airport on Chewonki Neck Road.