Carson City airport appointment highlights projects and challenges

The Carson City Board of Supervisors’ unanimous reappointment of Timothy Puliz to the Airport Authority on Thursday gave Puliz a chance to talk about the future of the Carson City Airport.

Puliz will continue serving as a representative of pilots on the seven-member board. During his interview with supervisors, he emphasized safety at the airport comes first.

“As the pilot rep, my biggest and most important concern is safety,” he said.

Puliz added that as a board member, he wants to see “reasonable and successful development that is going to utilize more high-end aircraft.”
“I would love to see a new terminal building constructed over the next several years,” he said.

Mayor Lori Bagwell asked Puliz to discuss, in his view, the most important project at the airport.

“The most important project is our nighttime instrument approach procedure that is going forward currently because that allows us to attract more jet-type traffic willing to locate at our airport,” Puliz said.

Supervisor Lisa Schuette asked about challenges at the airport.

“We’re in a good position to develop and to grow, but the challenges are how do we get the money?” Puliz said. “The FAA has got billions of dollars that they distribute to the airport community. How we can convince the FAA to put our projects up on the ladder, up on their rungs, is hugely challenging. Airport manager Corey Jenkins and the board — we work constantly on how we can possibly strategize to get our projects higher up on the list.”

Puliz said he collaborates with others to solve problems, such as noise complaints from community members.

“We try to come up with some type of solution that is somewhat of a win-win,” he said. “You can’t always stop noise, but you can at least listen to their concerns and maybe adjust the traffic pattern or adjust procedures, which we’ve been fortunate to do.

“So, I can currently say right now, at our airport, with the dozens of people who have had issues over the last several years, we’ve resolved them all.”

Supervisors were impressed with other applicants — pilots with years of experience — but agreed to retain someone already familiar with the board.

“What I hear from the airport, and all the members and people that call me, is that the last couple of years have been wonderful. It’s really taken a change in the right direction,” Bagwell said.
Bagwell thanked other candidates and added, “It shows me that the bench is deep. We really like that, that there is someone else that can come in and help.”

In other action:

• Supervisors unanimously approved changing the part-time classified position of Carson City Sheriff’s Office administrative assistant to an unclassified full-time position of CCSO administrative officer.

Requested by Sheriff Ken Furlong, the change will raise the current budget for the position, including benefits, from $96,228 to $114,848.27, according to a fiscal impact statement.

• Supervisors unanimously authorized a grant application, and any award, from the Carson City Fire Department to the Bureau of Land Management’s Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act Round 20 grant program.

CCFD is asking for about $2.8 million for wildfire defense projects in upper Kings Canyon and the Clear Creek area over a six-year period.

No local match is required.

Carson City Fire Department Battalion Chief Kevin Nyberg told supervisors the city has a good chance of getting the grant funding.

• As part of the consent agenda, supervisors unanimously approved a settlement between the city and Travelers Indemnity Company from which the city will receive $420,000 in exchange for dismissing claims against Travelers.

The settlement resolves a dispute about liability coverage. In 2019 and 2020, the city settled claims stemming from a 2016 incident at a city-run summer camp — paying $630,000 — and later brought action against Travelers regarding the amount of coverage the company provided.