News File Photo This April 2016 photo from The News archives shows a plane being loaded at the Alpena County Regional Airport.

ALPENA — Staff at the Alpena County Regional Airport is about to increase as the county moves forward with adding three new employees and to be paid from a nearly $18 million federal grant the airport received.

Two full-time employees will be added to the crew of Alpena Ground Maintenance and the third will be an assistant airport manager to help Manager Steve Smigelski. The airport recently received a grant from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Alpena Ground Services is contracted by the county to perform ground and facility upkeep and maintenance.

Smigelski said the two employees hired by Alpena Ground Service will add an additional $99,000 to the $242,000 contract and will include a custodian focused on maintaining the airport’s new terminal, which opened earlier this year. The other employee will help with airfield maintenance.

The county is in year three of a five-year contract with Alpena Ground Services.

“We want to keep that place as clean and looking good for as many years as we can,” Smigelski said. “By adding another operations person, it will improve our responses for snow removal and just about everything.”

Smigelski said adding employees was something that could have been done before, but a lack of funding made that difficult, until now.

Adding an assistant manager is something that needs to be done in order to ensure there is someone with the ability to take over for Smigelski, if needed. Smigelski said having a qualified person on staff could also ensure a smooth transition in the future when he retires.

“This is about continuity,” he said. “We have a vision for the airport and we will need someone who will be able to know who to proceed in fulfilling that vision and move right in and be able to do so.”

Smigelski said he will work on a hiring package and begin the application process on June 1. He said candidates will then be selected by the county Board of Commissioners at its July meeting.

Business has been very slow at the airport the last few months because of the COVID-19 pandemic and people’s reluctance to travel at this time. Smigelski said hiring now is a good thing, because it will allow the new employees a chance to get acquainted with the airport, operations, and their coworkers.

“Now is the perfect time, because they can get familiar with the airfield, communications with the tower, and with the snow removal equipment even before a flake of snow falls,” Smigelski said. “They also have a ton of regulatory training to go through. The time is perfect.”