Survey may attract commercial passenger service

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Luke Schmidt, at left, president of L.B. Schmidt & Associates, and Martin Shearer, executive director of Somerset-Pulaski County Development Foundation, are shown at Lake Cumberland Regional Airport’s Terminal on Kit Cowan Road in Somerset. Yesterday they announced the launch of a regional survey of air travelers in hopes of attracting a commercial passenger service to the airport.

February 9, 2012

By KEN SHMIDHEISER, Managing Editor and CHRIS HARRIS, Staff Writer Commonwealth Journal The Commonwealth Journal Thu Feb 09, 2012, 08:55 PM EST

Somerset —

Has the time come for the Lake Cumberland region to become a hub in the nation’s air travel network? Somerset-Pulaski County Development Foundation hopes to answer that question now that commercial airline carriers are again expressing interest in locating passenger airline service in Somerset.

Yesterday, Martin Shearer, executive director of Somerset-Pulaski County Development Foundation, and Luke Schmidt, president of L.B. Schmidt & Associates, announced the launch of a regional survey of air travelers. The purpose of the survey will be to confirm both existing and future air travel patterns, and the demand for passenger airline service in the Somerset region.

During the past two years, community leaders have been quietly working to develop new airline service at the Lake Cumberland Regional Airport (also known by its three letter identification code, SME). This effort has included updating the market profile, establishing a target list of potential providers of commercial air service and recruiting the providers to Lake Cumberland Regional.

The survey is targeted towards 137,000 Facebook users across southcentral Kentucky. In addition to Pulaski County, input is being sought from residents of in Bell, Casey, Clay, Jackson, Knox, Laurel, Leslie, Lincoln, McCreary, Owsley, Rockcastle, Russell, Wayne and Whitley counties. The survey can be accessed by visiting:

www.surveymonkey.com/s/somersetairtravelsurvey

This month two years ago as the economy continued to sour, Locair, a Florida-based airline carrier terminated passenger service at the airport here following the expiration of a million-dollar federal grant that made the flights possible.

“Business and industry leaders throughout the region have asked repeatedly when air service will be restored to SME,” Shearer noted.

Today, with the stock market at its highest levels in years, and the number of people seeking unemployment near a four-year low, Somerset-Pulaski County Development Foundation feels the time has come to respond.

The airport’s attractive $1 million terminal is now staffed and being used by the private aviation community as attested by a jet parked on the tarmac outside the Kit Cowan Road terminal yesterday.

“The Foundation recognizes the important role that airline service can play in not only providing a valuable service for our residents, but also in helping to attract new jobs to the region,” Shearer said.

As part of its efforts to restore air service at Lake Cumberland Regional, the Foundation retained Louisville-based consulting firm L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC to assist in the effort. The consulting firm updated the market profile, which recognizes that the airport will serve 15 Kentucky counties with a combined population of 384,000 people. The firm has also identified several potential providers of air service and has met with each of these companies to introduce the Somerset market. The focus now turns to a regional survey of air travelers to fully understand where people from this region travel to and how often.

“Today, we are announcing the launch of our survey which is open to any and all business and industry representatives, professionals and individuals who travel by air for any reason—business or personal,” said Luke B. Schmidt, consultant to the Foundation. “We have designed a short, easy to complete survey which will help us to understand just where people from this region fly to and how often they fly. And, in order to help drive participation, we are using social media, specifically Facebook, in an effort to reach the largest number of potential users of SME airport.”

“The survey will help us to better understand the market and the demand for airline service in this region,” said Schmidt. “More importantly, a robust level of participation in the survey will help to match this market to the right provider.”

The survey period will continue through February 24, 2012.

Somerset-Pulaski County Development Foundation serves as the economic development arm for the Somerset and Pulaski County, Kentucky region. The Foundation facilitates the development of new jobs by recruiting world-class firms to the community and also assists existing business and industry through the expansion of existing facilities.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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