A plane takes off from the Hartselle-Morgan County Regional Airport. The city has been approved to make a $330,000 upgrade to pave the apron near one of the hangars. | Brent Maze

The Hartselle City Council approved a $271,730.19 bid from Reed Contracting Services, Inc., for upgrades to the Hartselle-Morgan County Regional Airport.

Department of Development Director Jeff Johnson said the project would improve an apron of the runway near one of the airport’s hangars. Currently, that area is not paved.

“We’ve had some complaints from pilots who have started their planes in this area,” Johnson said. “It’s pretty much sandblasting their plane when it kicks up the dirt and gravel in that part of the runway apron.”

The project would include some excavation of the area, hangar removal and reset, a six-inch base and asphalt pavement.

Johnson said the amount would be covered by a $330,000 grant from the Airport Improvement Program under the Federal Aviation Administration. The city would only have to match $16,500, with the rest coming from federal and state funding sources.

In other business, the council:

• annexed property on Main Street West owned by Carol McClellan Wiley and zoned it B-1 (local shopping).

• extended the $2,400 per month lease with Premier Furniture, Mfg., Inc., for the building on U.S. 31 North.

• used the remaining funds from its park account to help pay for extending the road at the Jack E. Maddox Industrial Park. This is a joint venture with the Morgan County Commission and the Morgan County Economic Development Association.