Business View Magazine - Dec 2023

Washington and it took over a year for Congress and the FAA, which would be dispersing the funds, to come to an agreement. “So, after 14 months of discussions, the bottom line was we got to keep the funding, but we had to use the funds by June 2024 or we would lose them. So now, we’re 14 months behind in any planning that we could have done, but since there’s rarely any money to do terminals, we decided to expand ours with that money.We had several other projects that our consultants said we’d be able to do with the amount of money we were going to get: we need a new aircraft rescue and firefighting/snow removal equipment building because we’ve outgrown the one that we are in; we were going to expand our parking lot; improve our runway; and we had this apron reconstruction project planned. Well, the bids came in for our terminal expansion at well over double what was anticipated (the current budget for the renovation is $14.8 million). So it turned out we only got to do the terminal expansion with our CARES money, and our project list is still quite long with no funding to do them right now.” One of the other big updates is we’ll be having a baggage carousel now. Other than that, the TSA screening area will be expanded quite a bit and, apparently, they have some new technology coming out, so we’ll be ready for when it comes. Overall, we’re just giving everybody a little more space. DEVILS LAKE IN NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA IS A PLACE TO VISIT, LEARN AND EARN. The Devils Lake airport is the entrance to a destination that hasWorld Class fishing and hunting and many opportunities to also earn a living. The areas hunting and fishing opportunities are one reason many people who visit choose to make the Devils Lake region their home. World Class Walleye, Perch, White Bass and Northern Pike are a 5-minute drive from downtown Devils Lake. The Devils Lake region also offers World class waterfowl hunting due to the Devils Lake drainage basin that surrounds the 150,000+ acre lake. Forward Devils Lake Corporation works in attracting and retaining businesses to the Devils Lake region. FDL offers many State of ND and local financial incentives including tax benefits, loan interest buydowns and cash grants to qualified business applicants who are interested in moving or branching out to the Devils Lake region. North Dakotas Department of Commerce also has a significant amount of financial incentives that along with Devils Lake local incentives an potential company can use to reduce their capital and financing needs when locating to Devils Lake. Getting here is easy with access to the world via the Devils Lake Airport with daily flight service to Denver International Airport or via train by Amtrak’s Empire Builder service from Chicago to Seattle. 344 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 12