• Enacted 2015 county budget

• county deeds return home

• Funding standoff may    force return of inmates

• Cost to restore jail to full    time pegged at $1.4 million

• Cumberland county jail may    have to turn away inmates

• Commissioner Timothy    Turner sworn in

• Assistant district attorneys    sworn in Jan. 5

• Register of Deeds Shearman    sworn in for second term

• Sheriff Wayne Gallant    sworn in for third term

• Commissoners 2015 meeting    schedule

• County continues jail    payments to state

• $6.58 million budget ok'd

• Stairs, repairs bulk of    increases in budget

• Registry of Deeds office    going digital

• County given land near    regional airport

• County switching deeds    records company

• 911 dispatch - the glue    that  binds emergency    services

• County tax levy by towns

County considers closing airport

by Christopher Crosby, Staff Writer Sun Journal Feb. 26, 2014

PARIS — County officials are exploring the possibility of shutting down the Oxford County Regional Airport's runway, one of several options under review in the face of mounting costs and little use. 

Closing the Oxford County airport is among the options being considered by county officials in the wake of the airport losing its sole tenant last year.

Officials have been grappling with the situation since the county evicted the airport's sole tenant — Oxford Aviation, an airplane refurbishment business — last year for violating the conditions of their lease. 

Because it's an unmanned facility, there's no firm tally on the number of pilots taking off and landing. Although the runway is open, it's widely believed traffic has ground to a halt, in part because of a spell when there was no gasoline for pilots to refuel. 

To offset its own bills and re-establish traffic, the county is attempting to woo new suitors to run an aviation business inside the hangars.

Those efforts run afoul of significant financial hurdles: The buildings are in disrepair, requiring several hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of workthat officials hope a prospective business will pay. 

According to County Administrator Scott Cole, discussions with several businesses have been under way for several months. Glen Holmes, director of economic development for Community Concepts, a Lewiston-based nonprofit, said by phone Friday that advanced negotiations with an airplane refurbishment business are ongoing, with a chance for a deal to be wrapped up in the spring.

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