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Midland City Council accepts federal grant worth nearly $23 million in airport COVID-19 relief funding

The council also terminated the Spaceport Development Corporation and approved money for two new fire stations in Tuesday's meeting.

MIDLAND, Texas — During Tuesday's Midland City Council meeting, officials voted for the termination of the Midland Spaceport Development Corporation, accepted funds from a federal COVID-19 relief act, and approved money for the construction of two new city fire stations. 

City receives CARES Act funds:

The city council accepted $22,935,854 worth of funds from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, act to be put to use in the Department of Airports. 

The Director of Airports, Justine Ruff, says that they hope to receive the money within the next two-to-three weeks and that it will be used for employee and utility bill payments.

The CARES Act was passed by congress and signed into law on March 27, containing $2 trillion worth of economic relief funds.

The act stipulates money for state and local governments, which the city council will receive, as well as for one-time payments to American workers, and loans to small businesses. 

The cities of Lubbock and Amarillo received $9.5 million and $7.6 million respectively, making the payment Midland received the highest in the area.

RELATED: 5 benefits from the CARES Act you need to know about besides the stimulus check

Spaceport Development Corporation terminated:

The council passed a resolution that authorized the termination of the Midland Spaceport Development Corporation.

The corporation was initially created to compete for spaceport funding from the state, and an initial $2 million grant was used to build a road to the spaceport business park.

However the corporation had no funding of its own, causing the costs of yearly audits to rise and making it too much of a cost sink for the city council to justify.

Current members of the corporation will still meet as a sub-committee of the Airport Planning and Development Board. The corporation can be                 re-established if funding becomes available in the future.

RELATED: Kepler Aerospace touches down in Midland

Funding approved for two new fire stations:

Two new fire stations, numbers 5 and 11, received $11.4 million in funding after plans were first discussed in early 2020.

Meetings on construction will begin over the course of the next few weeks, the council is hoping to begin construction as early as the end of May.

The city's goal is to have both completed by June of 2021. As the workers are considered essential, construction should not be affected by COVID-19.

RELATED: New fire stations and trucks coming to Midland

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