Clovis to consider renaming airport

CLOVIS — What’s in a name? A lot, Clovis city administration hopes when it comes to its airport.

The city is asking the Clovis city commission to change the facility’s name, from Clovis Municipal Airport to Clovis Regional Airport.

The matter will be discussed at the 5:15 p.m. Clovis city commission meeting, which will be broadcast on Suddenlink Channel 10 and livestreamed on cityofclovis.org and the City of Clovis Facebook page.

The fiscal impact to the name change would be minimal for the airport that has served the city since 1959, save for a few new signs and logos.

The request from Airport Director James Harris notes the airport, known as CVN by its airport code, is the only airport providing passenger services within 100 miles and is already by definition a regional airport.

The name change, Harris writes, would expand marketing and growth opportunities for the airport.

Other items on the Thursday agenda include:

• A request to adopt an ordinance keeping in place a .25% gross receipts tax first implemented in 2011 for the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System.

Former Clovis Mayor and Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority Chair David Lansford said during the authority’s Thursday meeting he planned to ask the commission to continue the tax but expand its use to include source water acquisition.

• A request for final adoption of an ordinance that would eliminate voting roles on the Economic Incentive Board for the city manager and the executive director of the Clovis Industrial Development Corporation.

In a separate agenda item, the commission is asked to appoint Megan Palla, Brett Johnson and Raymond Mondragon to serve on the EIB.

• A request to issue an invitation to bid for grazing rights on 640 acres of land the city owns west of Cannon Air Force Base. Any proceeds would go to the city’s economic development fund.