ELKHART — Literally hours after Republicans urged the city of Elkhart to look at leasing the municipal airport, an effort is being made in that direction.

Whether the idea takes flight remains an unknown.

Airport manager Andy Jones said the aviation board accepted his recommendation Thursday — one day after some city council members raised the issue — to have an independent study conducted.

Jones said it will include information from the Aviation Association of Indiana, two government agencies and a firm that does consulting for the airport.

“We’ll do our own independent research with airport safety at the forefront of that decision. That always has to be your first consideration,” Jones said.

“And then we’ll provide a recommendation to the mayor,” he said.

Such a move would likely result in the loss of Jones’ job, but the airport manager, who served in the same role under former mayor James Perron, is taking a neutral position.

“I don’t think I should speculate. I’d prefer to do the research and then release the findings,” Jones said.

Shifting operations to a lease arrangement in which a private firm oversees airport operations gained attention in recent weeks as the city struggles with declining tax revenues.

Several Republicans on the city council argue the city pours too much money into the airport and doesn’t get enough out of it and believe a private firm could possibly run the airport for less than what the city spends.

Republicans Kyle Hannon, Mary Olson and David Henke all urged Mayor Dick Moore last week to look at the idea. On Wednesday, Moore expressed a willingness to consider it.

Olson, who was a council liaison on the board of aviation for about nine years, has been investigating the topic.

“We can do a much better job with a lease agreement,” she said.

Hannon supports the idea of an inexpensive study with a narrow scope. But on the other hand, he advocates seeking bids for consulting and then assessing how they compare.

“This is not ground-breaking territory. Other communities do this,” Hannon said.

Those concerned about airport finances point to two figures. The airport is projected to operate with a $758,000 budget next year while revenues coming into the airport through leases and fuel sales are less than $250,000.

That essentially means it costs the city about half a million dollars to facilitate economic development through corporate traffic at the airport.

“Those are key facts,” Olson said. “If we’re going to do our job and we’re in the business of furloughing people, we should really look for inefficiencies, because they’re there.”

Jones said the general public doesn’t realize how much corporate travel can spur business deals and jobs.

Jones said the airport is doing better than ever. More than 130 aircraft are parked at the airport.

The airport is also in the midst of significant renovations to the tarmac and areas between the runways, using almost entirely state and federal funds.

Jones, who once lobbied the city to consider establishing an airport authority while working for Perron, said Friday he’d like to see state law changed to allow more than two government entities to establish an airport authority.

Under current law, no more than two entities can form an authority, Jones said.

In addition to Elkhart, Goshen and Nappanee also operate airports in Elkhart County. Under Jones’ idea, an airport authority would then be able to levy a tax across the entire county to serve all three airports.

That type of scenario makes sense since the economic impact reaches beyond city limits, Jones said.

Hannon said he likes that idea.

“It’s more of a regional entity and it seems it should be regionally funded,” Hannon said.

Henke has been one of the most outspoken critics of the airport and Jones.

“It’s a great asset, but it is also a great burden to a lot of people who have never been there, never use it and never will,” Henke said.

Henke said he considers Jones to be a political appointee and has referred to him more than once as the mayor’s speech writer.

Henke claims Jones only spends about half of his work week at the airport.

Jones said some of Henke’s suggestions are “far-fetched.”

Other than helping edit the mayor’s last state of the city speech, Jones denies that he writes speeches for Moore.

Jones readily admits doing a lot of work outside of the airport such as snow shoveling for the sidewalk program in the winter and cutting grass when code enforcement identifies an eyesore.

He said he enjoys going the extra mile as a public servant.

“I try to find some joy in it,” Jones said. “It’s our community and it’s something I like doing.”

At the same time, Jones said he often works weekends at the airport and regularly has calls transferred from the airport to his cell phone at night to ensure issues are addressed.

Jones said Henke has never asked him about his work hours or duties, which he said he finds curious.