NORTH BEND — Handling problems such as cracked panels, rusted shingles, stuck bathroom stall doors and a slow baggage claim process is keeping airport officials busy these days.

There are bound to be a few hassles starting up any new business, and Coos County Airport District commissioners have found the new $20-million terminal at Southwest Oregon Regional Airport has its share.

There have been myriad problems associated with the terminal, according to Airport Operations Manager Gene Cossey. Most of the issues are being resolved.

Several concrete panels at the airport’s new fuel farm have cracked, Cossey said.

These are the concrete pads where trucks park at the site near the new terminal. It’s here where fuel is transferred from trucks to storage tanks to mobile fuelers, before it’s taken to fuel the airplanes. The storage tanks hold 5,000 to 12,000 gallons of fuel, and the mobile fuelers hold about 3,000 gallons, according to Rainse Anderson, director of aviation for the engineering firm, WH Pacific in Portland.

At an airport meeting last week, Commissioner John Briggs asked whether the contractor had done a sloppy job.

Anderson explained that after the concrete is poured, a few hours later it must have a square pattern cut into it — called green sawing. That’s what keeps the concrete from cracking.

“The contractor failed to green saw the panels right after he put them in,” Anderson said.

Not all of the cracks are contractor’s fault, he added.

“The wind caused some of the surface cracks because it dried very quickly,” he said.

Despite the look of the concrete, it’s still safe to use, according to Anderson and Airport Executive Director Gary LeTellier. The state fire marshal has given the airport permission to continue the pads, temporarily, LeTellier said.

“We have until the 15th to repair it,” LeTellier said.

Commissioners were worried whether the repairs would meet the fire marshal’s deadline. Anderson believes the work will be completed by mid-September.

The subcontractor, Brock Concrete & Construction of North Bend, is repairing the concrete panels at no cost to the airport district, Anderson said.

Concrete cracks aren’t the only issue. The iridescent blue-green shingles on the terminal appear to be turning a shade of rust.

“Our lifetime stainless steel shingles are rusting,” Commissioner Clair Jones said.

Cliff Newton, project director with Heery International, said the orange hue was due to adhesive put on the shingles by the contractor.

“That’s a pretty good answer, but I don’t believe it,” Jones said.

“We’re taking some samples and getting them tested to make sure we got what we paid for,” Newton said.

There are other problems, too.

The baggage claim for passengers from Portland has been slow.

“I heard comments that the flight from Portland is quick and easy, but getting your baggage is slow,” Lehman said.

 LeTellier said Horizon Air’s staff are working on getting the luggage to the claim area quicker.

“It’s a staffing issue,” LeTellier said. “We’ll do what we can with that, but it’s really not under our control.”

Although a Transportation Security Administration inspection went well on Aug. 1, Cossey said there have been a few bugs in the security access control system.

“These minor problems do not affect the functionality of our security system,” Cossey said.

Cossey suggested the most perplexing issue has been dealing with suppliers of the advertising display system — LED signs that rotate advertisements throughout the day.

“This has been due mainly to poor performance by the supplier of the equipment,” Cossey said. “We have been working with the president of the Digital Sign Group to resolve the issues that we are having with the company’s installers and programmers.”

One more complaint came from commissioner Helen Brunell Mineau. She wants to know when the locks on the women’s restroom stalls will be fixed.

A woman was briefly trapped in a stall in the first few days after the new terminal opened.

“I don’t want some little old lady getting stuck in there again,” Brunell Mineau said.

Airport officials have turned their attention to the old terminal, too.

Coos County Airport District commissioners agreed that they need to move quickly on leasing out the 17,000-square-foot building.

Negotiations are set to begin with two of the airport’s existing businesses — Coos Aviation and Ocean Air. Commissioners authorized airport staff last week to begin those talks.

Ocean Air has expressed interest in taking over the old terminal, while Coos Aviation has said it wants to build a new facility.

(Staff Writer Jo Rafferty covers business news for The World. She can be reached by calling 269-1222, ext. 236; or by e-mailing to jrafferty@theworldlink.com.)