Airport deal up in the air

If a middle ground isn’t reached soon, Miller Aviation may no longer be at Portland’s airport.
Members of the Portland Aviation Board decided Wednesday to take under advisement Miller’s proposed revisions to the latest draft of the fixed base operator (FBO) contract. These revisions would include Miller not paying the city to lease the terminal building.
If a contract agreement is not reached by Sept. 1, Miller, who has operated a business at the airport for 20 years, will be asked vacate the terminal building.
As board members reviewed the proposed revisions during the meeting, Miller asked if the board is willing to accept the changes.
Board president Glynn Barber said several times that the matter would be taken under advisement and reviewed by city attorney Bill Hinkle.
“I would be there seven days a week for free,” said Miller, the long-time manager of the airport until he was replaced earlier this year.
The city is proposing that Miller pay the city $16,216 per year to lease the terminal building, while Miller is proposing that he pays the city nothing.
“It’s not a good decision to accept a $0 lease,” Barber said.
The city also proposes that Miller Aviation pay a fuel flowage fee of 12 cents per gallon and pay the electric and heating bills. City officials are also asking that Miller make all repairs and help maintain the plumbing and fuel pumps, carry insurance and be available 24/7. The city will not pay Miller for operating his business at the airport.
Miller is asking to pay a fuel flowage fee of 3 cents per gallon; for the airport manager to be responsible for all maintenance and repairs; and for the city to pay for all utilities except heating fuel. Miller asked to install a furnace that burns used oil at his own cost. The airport has never had a fuel flowage fee.
City officials and Miller have been negotiating the new FBO contract since Miller was replaced as airport manager in May. Previously, Miller served as both the FBO and the airport manager. He operated under a single contract. Earlier this year, the board voted to make separate contracts for the manager and the FBO.
In a related matter, Phil Frantz, Miller’s attorney, asked about Miller’s request to build a new hangar at the airport.
Miller made the request in January.
“We need an FBO contract before we would consider that,” said board member Bob Sours. “We need a contract and we’d like to sit down with you,” Hinkle and Barber to review it, he said.
“We have given you in writing what our proposal is,” Frantz said of proposed revisions to the FBO contract. “You need to make a decision shortly or he needs to move.”
Frantz asked Barber to provide some sort of code that says someone leasing a building at the airport must have a FBO contract. Barber did not give a direct answer to the request, several times saying, “We’ll take it under advisement.”
In other business, the board opened bids for the taxiway reconstruction project.
Lica Construction Corporation, Berne, submitted a base bid of $128,617, plus alternates of $26,110 and $14,405. E&B Paving Inc., Anderson, submitted a bid of $225,112, with alternates of $59,100 and $93,047. The base bid is to reconstruct a portion of the main taxiway. The first alternate is to mill and pave the rest of the taxiway. The second alternate is to mill and pave a smaller taxiway.
Woolpert Inc., the long-time consultant/engineering firm for the board of aviation, was the only company to submit an engineering estimate for the taxiway project. That estimate was for a total nearly twice the dollar amount of the apparent low bid submitted by Lica. Woolpert’s bid for the work on the base bid plus the two alternates was $345,796.50, while the construction total was $169,132.
After the quote was opened by the board, Mike Evans of Woolpert said the company will amend the estimate because the construction bids were lower than expected.
Board members tabled the bids so that Evans can review them. The board will meet again Friday at 4:30 p.m. to award a contract. The meeting will be held in the meeting room at the Portland Fire Station.
The city has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to use non-primary entitlement funds to help pay for the project. The city is awarded $150,000 each year by the FAA, and has banked a total of $600,000. The FAA recently announced that the city can spend up to $450,000 in NPE funds on the project.
Also Wednesday, board members:
•Voted to purchase a machine to allow for credit card payments for fuel at the airport at a cost of $19,547.
The machine will be purchased from Gasoline Equipment Services, Fort Wayne. The price includes the installation, training for airport personnel and shipping. The machine will allow transient pilots to purchase fuel 24 hours a day.
“It also give the city a better way to monitor fuel sales,” Barber said. The machine comes with a two-year warranty. The city will have to establish a bank account, said Hal Tavzel, airport manager. Installation is expected to take three to four days, he said.
•Took under advisement a proposal for airport minimum standards for anyone using the airport for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. Once approved by the board, the standards will have to be sent to the FAA.
•Approved a total of $11,649.76 in monthly claims.
Included in the claims is landscaping work done by Cook’s Nursery and Trim, Portland. Tavzel said the work is complete and looks nice.[[In-content Ad]]