Paving deal for airport

The low bidder has been awarded a contract to reconstruct the taxiway at Portland’s airport.
Members of the Portland Aviation Board voted Friday to hire Lica Construction Corporation, Berne, to resurface the taxiway at Portland Municipal Airport.
Lica submitted a base bid of $128,617 to reconstruct part of the taxiway, plus an alternate of $26,110 to mill and pave the remainder of the taxiway. Board members awarded Lica the contract for both the base bid and the alternate.
E&B Paving Inc., Muncie, also submitted a base bid of $225,112, with an alternate of $59,100. Both companies also submitted second alternates to mill and pave the taxiway for the t-hangar.
In a letter to the aviation board, Mike Evans of Woolpert Inc., recommended that the board not accept the second alternates because he found “irregularities in the proposals.” Evans suggested the board hold bid-letting for the t-hangar taxiway next year.
The bids from Lica came in slightly lower than what Woolpert engineers estimated. For the base bid and the first alternate, Woolpert expected the figure to come in at $170,664.81, but Lica’s bid was $154,727.
Board president Glynn Barber said after the meeting that he expects the work to take about two weeks to complete and it will be done sometime this year.
The project is being funded through non-primary entitlement funds awarded to the city by the Federal Aviation Administration. The NPE funds also are being used to pay Woolpert to do a study to determine where the best location for a new terminal building might be. The city is awarded $150,000 each year by the FAA and has banked four years of funds.
Woolpert is being paid $55,520 for the terminal building study and $98,400 for engineering for the taxiway reconstruction project. The total cost for the study, the engineering and the taxiway reconstruction is $308,647.
The city will pay 1.25 percent of this cost, the Indiana Department of Transportation will pay 3.75 percent, and the FAA will pay the remaining amount.
Also Friday, board members Barber, Bob Sours and Jim Runkle voted to reject Dave Miller’s proposed amendments to the fixed base operator (FBO) contract. Board member Mark Franklin did not attend the meeting.
Miller asked to pay a fuel flowage fee of 3 cents per gallon, while the city proposed 12 cents per gallon. The city’s proposed fuel flowage fee would apply to anyone purchasing fuel at the airport. Miller also asked to pay no money to lease the terminal building, while the city proposed that he lease it for $16,216 per year.
After Friday’s meeting, Barber said he, the city’s attorney, Miller’s attorney and Miller plan to meet next week and discuss the contract.
If no agreement is reached by Sept. 1, Miller and his business, Miller Aviation, must vacate the premises.
Barber added that he doesn’t know if there are any other businesses besides Miller Aviation being operated at the airport, but he suspects there may be.
During Wednesday’s aviation board meeting, Barber asked Miller how many for-profit businesses are operating at the airport, and Miller said he wasn’t sure.
In other business, board members voted to increase the pay of the city’s airport manager, Hal Tavzel.
In May, the board approved a one-year contract with Tavzel. The contract states that if Tavzel successfully performed his duties for 90 days, he would receive a pay raise. His salary will now hike to $24,900 from $22,000.[[In-content Ad]]