Board reviews project plans

Plans for the future of Portland Municipal Airport won’t change much. The timeline will just be pushed back.

Portland Board of Aviation took a look at its capital improvement plan during its meeting Wednesday.

It also received an update on the new fuel system at the airport.

Jason Clearwaters of Butler, Fairman & Seufert, the airport’s engineering firm, explained that the plan amounts to a wish list of projects for which to seek funding from the Federal Aviation Administration over the next five years.

It had originally called for construction of the runway extension in 2018, but the FAA has indicated that funding for that project will not be available next year. In response, Clearwaters recommended that the board modify its capital improvement plan by simply bumping everything back by one year.

With that change, the plan will call for design of the extension in 2018, to be followed by construction in 2019. Beyond that will be rehabilitation and expansion of the parking apron in 2020, with security and hangar construction to follow.

The board will need to make any other modifications — it also must report its spending on pavement repairs in 2017 and planned repairs for 2018 — prior to its January meeting and have the plan turned in to the FAA by Feb. 1.

Also in relation to the extension project, which will increase the length of the runway to 5,500 feet from the current 4,000, soil testing is planned for the week of Dec. 18. It will include four borings of 25 feet near a ditch on the property and another 14 borings at a depth of 10 feet.

Board members John Lyons, Jim Runkle and Dick Baldauf, with Mitch Sutton absent, also approved a grant reimbursement request for $11,316 from the FAA and $628.71 from the state.

The city’s contribution was $629.53.

The airport received $140,999 in grant funding from the FAA in fiscal year 2017, which ended Sept. 30.

Airport manager Hal Tavzel reported that the new QT Pod Model 4000 fuel system from Dallas-based QT Technologies was installed last month and is fully operational. The new system accepts all credit/debit cards and relies on an ethernet internet connection to allow for 24-hour fuel sales.

The previous system often had problems reading cards, forcing airport staff to take payments inside via computer.

“It’s lightning fast,” Tavzel said. “Very easy to understand how to use it.

“We’re very happy with it.”

He also reported that the airport sold 6,448 gallons of fuel for a total of $24,174.08 in October and 4,911 gallons of fuel for $18,437.78 in November.

In other business, the board:

•Learned that planned repairs to concrete around some of the T-hangars are scheduled for this week.

•Heard from Clearwaters that the required quarterly reports have been submitted to the FAA

•Paid claims totaling $14,548.90.