The cost of electrical improvements at Allen County Regional Airport will be significantly less than expected due to bids coming in below expectations.
Mitch Garner, Public Works director, told commissioners that bids were opened earlier this week to improve the electrical systems for the runway, including lighting, and a new Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS). Much of the work will be paid with grant money from the state and Federal Aviation Administration.
Engineers estimated the work would exceed $1 million but a bid from Strukel Electric came in at $766,350 for a savings of $235,150. The prices for cable, conduits and other material have been highly volatile for the past three years, but came in well below the engineer’s estimates, according to Garver, the Overland Park engineering firm leading the project.
The county is responsible for a 10% match, and already has paid about $66,000 for the project, leaving just $35,700 for the county’s portion, according to Garner’s estimates.
Girard-based Strukel was the only bidder for the project, though seven contractors were approached.
The work is expected to begin this fall and the runway will need to be closed during construction.
A separate project to overhaul the runway was recently completed. Other improvements include sewer improvements that will tie the airport to Iola’s sewer system, and new water lines in conjunction with Rural Water District No. 8. Those projects remain in the engineering phase and will be paid for by a combination of grants and COVID relief funds.
Commission Chairman David Lee asked Garner for a report that outlines all of the airport improvement projects and their costs.
“It’d be nice to know, overall, what we have received and what has come out of county coffers.
The bang for our buck has been pretty significant,” Lee said.
GARNER also shared options to prevent trash at the landfill from blowing into neighboring properties.
He gave commissioners two examples of litter control fences that use nylon net material held up by tall poles. A commissioner noted one of the examples reminds him of the netting at TopGolf, an urban driving range and entertainment business.
It is very similar, Garner said. He showed a photo of a fence that was installed around tall industrial tanks to keep them safe from balls at a nearby golf course.
The other example is angled at the top. In both cases, the net could be lowered to allow landfill crews to remove trash that may blow into the fence.
The new fence could be installed between the landfill collection site and an existing, exterior chain link fence.
