City council members' eyebrows were raised while discussing the Backus Municipal Airport and various projects Monday, Sept. 10, because of additional costs, delays and malfunctions.
The first surprise was one item on a list of projects provided by Shawn McMahon of Short Elliott Hendrickson construction engineering company. In past discussions with SEH, the city had been organizing projects to grade the runway and install turf, replace and update lighting, stain the arrival/departure building, plumb the arrival/departure building, install signage, construct an apron and install a new fence.
Of these projects, the arrival/departure building has been stained, the fence has been installed and the runway turf is taking root. On the other hand, some additional difficulties and costs cropped up associated with lighting and apron construction.
The SEH memorandum on construction projects said the Minnesota Department of Transportation has decided it no longer supports funding for installation of precision approach path indicator lights for all airports. These lights had been included in plans for several months. SEH determined that the contractor assigned to the job can procure the PAPI lights for under $8,000.
The council agreed to seek information on the cost of two sets of PAPI lights before making a final decision.
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The council was also informed that the contract awarded to Rickard and Sons for construction of an apron where helicopters could land (the only bid, amounting to $11,500) did not include rebar for reinforcement. Addition of the rebar would cost $800 more.
Council members, including Tyler Smith, Karl Flier and Rae Borst, seemed perturbed that professional contractors would not have assumed that a helipad would require reinforcement such as rebar. They were further confused that SEH may have missed the exclusion.
Borst asked if the oversight might even be the responsibility of SEH because the inclusion of rebar should have been an absolute given.
The council agreed to get answers from SEH while finding the best price for rebar. The airport liaison, J.B. Johnson, said he has access to rebar at cost.
The council was further frustrated by a malfunctioning card reader at the airport. The recently completed fueling station has a card reader that allows pilots to pay for fuel even when no airport personnel are present.
The pumps, however, have been accepting payment for one gallon of fuel and then shutting off without dispensing it. Once the issue was discovered, the pumps were disabled to avoid charging more pilots without pumping fuel.
The pumps are under warranty, but Johnson said the company is trying to avoid coming to repair the issue. The council suggested contacting SEH to see if there is anything the firm could accomplish.
On a positive note, Johnson said the arrival/departure building looks great with the new stain and the landing strip is much smoother since grading and turf were complete. The council approved payments for those jobs.
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Preliminary levy
The council approved a budget and $151,000 preliminary general revenue tax levy for 2019, which shows a $2,186 (just under 1.5 percent) increase from $148,814 associated with road construction costs.
In other business Monday, the council:
• Directed Cass County Economic Development Corporation to assemble documents outlining the funding needs of Micah Eveland, who would like to borrow from the revolving loan funds to buy land and construct a business near the old city dump. The council also agreed to meet with the city attorney to discuss legal requirements for any construction or sale of the dump site or property near the site.
• Agreed to seek quotes from Knife River for paving a city parking lot.
• Agreed to make a letter of record for the Nancy and Dennis Foley property, which abuts a city street on one side with Point Road on the other. They do not want to be assessed twice if Point Road is ever paved. The council agreed to leave the letter of record saying that the property should not be assessed again for paving Point Road if the assessment comes in below the current road assessment. If the assessment is higher, however, they would be directed to pay the difference.
• Approved donations of $187, $200 and $50 from Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Island Lake Association and Shirley Plehal, respectively, on behalf of the Backus emergency medical responders. The council also approved a $50 donation from Plehal for the fire department.
• Agreed not to waive tort liability limits.
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• Approved purchase of fuel from Lakes Gas for $1.199 per gallon with an escalation cap of $1,349.
