Sept. 04--The tentative acceptance of nearly $4.6 million bid for phase one of a wetland mitigation project at the Aberdeen Regional Airport brings the project one step closer to getting started.
The Aberdeen City Council will ratify the board's decision Monday.
Mike Schmit, project engineer with Helms and Associates said four contractors submitted bids for the project. The top bid was $5.5 million, Schmit said, but the three lower bids were extremely close.
This project is the first part of a two-phase project that will create two retention ponds at the airport in order to remove wetlands on the airport grounds. Approximately 40 acres of new wetlands will be created near Willow Lake, Schmit said. Water from the retention ponds will be pumped south to Moccasin Creek. A tile will run from the retention ponds along county right of way to Moccasin Creek.
Approval of the tile installation was required by The Brown County Commission. That board approved the right-of-way occupancy agreement during a special meeting Thursday following discussion of an agreement that spells out the use of the high-volume pump that will be in used to move the water. The high-volume pump is one of two that will be used.
Transportation manager Cody Roggatz said the Federal Aviation Administration has approved moving forward with the project with receipt of the county permit.
The project is partially funded by federal discretionary funding and partially funded with 2013, 2014 and 2015 entitlement funds, Schmit said.
Contractors could get started with the project this fall, Schmit said. Tile installation likely will start at Moccasin Creek and work back toward the airport.
Roggatz said discussion will take place next week with the FAA regarding the timeline for phase two of the project and the availability of discretionary funding.
In other news
-- The October board meeting will take place Oct. 2 due to scheduling conflicts the following week.
-- Roggatz reported that passenger numbers are down 1.5 percent for the month but up 3.2 percent for the year compared to 2013 numbers.
-- Roggatz also said he's in constant discussion with Delta Airlines about scheduling consistency. Right now, he said, they're comparing passenger numbers for the different afternoon flight times to see which works better.
"I think what they'll find is the early afternoon time works better," he said.
According to Delta's website, flight times deviate from the typical schedule this week, but go back to 5:10 a.m. and 3:11 p.m. next week.
-- Limited discussion was held on the third flight. Roggatz said it appears Delta is looking at implementing a third flight four days per week. No start date on the third flight was discussed.
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