The Washington City Council has approved an amendment to the agreement for a state block grant which will further reduce the city’s cost for a new T-hangar and other improvements at Washington Regional Airport.
Council members unanimously approved an ordinance Monday night authorizing the amendment to the agreement with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission.
Under the amended agreement, the state will provide an additional $76,110 toward the project to build the hangar and taxilanes at the airport.
The original agreement authorized a block grant of $701,307.
“These funds represent $76,110 transferred from two other Missouri airports. Since these are 2008 entitlements, the local match on these funds has been calculated as 5 percent,” Bryan Gregory, MoDOT airport project manager, said in a Nov. 28 letter to Brian Boehmer, assistant city administrator.
The amended agreement brings the city’s share of the total project cost to 15 percent and the state’s share to 85 percent.
“I publicly want to thank Brian for his efforts,” remarked Councilman Tim Brinker during Monday night’s council meeting. “Without that, we never would have gotten to the 85/15 match.”
Meanwhile, the general contractor on the project, R.V. Wagner Inc., is behind schedule on the project and the firm has been notified it will be assessed liquidated damages of $750 per day until the project is finished.
The original completion date in the contract was Friday, Nov. 23.
“I think we’re still looking at a completion date by the second week in January,” Boehmer said Tuesday.
The structural steel framework was going up last week, but Boehmer said there still is electrical work and other finishing work to be completed.
The new 12-unit hangar has space for two large aircraft and 10 smaller planes.
Total cost for the project, originally estimated at $1.2 million, is now $947,502.
Wagner was awarded the contract on a $799,000 bid to construct the pre-engineered hangar building.
Other costs associated with the project include $51,411.89 in design services and $97,090.51 for construction services.
Currently, the Washington Regional Airport has 20 single hangar units and four large units.
There is a waiting list of more than 24 pilots seeking hangar space at the airfield off Highway 47 in Warren County.
The airport manager currently is evaluating rents charged at other airports in order to set competitive rental rates here.
