Fayette commissioners hire design team for transit center at airport
A county transit center at Connellsville Airport took a big step toward reality Thursday when the commissioners hired an architect and engineering team to design the $3 million facility. Architect Michael Molnar & Associates of Uniontown, which teamed with McMillen Engineering Co. in making a proposal, was awarded the contract by commissioners Sean M. Cavanagh, Vincent A. Vicites and Ronald M. Nehls.
According to Michelle Shumar, director of the county Human Service Department and its related Fayette Area Coordinated Transportation (FACT) system, the Molnar-McMillen package was one of six proposals judged by a five-person panel that included herself.
Shumar said that the scoring difference among three finalists was miniscule, with 87.8 Pawlowsky and Hamon of Johnstown garnering a 87.8 rating, and Molnar-McMillen tying with WMB Associates of Beaver Falls at 87.6, two-tenths of a point behind the leader.
“We recommended three of the top firms to the commissioners. Price was looked at after the fact; it was not a factor,” said Shumar.
Shumar said the transit center would house FACT administrative staff and a full-service maintenance facility for county-owned buses and vans, and vehicles belonging to subcontractors for the county transportation system.
“Right now we own 32 vehicles,” said Shumar.
A federal contribution of 80 percent of the project’s cost, which translates into $2,816,488, will be paired with a required 20 percent match from state and local government to fund the project, said Shumar.
The transit center will be built on 4.3 acres of airport property, obtained through a lump sum payment of $60,000 to cover a 49-year lease that includes renewal options, said Shumar. She added that work on the project should begin soon.
“We’re poised to meet with them (the architect and engineer) the early part of next week to get moving,” said Shumar.
In Thursday’s relatively short and low profile meeting, the commissioners also voted to advertise for an assistant solicitor for the county Zoning Hearing Board.
Another matter that passed unanimously, without generating public comment, was ratification of a court order regarding a tax assessment appeal for Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa. Under terms of the settlement agreed to by all parties, the resort’s aggregate assessment will fall from $68.5 million to $39 million.
The new figure was agreed to by Uniontown Area School District, which took the lead in the court action, along with Wharton and Henry Clay townships, and Fayette County. The move means an annual loss of $416,116 in real estate tax revenue, including $331,423 to the school district, $74,425 to the county and $10,268 to Wharton Township.
Henry Clay Township only had one parcel of land covered in the settlement. It has an assessed value of $554,260, is 138 acres in size and contains the resort’s shooting academy, according to the Fayette County Tax Assessment Office. That parcel’s assessed value isn’t affected by the assessment reduction, which deals only with the 877-acre core parcel of the sprawling mountain resort.
In other matters:
– The commissioners ratified March 1 as the billing date for county real estate and per capital tax bills, which means March and April are the discount payment period and May and June are the face value payment period.
– The commissioners approved a $337,500 contract with Weeger Contracting Development, LLC, to build a new Emergency Management Agency/HazMat building at Connellsville Airport.
– The commissioners named Bill Snoddy, Jesse Wallace, Bill Blaney, Gary Staford, Melvin Sepic, Norma Ryan and Myron Hoskins to a Public Participation Panel.
– The commissioners awarded a one-year contract for grass cutting at Jacobs Creek Park to Stash-Scape for $14,490, as the lowest responsible bidder for the job.