Airport authoriy moving hangar project forward
DUNBAR TWP. — The Fayette County Airport Authority Board will move forward with its hangar project although some of its funding remains in limbo due to the impasse of the state budget.
Project engineer and architect Rob Sleighter of RW Sleighter Inc. recently advised the board that he continues to work with the contractor that submitted the lowest bid for the project to reduce costs.
“I’ve had a discussion with the RACP (Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program) consultant and we are permitted to negotiate and value engineer the project to get it in budget,” he said. “I’m very optimistic that we are going to get this where we need to be.”
The project is being funded through a $1 million RACP grant awarded to the county and a $1 million contribution match from Joseph A. Hardy III, 84 Lumber and Nemacolin Woodlands Resort founder.
Two weeks ago the board received four bids, all exceeding the $2 million project budget.
The lowest bid of $2.934 million was received from Tedesco Construction Co. of McKeesport. Fairchance Construction Co. of Fairchance offered a bid of $3.029 million with Maccabee Industrial Inc. of Belle Vernon and BCS Contruction Inc. of Altoona submitting cost proposals of $3.053 million and $3.785 million, respectively.
The plan is to construct a 12,000 square-foot building to facilitate three corporate hangers and two smaller facilities to accommodate six smaller aircrafts in each of the buildings.
Sleighter said alternatives were built into the design plans that will allow a cost reduction.
“As an example, there were some very big, concrete aprons in front of the hangars,” he said. “Through value engineering, one way to reduce costs would be to build them with asphalt instead of concrete.
“It’s a cost saving and would be approved by the Bureau of Aviation and the FAA (Federal Aviation Association). It is one of the things that we are looking at.”
Board member John Cofchin questioned whether additional planning should be considered due to uncertain status of the RACP funding.
“In my own mind I don’t see how we proceed with our major source of funding in limbo right now,” he said. “If we were to submit an invoice to RACP tomorrow, it wouldn’t be paid.”
According to the discussion, after the RACP grant was awarded it was learned that an earlier grant to the authority had yet to be finalized with about $289,000 remaining in the state coffers for the prior runway project.
To release the second round of funding, the state has requested the authority verify there are no outstanding invoices tied to the first RACP-funded project.
Over the past month, airport manager John “Bud” Neckerauer and solicitor William Martin have contacted the authority’s prior engineer to inquire if there are any remaining bills to be paid. To date, no bills have surfaced, said both Martin and Neckerauer.
With verification that past due bills are non-existent, the funding will be transferred to the current project or the authority’s general fund, and following the passage of the state budget, the additional $1 million will be made available, said Sleighter.
Cofchin said his concern is that the line of credit and bridge gap loan secured from Somerset Trust bank as the interim financing is tied to the receipt of the yet-received RACP grant.
“Joe Hardy, too, is anticipating that we are receiving this money,” he said. “The fact that we do not have it at our disposal today, I’m at a loss as to how we proceed.”
Vice-Chairman Joe Maher said like school districts and other state-funded agencies which continue to operate and pay their employees, the authority must advance the project.
“We can’t say this isn’t going to happen, it is going to happen,” said Maher of the passage of the state budget. “As far as the (RACP), its all there.
“Committal letters have been received from Mr. Hardy and the state.”
Cofchin said his main concern is closing out the first project so that the second round of money can be made available.
Martin and Sleighter said that ongoing conversations with RACP representatives indicate that the matter can be resolved with the authority having the money in place when the design is finalized and the contract ready to ink.
“In the absence of documentation from phase one, which we have yet to put our hands on at this point, there is a mechanism to finalized (the initial) grant so that $289,000 could be applied toward the hangar project,” said Sleighter. “We’ve reached out to our (RACP representative) should the paperwork not surface.”
Martin said that the authority can not “leap frog” over the first phase to reach the second grant.
Sleighter agreed with Martin’s assessment and added that the grant issues can continue to be resolved as the revised design work takes place with the end result being that the project costs are in line with the budget and the state has released the RACP funds.
“It can be done concurrently,” he said. “Patience needs to play out as we resolve these issues.”
Cofchin said that he would not support the expenditure of any additional money related to the project until the RACP grant was accessible to the authority.
Maher agreed.
“I don’t think any of us want to take and throw the dice down,” he said. “We are all waiting for RACP, but in the same breath we have to be ready to go.”
In a related matter, Maher commended the generosity of Hardy, assistance of Fayette County Commissioner Al Ambrosini to secure the project funding and the flexibility of Sleighter to aid the authority in meeting the RACP requirements.
“(Sleighter) has given us some good advice as to how to go about this,” he said. “We hired him as an engineer, not as a consultant or a negotiator.
“He is doing an excellent job.”
In other matters, the board also conducted the following business:
n Accepted an autographed Blue Angels print from the Robert Killinger family.
n Hired Susan Coughenour as an at-will, administrative secretary at an hourly salary of $11.
n Directed Martin to submit the authority’s revised articles of incorporation to the state Department of Community and Economic Development.
The current incorporation documents expire in December.