City awarded $1.6 million for airport overhaul

With a big boost from the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission (NDAC), Tomlinson Field is slated for an overhaul in 2025.

President Stuart Richter delivered good news to the commission at their June 3 regular meeting. The aeronautics commission awarded the city $1,600,900 to reclaim the city's municipal airport.

The project is estimated to cost a total of $2.2 million.

On April 18, five bids for the project were opened. The low bid of $1,875,875.87 includes "full-depth reclamation" of the runway and taxiway; reshaping and grading the runway safety area; apron reconstruction and taxiway extensions; and improvements to the access road from Hwy. 281.

Richter said the NDAC was impressed with both the city's plan and the many letters of support that accompanied the application for funds. The grant represents 76 percent of the expected cost of the airport rehabilitation, more than the 60 to 70 percent funding the city anticipated when they presented the project last summer.

Travis Dillman and Adam Brucher of Interstate Engineering attended the meeting, and upon their request the commission took steps to accept the low bid from Border States Paving of Fargo and approve the engineering services agreement with Interstate.

The bid came with a caveat, however. The company proposed to complete the project in 2025, as their schedule for the 2024 season was already full when the notice for bids was published.

Officials estimate that the project will take 80 days to complete. If their schedule allows, Border States may opt to start work late in 2024, but more likely will not begin until next spring.

Border States Paving is "very reputable, and they do a lot of work in Jamestown," according to Dillman, whose also an engineer for that city.

Commissioners also approved a $382,000 construction engineering agreement with Interstate Engineering. The agreement covers the firm's services for the duration of construction on an hourly basis as used. They will be on site to oversee contractors throughout the process.

The contract with Border States does have liquidated damages built in, should the project take longer than the 80 days anticipated. The contract states that the firm would be subject to $2,100 in liquidated damaged for each calendar day beyond 80 days they spend on the project.

Richter attended the county commission meeting Tuesday morning, requesting that the county authorize the levy of 2 mills for the airport, beginning in 2025. The county and/or city can levy a total of 4 mills for the airport without a public vote.

The county did previously submit a letter of support for the project and committed to helping fund the airport rehabilitation. However, county commissioners did not take action Tuesday, as they want to consider whether to levy airport mills or simply commit general fund dollars each year for a set period.

Also at the city meeting, Auditor Andrew Presnell requested to transfer excess funds from the city's water debt fund into an interest-bearing money market account to draw interest before it's used to cover the city's annual payments.

Presnell also presented a draft pay plan to commissioners. He obtained data on staff pay at five North Dakota communities that have a similar population to New Rockford. The plan, which is comparable to the one put in place by the county several years ago, is organized into "steps" that represent annual pay increases offered to city staff based on years of service.

This plan will simplify both the budgeting process and decisions about pay increases, officials say. No action was taken, as the board would like to review and make adjustments prior to adopting the plan.

Public Works Superintendent Bruce Hirchert reported that he had made a list of several nuisance vehicles and yards in the community.

City commissioners approved the list and encouraged Hirchert to start the abatement process right away. Notices were expected to go out to residents and property owners by the end of the week, with residents given two weeks to abate the nuisance.

With room for several vehicles in the city impound right now, as reported by Hirchert, city officials expressed the need to act swiftly.

Once the two week notice period ends, they will direct the Eddy County Sheriff to issue official notices of removal to anyone who hasn't fixed the issue or asked for a hearing on the matter. Commissioners also directed the sheriff to attend the July meeting and report on progress made.

"That's where we've fallen down in the past few years," commissioner Jim Belquist noted, referring the actual removal of the nuisance by the city and/or sheriff's department. The ordinance authorizes the police department to remove any junk or abandoned vehicles after serving a 48-hour notice of removal.

Richter ended the meeting by thanking the outgoing commissioners – Kelly McKnight and Dillon Hewitt – for their years of service to the city.

The next meeting is set for Monday, July 1 at 9 a.m.