Board of Aviation Commissioners Tuesday approved Airport Manager Nick King seeking bids for the purchase of a new truck and gave approval for Rudy’s Dog Park to have its annual Dog Run Sept. 10 at the airport.
King told the board he wanted their permission to go out to get bids for a new truck and also would ask the Board of Public Works and Safety for their permission.
“We are currently looking at bidding out a 2016 F350, very similar to what we purchased two years ago,” he said. “Reasons for sticking with the F350 is ease of maintenance on our side. By having similar parts and everything, it will help decrease the maintenance costs overall. And two, it’s been an absolute great truck over the past two years. We haven’t had any problems with it at all. We’d like to stick with a truck we know and have used in the past.”
The new F350 would replace a 1999 F250 Standard Duty, not the F350 the airport purchased in 2014. The board gave King approval to get some bids for a new truck.
On the Dog Run, King said Rudy’s Dog Park is by the intersection of CRs 250 and 100E. In the past, the Dog Run has ran down CR 250 and come up runway 18/36 to the north side and back around. The run has had problems, however, with traffic from The Dells and Airport Road.
To help with the problems, King said the runners at the Sept. 10 event will come in through the Image Air gate, around the taxiway, and come out on runway 9/27, down the end of the runway, up the taxiway and use taxiways the rest of the way through the airport.
“It’s a lot easier and safer for us as airport personnel to help keep people in a much more controlled area, and it also allows the Dog Park to go to the county and request that there be a road closure for that section of the road,” King said.
Registration for the Dog Run starts at 8 a.m., the run starts at about 9 a.m., with the run over by 10:30 or 11 a.m.
King said he told Rudy’s Dog Park owner Carla Carlton he would be out for the run to help with the airport side of things.
The run is a fundraiser for the Dog Park, which is a not-for-profit, King reported. Participants will be responsible for any dog droppings, and dogs must be leashed and remain with their owners.
The board gave its permission for the Dog Run to be held Sept. 10 at the airport.
Before the board approved February claims, King pointed out a claim of $5,591.18 from American Electric Power and $10,397.69 from Michiana Contracting.
The AEP claim is the airport’s annual service agreement for maintenance of the lights on the high-tension wires.
On the Michiana Contracting claim, King said, “We did receive payment from insurance to be able to pay the claim for the lines that were cut when NIPSCO was doing the digging.”
He said the insurance company wrote the check out to the airport, it was deposited into the airport’s funds and then a check was written out to Michiana Contracting.
“They are currently subrogating that claim and moving forward and that’s out of our hands,” King reported.
NIPSCO workers caused damage Sept. 9 at the Warsaw Municipal Airport while doing work for the Federal Aviation Administration, but NIPSCO’s insurance company originally denied the claim saying NIPSCO wasn’t negligent, King reported at the November Aviation Commissioners meeting. The repair bill was around $10,500.
The board also approved extending land leases for another 10 years to Joel Harstine, hangar 6D, and Garry England, hangar 14. Both were up for their option of 10-year renewal.
King said they’ve been great tenants so far and there was no reason to deny them 10-year renewals.
In other business, the board:
• Heard from King that fuel sales at the airport were up by 12,000 gallons over this time last year. February sales were a little slow, but that’s “pretty typical” for this time of year, he said.
• Approved the Feb. 9 board meeting minutes.
• Approved to have paperless meetings by using BoardPaq. The city council, Board of Works and other city boards already use the service. The cost to the city is $10 per license, but decreases in price after more than 50 licenses are purchased and the city already has acquired 50.
BoardPaq is a “paperless solution that centralizes all board documents and information” and “offers easy-to-use Board of Directors Cloud Service and Apps that encourage effective member communication and collaboration before, during and after meetings,” according to the BoardPaq website.
• Heard the next board meeting is at 5:15 p.m. April 12 at the airport.
