The Great Falls Airport Authority board reviewed several projects during their Sept. 26 meeting.

The board voted to update their budget for the front canopy/west vestibule rehabilitation.

The board initially approved a $1,150,000 budget for the two projects in fall 2022.

The project will renovate the front walkway cover and replace doorways near the rental car lot and renovate the overhang above the entry.

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The airport received three bids for the project with the lowest bid at $1,239,800, excluding design and construction oversight, bringing the project total to $1.48 million.

“Bid prices have consistently outpaced engineer’s estimates since the pandemic. This particular estimate is over a year old before we had bids” on several other projects that saw cost escalation, according to the airport’s staff report.

The board approved the budget amendment for the project and the low bidder was Dick Anderson.

Board members approved a fiber installation license to KDS to allow the company to install a fiber extension from the terminal area to FedEx.

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Staff had recommended working with a single provider, at the choice of the tenants to consolidate them into a single fiber extension that will run about a half-mile.

“With hardspace on one side of the road and a cliff on the other, we want to try to limit the number of rights-of-ways we create in that area, so consolidating everyone into one trench is ideal,” according to staff. “Our second principle for this expansion is to preserve expansion capacity. Because we have precious little room to expand infrastructure along the road, we want to ensure that this installation has additional capacity for future needs.”

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The license agreement requires KDS to install two empty fiber conduits in their installation, the first would be preserved for future use by the authority and the second would be reserved for a future carrier. KDS could charge that carrier for half the installation costs, according to airport staff.

Staff estimates the installation cost to be about $130,000.

The airport board will move two of it’s work session items to their October board meeting for action.

The first is a lease extension to Holman Aviation for renovation and paving.

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A few years ago, the airport repaved the eastern-most portion of the entry road and paved the road leading to Avmax and Holman.

In the past, the board has supported the idea of extending tenant leases when they make major upgrades to their facilities or facilities used by the general public, according to staff.

This year, Holman is resurfacing and modernizing their main building, as well as repaving the road near the fuel farm and patching some pavement on the airfield ramp. Those projects are estimated at $755,998, according to the airport. The project includes paving an unleased area of their entryway that is used by two tenants and the repair cost would normally fall on the airport for an estimated $265,000.

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Staff is recommending that the board extend Holman’s lease by four years to May 2051 for their investment in the properties.

The second is plans to remodel the second floor of the terminal.

Several other terminal updates have been completed and this one would focus on an area that as been largely untouched for 20 years, according to the airport staff. It would replace the carpet and replace about 10 percent of it in high traffic areas with the original terrazzo. The project includes replacing letters mounted to the wall with actual signs, repaint some walls and install wall tile in some of the heavily worn areas.

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The second floor lobby area will get a fireplace.

The project is estimated at $1.3 million.

The third is purchasing a new parking pay station to replace one that is 10 years old with consistent maintenance issues.

The new credit-card only machine costs about $20,000.

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Staff plans to move the aging machine inside the terminal near baggage claim to allow passengers to pay their parking inside and have 60 minutes to exit the lot when they insert their ticket.

Power and data for the machine moved inside is estimated at $5,000, according to staff.

The board also authorized staff to move forward with the process of requesting to vacate Airport Avenue B.

The vacation has been discussed since at least 2018.

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The road is located across from the main gate to the Montana Air National Guard, but doesn’t align with the gate.

The Federal Aviation Administration updated the rules for airport entry roads about eight years and those rules required that to be eligible for federal funds, the road must be exclusively used for airport passengers and cargo, making the entry road ineligible for airport grants from I-15 to Airport Avenue B, since that road accesses private property.

Airport staff and city officials have discussed vacating the road for years, which would make part of the airport entry road eligible for federal funds.

The discussion of Airport Avenue B continued with the Love’s Travel Stop project. During those discussions, airport and city staff worked with Love’s to design their truck entrance to eventually replace Airport Avenue B. The city paid for a portion of the road to the 911 center. Love’s agreed to acquire and pave the old highway right of way behind the 911 center to replace Airport Avenue B and provide access to the land owners who use the existing road, according to airport staff.

The airport will have to request vacation through the city, which requires a public process.