Council man award airport terminal contract

Published 10:23 am Monday, December 9, 2013

Washington’s City Council, during its meeting Monday, will consider tentatively awarding a contract to build a new terminal building at Warren Field Airport.

A gustnado July 1, 2012, destroyed the former terminal building.

If approved, the contract would go to A.R. Chesson Construction Co., which submitted the low base bid of $899,905.50. Four other contractors submitted bids on the project. The N.C. Department of Transportation’s Division of Aviation reviewed the bid details and approved them.

“Funding for this work is coming fro three (3) sources; $500,000 in NC Division of Aviation grant funds, $199,277 in Vision 100 airport funds, and $200,628.50 in insurance proceeds,” reads a memorandum from Allen Lewis, the city’s public-works director, to the mayor and council.

The city has $549,277 in grant funds earmarked for the project and a forthcoming $150,000 grant it can be used to construct the new terminal building, according to John. M. Massey with the city’s airport engineers, Talbert & Bright. Each of those grants requires a 10-percent match from the city.

“It is my understanding that the City of Washington will be utilizing local funds, including insurance funds, to fund the remaining portion of this project,” Massey wrote in a letter to Lewis.

The council also will consider authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with Talbert & Bright for the firm to perform construction-administration work related to the project. Talbert & Bright submitted a proposal to do the work for $90,815.

For several months, work on developing a final design for the new terminal building has been under way. The work began after a preliminary design for a new terminal came with a $1.33 million price to turn the design into a building. That design was received this past summer. According to the initial design, the terminal would have two stories. The ground floor would have a porch area. The second floor would have an observation deck and multi-purpose room.

The council meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Council Chambers in the Municipal Building, 102 E. Second St. To view the council’s agenda for a specific meeting, visit the city’s website at www.washingtonnc.gov, click “Government” then “City Council” heading, then click “Meeting Agendas” on the menu to the right. Then click on the date for the appropriate agenda.

About Mike Voss

Mike Voss is the contributing editor at the Washington Daily News. He has a daughter and four grandchildren. Except for nearly six years he worked at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., in the early to mid-1990s, he has been at the Daily News since April 1986.
Journalism awards:
• Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, 1990.
• Society of Professional Journalists: Sigma Delta Chi Award, Bronze Medallion.
• Associated Press Managing Editors’ Public Service Award.
• Investigative Reporters & Editors’ Award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Public Service Award, 1989.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Investigative Reporting, 1990.
All those were for the articles he and Betty Gray wrote about the city’s contaminated water system in 1989-1990.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Investigative Reporting, 1991.
• North Carolina Press Association, Third Place, General News Reporting, 2005.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Lighter Columns, 2006.
Recently learned he will receive another award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Lighter Columns, 2010.
4. Lectured at or served on seminar panels at journalism schools at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Maryland, Columbia University, Mary Washington University and Francis Marion University.