Council to OK start of airport construction

• Bid opening for Phase I of runway realignment to take place Sept. 18

BROOKINGS – Tuesday’s city council meeting could be another brief, albeit important, meeting.

The city leaders will give first reading to the city’s 2013 budget, but the public hearing and final discussion of the spending-and-revenue plan won’t take place until the next regular session on Sept. 25.

But the board will reach an important milestone when it passes a resolution authorizing the beginning of construction for the Airport Realignment Phase I.

After years of study and review, the new Airport Layout Plan and Approach Survey have been completed, the city has received appropriate permits and certifications, and Phase I is ready for bids, according to City Manager Jeff Weldon.

The construction project will be awarded as a single contract but the work will proceed in two parts:

• Grading and site work for the realignment of the runway, which will entail clearing and grading the runway area, rerouting a portion of Six Mile Creek, wetland mitigation and construction of a new access road and bridge; and

• Construction of a new equalization basin and associated structures.

Weldon’s notes to council say the bid letting will take place Sept. 18.

For the project, the city anticipates receiving a federal grant of approximately $7.9 million, with the state and local match approximately $900,000.

The council will also sign a new memorandum of understanding with the South Dakota State University Students’ Association (SDSU-SA). The City of Brookings will now deal directly with the student government group in providing an allocation of $50,000 from “3rd B” tax revenue (commonly referred to as “bed, board and booze” tax revenue).

The appropriation, intended to fund approved campus events, was previously handled by the city’s Visitor Promotion Committee, which was dissolved last month by the council.

The money, part of which is raised from taxes on SDSU meal plans, is provided to the SDSU-SA to support events that will keep students in Brookings on weekends.

The council will also set in motion action on a number of street projects, but those will pass without discussion when the group approves the consent agenda.

There will be one other item that makes this week’s council meeting different from previous gatherings: it will begin at 6 p.m. without a work session.

The pre-meeting work session, a less formal gathering designed to give council members a broader understanding of city workings, has been retooled as a standalone meeting. Now renamed as the “study session,” the meetings will be scheduled once a month on alternate weeks from the regular sessions. This month’s study session will be held on Sept. 18. As in the past, the session will be televised and it will be open to the public.

The council meeting will begin at its regular time Tuesday, 6 p.m. All sessions are held in Council Chambers (Room 310) in the Brookings City & County Government Center, 520 Third St.

All sessions are open to the public.



Contact Ken Curley at kcurley@-brookingsregister.com.