Baldwin County commissioners unanimously approved separate work authorizations related to the county airport during Tuesday night’s first commission meeting of 2016.
County Manager Ralph McMullen said one of the work authorizations dealt with the airport’s terminal apron expansion project.
Each of the commissioners were sent documentation related to that particular project, as well as one related to the design, bid and construction phase services required for the installation of a self-serve Aviation Fuel Farm at the local airport.
County officials, as well as airport committee officials recently were notified that the airport was awarded a $300,000 grant from OneGeorgia for a new aviation fuel farm.
McMullen provided a brief overview of both work projects during the meeting.
“The airport committee and the county have gone through a major search and a new engineering firm was selected through a process, and during this process, there is what we consider a master plan when it comes to engineering services that have to be performed at the Baldwin County Airport,” McMullen said. “What you have in front of you this evening are two work authorizations.”
The one that involves the terminal apron expansion is limited to design phase services, as required by officials with the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), he said.
“What this is, is actually a process of actually saying we now have an engineer and now we want to authorize you do the work, and this is the amount of money that we are authorizing you to perform these duties under,” McMullen said
He described the documents as mini-contracts.
“These have been sent to the county attorney for his review,” McMullen added.
The county attorney is David McRee, who also characterized the documents as mini-contracts.
“I don’t see any problems or any issues with these,” McRee said. “The terms of the agreements have been reviewed by the commission and by the commission staff, and I’ve not heard of anyone objecting to the contrary or that they are opposed.”
Both of these projects will be under the watchful eye of the engineering firm known as W.K. Dickson & Co. Inc.
In other business, Commissioner Sammy Hall who served as chairman of the board of commissioners last year was re-elected to serve in that same position for 2016.
It came on a 3-2 vote and followed a joint motion by Commissioner Tommy French that Hall again serve as chairman, and that Emily Davis, who had served last year as vice-chairwoman, retain that same position again this year.
Davis seconded French’s motion and when it came time to vote, Hall supported the nomination of both himself and Davis to those respective leadership positions.
“The chair votes aye,” Hall said, noting that the motion by French carried.
Opposition votes to the Hall and Davis nominations came from Commissioners John Westmoreland and Henry Craig.
Hall later asked for other nominations. Craig nominated Westmoreland for the position of commission chairman, but his motion failed for lack of a second.
The commission chairman thanked everyone after the vote was taken.
“We will continue to do the very best that we can,” Hall said.