Feast or famine

While it appeared, upon its creation, that the Saratoga Airport Advisory Board was having a problem filling the open seats, the July 10 meeting showed that it now has the opposite problem. Following the appointment of Ladd Sanger to the advisory board during the Saratoga Town Council meeting on July 2, one seat remains unfilled while at least two people have submitted letters of interest. An additional two individuals, however, have expressed an interest in serving on the board as well.

The Saratoga Airport Advisory Board also discussed struggles with finding snow removal equipment for Shively Airfield due to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Buy American requirements.

One Down, One To Go?

With Sanger, who attended the meeting by phone, now serving on the advisory board, there remains one seat left to fill. Councilmember Jon Nelson informed the other board members that Thad York, general manager of Silver Spur Ranches, had submitted a letter of interest. Nelson read the letter aloud, which highlighted the qualifications York believed he had to serve on the board.

“I am seeking appointment to fill one of the existing vacancies as an individual who lives outside the Town of Saratoga municipal limits. My educational background includes a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wyoming and an MBA (Master of Business Administration) from Denver University,” wrote York. “Since receiving my MBA, I have served in a management capacity for several diverse businesses within the television, telecom, timber, ranching, hospitality and outfitting industries. My professional experience has included a significant amount of long range financial and strategic planning, lease review and negotiation, and oversight of complex business operations in a variety of settings. Currently, my primary role is as general manager of Silver Spur Ranches, which is the fourth largest cow/calf operation in the county.”

York continued in his letter, informing the board that, due to his involvement as an officer or director for other business entities throughout the United States, he was often coming in and out of Shively Airfield on a regular basis.

“The Upper North Platte River Valley community depends tremendously on the success of the airport in Saratoga; both in terms of business travel for those living here as well as to support the tourism industry on which many local businesses depend,” York wrote.

Along with the letter from York, Saratoga resident Deborah Clark was also in attendance. As was reported previously (see “Booking the board” on page 1 of the June 19 Saratoga Sun), Clark had submitted a letter of interest, but the airport advisory board wanted to speak with her before making a decision.

“I’m a citizen here in Saratoga and I wanted to represent the people of Saratoga on your board to make sure that they get a fair chance to be heard,” said Clark. “I don’t do much with the airport, but I do know that it is needed here.”

Following Clark’s introduction to the board, Nelson added that there had been email correspondence between the airport advisory board and Brush Creek Ranch. At the June meeting, Aaron Maddox had informed the board that the luxury ranch might have an interest in an employee serving on the board. Nelson informed those gathered at the meeting that, while there was no official letter of interest, the resort had expressed interest in their chief pilot, Mark Tron, serving on the board.

“The last email I sent back to Mike Williams was we had two applicants and one more seat to fill, so if the board did make a recommendation today, that there wouldn’t be any use in submitting a letter, but I couldn’t speak on behalf of the board as far as what was going to happen tonight,” said Nelson.

Arlen Hughes added that he believed that Saratoga resident D’Ron Campbell had expressed interest in serving on the board as well. Hughes mentioned that Campbell had over 3,000 hours flight time. With the amount of interest in the advisory board, the Saratoga Sun asked about the possibility of amending the ordinance to allow for additional board members.

Councilmember Steve Wilcoxson, who was in attendance, voiced his support for whatever way the advisory board decided to go with the number of seats while Chairman Lance Grubb expressed concern about the difficulty in obtaining a quorum with additional seats.

“Well, if we know we have some other people that are interested, maybe we give it one more month to let people see what they want to submit and then make a decision,” said Sanger.

The board tabled any recommendation to the town council until the next meeting with the deadline for letters of interest being Aug. 9.

Buy American

For several months now, the Town of Saratoga has been attempting to purchase snow removal equipment for the airport. An issue that began with the dissolved airport board has now become an issue for the airport advisory board. At the most recent meeting, Dave Schultz of Sage Civil Engineering provided an update.

“The fiasco continues,” said Schultz. “The apparent low bidder, which was Wyoming Machinery that gave us prices for exactly what it was we were hoping for, could not meet the Buy American requirements. There’s a couple of different types of wavers they could do. If they can come up with 60 percent of their equipment being American made and it was assembled in the United States, then they could submit that and the FAA will analyze it and probably grant them the waver. But, they couldn’t even meet that.”

The FAA requires that all steel and manufactured goods used in airport improvement program funded projects be made in America. With Wyoming Machinery unable to meet even the 60 percent waiver, they had to withdraw their bid. Schultz informed the board that he had been told this was the third bid that the company had to withdraw from due to the Buy American requirement.

Because of Wyoming Machinery unable to meet the requirements, the bid went to the next lowest bidder, Honnen Equipment. Schultz told the advisory board that Honnen had informed him that they could meet the 60 percent requirement for the waiver, thought they did not have that paperwork ready.

“I think the FAA’s got some requirements for their equipment that seem to me to be difficult, if not impossible, to meet. Nobody can meet them,” Schultz said. “The FAA has been searching for similar bids and must not be able to find them because I asked them over and over again and they don’t come back.”

Schultz informed the advisory board that he expected paperwork back from Honnen Equipment by the end of the week.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Airport Advisory Board will be at 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 14 at Saratoga Town Hall.