York takes flight

The Saratoga Airport Advisory Board held their last monthly meeting on Aug. 14 as they make the transition from meeting monthly to meeting quarterly. Along with making that decision, the advisory board also made a recommendation to fill the final open seat and discussed snow removal equipment.

Monthly to Quarterly

The discussion about how often to meet has been one held since the inception of the advisory board. Under the dissolved Saratoga Airport Boar, meetings were held monthly and the since-replaced ordinance stated that the board was to meet on a quarterly basis. Ordinance No. 851, which formed the advisory board, made the same designation. Due to the infancy of the advisory board, however, it was agreed upon to meet on a monthly basis.

Under additions to the agenda, Chairman Lance Grubb asked that a discussion of quarterly meetings be added. When that discussion took place, Grubb started it off by asking Dave Shultz what was coming up in the next couple months for the airport. Shultz mentioned upcoming projects such as the airport apron expansion, which, while slated to begin in spring of 2020, requires a pre-design meeting this fall.

“We can do so much for our benefit via email, as long as we’re not violating any open meeting rules and then, if we absolutely had to have something, you guys have always been good about getting in on conference calls,” said Shultz.

The advisory board agreed that the September meeting could be treated as the first of the quarterly meetings. Following that, the meetings would fall on December, March and June. 

York to Board

As was reported previously (see “Feast or famine” on page 3 of the July 17 Saratoga Sun), Thad York, general manager of Silver Spur Ranches, had submitted a letter of interest that was ready during the July meeting of the advisory board. Along with York, Saratoga resident Deb Clark, who serves as adjunct of American Legion Post 54, had also submitted a letter of interest. Other board members had mentioned that there may be even more letters of interest to serve on the advisory board.

By the August meeting, however, no other letters of interest had been received. The airport advisory board made the decision to recommend to the Saratoga Town Council that York be appointed to the open seat.

Clark, who was in attendance, was thanked for her interest in the position.

Snow Removal

Equipment

The issue of snow removal equipment for the airport came up, again, during the August meeting. During the July meeting, Shultz had informed the advisory board that the apparent low bidder, Wyoming Machinery, could not fulfill the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) “Buy American” requirements, even with a waiver lowering the requirement to 60 percent. At the Aug. 6 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council, the bid was awarded to Honnen Equipment.

“We’ve sent off the notice of award and the contracts last week and we should get them back, I think, at the end of this week and the grant has been approved and everything is in place for that. So, we’ll get a John Deere loader and a bucket,” said Shultz.

Despite the acquisition of the loader and bucket, the airport is still in need of a plow blade and a brush, neither of which came with the loader. According to fixed base operator Bob Maddox, the plow blade is a dire need as the plow blade that was in use last winter was damaged.

“We’ve still got all the damage on our plow from the runway light cans being up above the pavement, which hasn’t been repaired yet. So, we’re going to go get that repaired anyway and, if nothing happens, we’ll have a brand new John Deere loader with a bow still on it and we’ll get our equipment fixed,” said Maddox.

Shultz stated that a grant for a plow blade could be added to the Wyoming Aviation Capital Improvement Program (WACIP) for Fiscal Year 2020, but added that it could be December before the plow blade was acquired. He then stated that he could “get creative” in finding a plow blade for the loader while being aware of reimbursement for the Town of Saratoga in regards to the purchase.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Advisory Airport Board will be at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 11 at Saratoga Town Hall.