BETHEL – Selectmen at Monday night’s meeting tabled authorizing an agreement with a Portland engineering firm for an apron expansion project at Bethel Regional Airport.
At issue, Selectman Reggie Brown said, was who bears the risk if the project isn’t funded.
Dufresne-Henry has contracted with Bethel to perform aviation engineering services to substantially expand the aircraft parking apron. Its total fee for services is $170,693. Of that amount, more than $85,000 is for design, permitting and bidding services; the remainder for construction-related services.
The town is required to complete the project design and seek bids before a Federal Aviation Authority grant application can be submitted, Dufresne-Henry engineer William A. Gerrish stated in a Feb. 2 letter to Town Manager Scott Cole.
The federal government is to fund 95 percent of the $500,000 project, with the state and the town to fund 2.5 percent each. Both the Maine Department of Transportation and Bethel would each pay $12,500, while the FAA would pay $475,000.
But Brown worried about the town’s getting stuck with paying $90,000 to Dufresne-Henry should the town not get the grant, or should voters not approve the project at town meeting in June or a special town meeting.
“While the Feb. 2 letter potentially defers the date of payment for services, it does not relieve the town of ultimate obligation to pay in the event that things don’t pan out,” Cole said Monday night.
The town has not yet appropriated funds for the work.
The existing parking apron, which was permitted through the Maine Department of Environmental Protection during the airport’s runway extension project, is 57.5 feet wide.
The proposed extension seeks to lengthen the apron by 235.6 feet and widen it 62.5 additional feet, coupled with a 57.5-foot offshoot to a proposed, relocated fuel farm facility.
Selectmen directed Cole to contact Dufresne-Henry to see if it would rewrite its compensation expectations agreement.
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