Commission approves design agreement with Olsen for $850,000 KDOT airport grant

Miami County commissioners voted unanimously Sept. 3 to authorize the county to enter agreements with Olsen (Olsen and Associates) to perform design and grant-administration work for rehabilitation of the west taxi lane and hangar ramps at the Miami County Airport.

Shane Crowell, county administrator, told commissioners the county had been awarded an $850,000 grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) Aviation program. Of that total, $765,000 will come from KDOT and the county’s match is $85,000, or 10 percent. Crowell said the county seeks to enter a design and grant-administration contract with Olsen for initial phases now and to execute a later construction/inspection agreement when the project reaches that stage.

Crowell said the first phase with Olsen is roughly $68,700 and a second phase is about $8,200; a later construction-phase agreement will be presented when engineering and inspection scopes are finalized. He told the commission the Olsen agreements are incorporated into the grant funding and do not represent additional county construction dollars beyond the 10 percent match.

Commissioners discussed the airport as a county asset and noted the airport advisory board’s role; a commissioner praised Olsen’s long-running work as the primary consultant on airport projects. The motion to approve the contract authorization was moved and seconded and carried unanimously.

The transcript does not include the full agreement language, a construction schedule, or the project’s capital fund accounting; it also does not include final construction bids or a detailed timeline for the third-phase construction agreement.