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Council approves two MassDOT airport grants after emergency declaration to secure reimbursements
Summary
The council approved two grants for Lawrence Municipal Airport: a $13,015 MassDOT engineering grant for runway drainage work and a $193,962.45 MassDOT grant for phase 3 design of the airport administration building; councilors declared an emergency to expedite state reimbursement and approved both items.
Lawrence Municipal Airport director presented two MassDOT grant items to the council and asked that they be handled as an emergency to secure reimbursement before the state fiscal-year close.
The first grant is $13,015 to fund engineering work for Runway 5N drainage improvements. The second item is $193,962.45 for phase 3 design work on the Airport Administration Building. The director said the state issued the awards recently and that MassDOT Aeronautics will reimburse eligible engineering and design expenditures.
Councilors questioned whether the items could wait for the next regular committee schedule. The airport director said timing mattered because the state fiscal year and competition for funds could affect eligibility; the director said submitting the documentation now would secure the city—s place in the reimbursement process. Councilor LaPlante and others probed whether the awards would be lost if the council acted on a normal schedule; the director said the awards are timely and the airport had limited earlier opportunity because the airport commission only recently met to approve the requests.
The council declared the two items an emergency and approved both grants and the associated authorizations to spend. The votes carried.
