Council approves five-year master agreement with Mead & Hunt and authorizes crosswind runway design task order

The New Ulm City Council on Tuesday approved a five-year master service agreement with Mead & Hunt for planning and engineering services at the New Ulm Municipal Airport and approved a related task order for design of the crosswind runway project.

City staff said Mead & Hunt was selected after a request for qualifications and that the master agreement was reviewed with the city attorney and the firm. "The agreement before you today is agreeable to all parties and we are looking to execute that agreement and that would be a 5 year agreement, with Meenan Hunt," said Mr. Stadheim, city staff.

The council also approved task order 2025-01, adding the crosswind runway 09/27 design to Mead & Hunt's professional services contract in an amount of $181,120. Mr. Stadheim told the council the project has been awarded Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) funds of $2.5 million for construction; the design will be reimbursed 95% by the CDS funding, 2.5% by state funds and about 2.5% local share — roughly $4,500. He said the proposed engineering fee exceeded the FAA informal-procurement threshold of $100,000, so the city commissioned an independent fee evaluation by Kirkham Michael that found Mead & Hunt's proposed fee to be within the FAA's 10% threshold.

The approved motion included contingency language: the task order is contingent on the city receiving the Federal Aviation Administration grant for the engineering services and permission for staff to make minor administrative changes to the scope to align with FAA expectations. Council members approved the master agreement and the task order by roll call.

Councilors did not request substantive changes to the fee or scope during the meeting; staff said the minor changes discussed with the FAA would not affect the anticipated engineering fee and would not require returning to council for approval.