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Sawyer County airport runway project delayed by state contracting paperwork, staff says
Summary
County staff told the Public Works Committee that the spring runway rehabilitation at Sawyer County Airport is on hold because the state has not issued the contract; the county also must program federal funds allocated to the state to avoid losing them.
County staff told the Sawyer County Public Works Committee that the spring runway repair at Sawyer County Airport has been delayed because the state has not issued the construction contract.
“Since you know who the lowest bidder was—Haas Construction—why isn't the contract on?” asked committee member Mr. Elway. Derek, a county staff member working on airport coordination, replied: “The state has to issue the contract, and they have not done that yet. It's a paperwork problem at the state level. The state actually contracts for the work, not us, but we have to coordinate the logistics for the timing, which is our concern.”
Derek said the county has identified Haws as the low bidder for the runway work and named Nio as the electric contractor. He said the project is a time‑limited contract bid as a 30 working‑day limit and the county is trying to avoid having construction during peak summer months.
County staff also said federal funding allocated to the state for the airport needs to be programmed this year so the funds are not lost. Mr. Leslie, the airport manager, was absent for the meeting because of an illness in his family but provided a written report, staff said.
On other airport matters, staff reported the airport terminal has AED and Narcan on site and that revenue from fixed base operator (FBO) operations is tracking similarly to prior years, which helps offset airport expenses.
Committee members asked where millings or removed material would go; staff said the contract language and state coordination will specify whether material is hauled to specific pits such as the Peninsula pit or Creamer pit and that those details should appear in the state contract once issued.
County staff said they are continuing to press the state aeronautics office and the state Department of Transportation and are following up with the consultant engineer to move procurement forward. The committee did not take any formal action on the airport item at the meeting.
