Council authorizes $41,620 task order amendment for airport fencing environmental study after archaeological finds

Roseburg City Council authorized an amendment to Task Order No.3 with consultant Mead & Hunt adding $41,620 to complete additional cultural‑resource work at Roseburg Regional Airport required before applying for federal grant funding.

Public Works Director Ryan Harris said the amendment is needed because a subconsultant’s cultural resource survey identified two pre‑contact cryptocrystalline silica flakes that require further investigation. The additional scope funds two 20‑inch by 20‑inch test pits dug to a minimum depth of 20 inches and continued excavation until two consecutive 4‑inch sterile layers are found. The original task order was $80,237; the amendment raises the total to $121,857, which exceeds the city manager’s signing authority and therefore requires council approval.

Harris said the work is grant‑eligible and reimbursable under the current FAA/BIL program (staff estimated 95% reimbursement), leaving a city match of $6,093. Staff estimated the total fencing project at roughly $375,000; the work would replace about 4,800 linear feet of substandard fence on the airport’s east property line and about 550 feet near the southern apron, increasing fence height to six feet with three strands of barbed wire on top and modernizing gate controllers.

Councilors asked for details on what was found. Harris said the survey found around 30 pieces of glass and two small pre‑contact modified stone flakes; staff identified the subconsultant as Archaeological Investigations Northwest (Portland). Harris said no wetlands were identified, much of the airport’s NEPA work has been completed previously, and completing the categorical exclusion is a prerequisite to applying for the construction grant. A motion to authorize the amendment carried by voice vote with no recorded opposition.