Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council approves $325,000 electrical vault replacement at Spanish Fork airport after equipment failures
Summary
Council approved an award and budget revision to replace aging single‑phase airport electrical equipment with a new three‑phase vault after failures left taxiway lights and a weather radio inoperable; staff proposed delaying a parking‑lot rebuild to cover costs from airport funds.
Spanish Fork city staff told the council that aging airport electrical equipment recently failed and is no longer reliable for operating taxiway lights and weather‑reporting systems. Public Works and airport staff said electrical engineers and bidders recommended replacing the single‑phase system with a new three‑phase electrical vault, increasing the project scope and cost from an initial $95,000 estimate to a low bid of $325,000.
Corey Pierce and airport staff explained the safety rationale: the current system required manual switching of taxiway lights and the weather‑radio antenna was blocked for some approaches, creating operational and safety concerns. Staff proposed using airport fund balance (including a planned $500,000 general‑fund loan previously set aside for airport capital) to cover the increased cost, and to postpone a parking‑lot rebuild scheduled in the near term.
Council members asked about scope changes and clarified that the larger cost reflected a change in scope (new equipment and a longer‑term solution) rather than an unexplained overrun. After discussion, Councilman Carden moved and Councilman Marshall seconded to approve the electrical vault contract award and corresponding budget revision; the motion carried on roll call with affirmative votes announced by council members present.
City staff said the airport fund has the money to proceed but acknowledged the work will delay other capital projects in the airport fund until revenues recover.
