Newton County approves Strickland Airfield Services contracts, moves contingency funds for airport lighting and beacon

Newton County Commissioners Court voted Feb. 10 to approve contracts with Strickland Airfield Services Incorporated to replace runway lighting and to purchase a new LED rotating beacon after the existing beacon was struck by lightning. The court also approved a $100,000 budget amendment moving contingency funds into the county airport fund to cover initial costs.

Court staff described the airport’s runway lights and beacon as original equipment — roughly 60 years old — and said parts are no longer reliably available. "We have the airport out of service right now until we get another beacon," said Speaker 2 during the presentation, noting manufacture and delivery would take about four to six weeks. A staff estimate cited roughly $106,000 for runway lighting work with the beacon line item at $9,800; the beacon cost is included in the larger figure.

County officials told the court the work will be submitted to the Texas Department of Transportation for reimbursement under the TxDOT airport grant program, which staff said will reimburse up to $100,000 on a reimbursable basis. The court discussed using county crews to do trenching and other labor to reduce contractor costs; Speaker 1 said that approach saves the county an estimated several hundred thousand dollars compared with a full outside contractor installation.

Judge (presiding officer) moved to approve the contract and the separate beacon contract; motions were seconded and both carried by voice vote. The court then approved a budget amendment to transfer $100,000 from contingency to the airport fund to cover invoices while the county files for TxDOT reimbursement.

Next steps: Strickland Airfield Services will manufacture the LED rotating beacon (estimated six-week lead time) and county staff will coordinate trenching and installation work; the county will submit invoices to TxDOT for reimbursement as allowed by the grant program.