The Watonga City Council, meeting as the Watonga Public Works Authority, agreed Tuesday to approve payment to Ellsworth Construction for a segment of the runway project at the airport. This is the fourth payment to Ellsworth and was for $330,509 and change.
The project was to light and rebuild the runway and was funded through the Federal Aviation Administration. Unlike other grants, the city had no match to kick in on this job, while the FAA paid $2,384,842 on the project, according to City Treasurer Rodney Jacks.
The runway was not simply resurfaced. The entire length of the runway was torn out and then rebuilt. The lighting is now LED, which saves the city money on power, but it has another facet as well. During heavy fog, airport manager Jenna Ohman has said, the aircraft pilot wishing to land can interface with the lights and essentially turn them up. This increases the safety factor and useability of the airport.
The lights will automatically readjust themselves to standard settings after a certain time has elapsed.
Jacks said later that the other payments to Ellsworth were for $400,874; $398,748; and $726,314. There is still some $525,000 remaining to be paid out to the firm.
The area adjacent to the runway will be sprigged with grass in the spring.
During the same meeting, the city agreed to pay Parkhill, a firm that supplies architectural and engineering design services, $32,120 for its professional services during August on the project.
The runways have been cleared for use by the FAA and were put into service on Oct. 14. Two aircraft had already purchased fuel on the weekend. While those sales weren’t huge, it is a good sign that pilots are willing to come back to Watonga after its closure ended.
A formal ribbon cutting for the new runway and lighting will be held in mid-November, according to Ohman.