Though it won’t come with the seats that had been sought in bid specifications, the Warsaw Municipal Airport will be getting a 2017 Ford F350 XLT. The Board of Aviation Commissioners Tuesday approved the bid of $32,411.80 after trade in from Kerlin Motor for the new truck. The two bids for the truck were opened at the June meeting, but Kerlin’s bid said “except seats” and Airport Manager Nick King wanted to go through the bid to investigate it further before the board made any decision. The other bid was from Rice Ford Lincoln for $35,484. At Tuesday’s meeting, King said he spoke with both dealers and learned heavy duty vinyl seats were not available in the XLT model. Instead, the vehicle will include cloth seats. Every other specification for the truck was met, however, he said. After talking things over, King asked the board to accept the Kerlin bid with the cloth seats and said they plan to use seat covers to protect them. Board President Jay Rigdon asked what the turnaround time was on the truck. King said they expect to receive the truck by the beginning of September. “Just in time,” Rigdon said. King said the airport already has the snow plow, lights, tool box and everything else for the truck, so once it shows up, it will be ready to go within a week or two. Next on the agenda, King presented the board with a quote for vegetation control for $3,374 from Dalton Chemical Vegetation Control. He said Dalton will spray the fence line for weed control as it has in the past so the airport doesn’t have to weed-eat it. It’s been 12 months since it was done last. The price is $100 more this year than last year, but includes the entire airport. “We’ve had a very good relationship with them in the past, and I think it’s a very good price to get that done, and it saves a lot of time and equipment,” King said in recommending the proposal for services. The board approved the recommendation. Finally, the board approved for Court Appointed Special Advocates to have its annual fundraiser Nov. 11 at the airport. King said previously the event was at the Biomet hangar, but it has grown large enough that in 2015 the event was moved to Image Air’s hangar on the east side. “It was much easier for the airport staff as well as the CASA event staff, and Image Air is willing to host it again,” King said, adding that he thinks the Image Air hangar is a great place to have the event. “They are more than willing to do the event again,” he said. Rigdon asked if there were any problems with parking at the 2015 event. King said there were none and it worked out well. The next Board of Aviation Commissioners meeting is at 5:15 p.m. Aug. 9.
