The town of Twisp and Lloyd Logging have entered negotiations over the taxiway project at Twisp Municipal Airport.
The Town Council held a special meeting on Aug. 20 to award the contract for the work to Lloyd Logging. The Twisp-based contractor was found to be the low bidder on the project exactly six months earlier, on Feb. 20. The town was under a six-month deadline to award the contract after bids were opened, town Public Works Director Andrew Denham said.
The town was unable to award the contract any earlier because it had just received word of a $500,000 grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) Aviation division. The grant was needed to cover most of the project cost.
While the grant was the largest WSDOT had ever awarded for an aviation project, it was less than what Twisp had asked for and won’t cover the contract awarded to Lloyd Logging on Aug. 20.
The contract amount matched the contractor’s bid amount: $646,429. The town has $526,000 available for the project, including $26,000 donated by pilots based at the airport.
Town officials had planned to build a full taxiway, parallel to the airport’s runway. With less money in hand, they are asking Lloyd Logging to accept a more modest project, which involves expanding the apron in front of the hangars so it can serve as a taxiway.
Pavement at the edge of the apron is deteriorating, and the apron has become too narrow for planes to traverse safely, Denham has said.
Town officials and Lloyd Logging staff were scheduled to meet on Tuesday (Aug. 27). If the contractor agrees to go ahead, the project would be completed this year, Denham said.
