PROCEEDINGS OF THE AIRPORT DISTRICT, PARISH OF BEAUREGARD, STATE OF LOUISIANA, TAKEN AT REGULAR MEETING APRIL 7, 2005.

The Beauregard Parish Airport District Board met in Regular Session on Thursday, April 7, 2005 at 5:00 P.M.  The following board members were present:  Hollis Ray O'Neal, Chairman; Elton Pickering, Secretary/Treasurer, R.M. Simmons, Karl St. Romain, Wayne Hall and Hugh Dubose. Those absent were:  Eugene Loftin.  Also Present:  John B. Jones, III and Lee Lancon, Engineering Consultant.

Mr. O'Neal opened the meeting by asking Mr. Pickering to give the invocation.  He then welcomed everyone to the April 2005 Beauregard Regional Board Meeting.

Mr. O'Neal asked if there were any Amendments to the agenda.  Mr. Jones replied that he had two items he was requesting to be added.  The first was a request for authorization to advertise for bids on the airport agricultural lease.  The second item was approval of the Louisiana Compliance Questionnaire for audits. A motion was made by Mr. Hall and seconded by Mr. Pickering to amend the agenda as requested.  The motion was unanimously approved.  The agricultural lease advertisement was added to Ground and Maintenance as Item C.  The Louisiana Compliance questionnaire was added as item 4.5.

Mr. O'Neal then moved to the approval of the minutes for March 3, 2005 Regular meeting and the March 24, 2005 Special Meeting.  He asked if there were any corrections to the minutes.  There were none. Mr. Pickering then made a motion to approve the minutes of both meetings as written and mailed.  Mr. St. Romain offered the second and the motion was unanimously approved.

The next item was to consider and approve the Louisiana Compliance Questionnaire.  Mr. Jones told the board members that each year prior to the audit a compliance questionnaire had to be completed and presented to the auditor.  The document was to verify that the applicable state audit statutes had been complied with.  Upon a motion by Mr. Hall and seconded by Mr. Simmons the following resolution was offered.

Resolution No. 02-05

The 2005 Audit Compliance Questionnaire. (Attachment 1)

The aforesaid Resolution having been submitted to a vote, the vote thereon was as follows:

 

Yeas: Hollis Ray O'Neal, Elton Pickering, Wayne Hall, R.M. Simmons, 

           Karl St. Romain, Hugh Dubose

Nays: None

Absent: Eugene Loftin

Whereupon, the resolution was declared adopted on April 7, 2005.

The next item of business were project status reports on Taxiways B and E.  Mr. O'Neal recognized Mr. Lee Lancon, Consulting Engineer, and asked that he made the report.  Mr. Lancon began by addressing the bids on Construction of Taxiway E.  He said that when the bids were opened the low base bid of $711,391.97 submitted by Apeck Construction, Inc. was in excess of the $758,572.00 available for construction.  The board at that meeting took the bids under advisement and had asked him to review the bids, review the specifications, consult with the FAA/State, and bring a recommendation to this meeting.  During this process he said they had found a possible solution.  When the bid specifications were originally drawn up they included an additional item which was not in the Taxiway A & B plans.  This was the inclusion of replacing crushed rock with asphalt treated crushed rock on a portion of Taxiway E.  This had been done as a precaution in case of rainy weather.  It was not in previous projects.  Mr. Lancon said that this item could be deleted from the project and replaced with untreated crushed rock.  This would meet FAA specifications and would be just like the current Taxiway A & B project.  It would also lower the bid price below the budgeted construction costs.

With that in mind, a conference call was set up by Mrs. Davis; FAA Program Manager, which included Mr. Lancon, Mr. Slater from the state Aviation Division, and Mr. Jones.  During that call the change was discussed at length.  The end result was that all concerned parties felt that this was a viable solution provided that the contractor was agreeable and that it was legally sound.  He said that, subsequently, the two provisions had been met - the contractor has provided written agreement and there are no legal barriers.

Therefore, Mr. Lancon said that he was going to recommend that the board accept the low base bid of $711,391,97 submitted by Apeck Construction, Inc.  He would then recommend that the board approve a Change Order to eliminate the asphalt treated crushed rock and replace it with crushed rock, all conditioned upon approval of the FAA.  A motion was made by Mr. Pickering to accept the low base bid by Apeck Construction, Inc. subject to approval and concurrence of the FAA.  Mr. St. Romain seconded the motion which was unanimously approved.

Mr. Simmons then made a motion to approve a change order to delete Item S-013 of the bid in the amount of $113,230.00 and add 845 cubic yards of crushed aggregate base in the amount of $51,000.00.  The motion was seconded by Mr. Hall and unanimously approved.

Mr. Hall then made a motion to authorize the Chairman to sign the change order and any other documents pertaining to the project.  Mr. Simmons offered the second. The motion was unanimously approved.

Mr. Lancon then reported on the Taxiway A & B project.  He told the board that the contractor had finally been able to get back on the job.  All the crushed stone was to be in place by the week-end.  The target date for putting in the hotmix was the week of April 18th.  He told the board that the allotted contract time was running out due to the unfavorable weather conditions.  He recommended giving the contractor a 60 day extension.  There was a brief discussion. Mr. Simmons then made a motion to grant a 60 day extension.  Mr. Dubose offered the second and the motion unanimously passed.

The next item was a report by the Airport Manager on the visit by personnel from the Wildlife & Fisheries Department.  Mr. Jones briefed the board regarding the ongoing problem with deer.  He told the members that he had talked to Mr. Emile LaBlanc from the Department of Wildlife & Fisheries.  As a result Mr. LeBlanc, Mr. Robinette, and Mr. Smith had visited and surveyed the airport.  Mr. LeBlanc has issued a report with suggestions and recommendations to reduce the number of deer.  Mr. Jones said that each board member had a copy of the report.  There was a lengthy discussion.  No action was taken since many of the suggestions could be initiated by the Airport Management.  It was agreed that the problem would be discussed at a later meeting for an update.

The last item to be addressed was the Airport Agricultural lease.  Mr. Jones told the board members that the lease with Smith Farms for 57 acres would expire on July 7, 2005.  He was requesting permission of the board to advertise for bids on the lease.  Mr. St. Romain asked what the rate was on the current lease.  Mr. Jones said that the airport received 1/6 of all crop proceeds except for winter wheat which was 1/8 of crop proceeds.  He pointed out that these portions were also received from various government subsidies or payment.  Mr. Pickering made a motion to authorize advertising for bids.  Mr. Hall seconded the motion which passed unanimously.

There being no further business the meeting adjourned on a motion by Mr. Pickering, seconded by Mr. St. Romain, and unanimously approved.

    

Hollis Ray O'Neal, Chairman

    

Elton Pickering, Secretary/Treasurer