What kind of upgrades is Nye County planning at the Tonopah and Beatty airports?

In a town where the nearest hospital is an hours-long drive away in either direction, the ability to conduct emergency medical flights is crucial, making the Tonopah Airport not just great for tourism but a vital part of community safety as well.

Following many months of effort and planning, Nye County is now readying for some major investment at the Tonopah Airport but it all hinges on one thing - the awarding of two grants from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Two contracts related to the more than $1 million improvement project were up for discussion during the Nye County Commission’s August 5 meeting. Nye County Public Works Engineering Tech Cody McKee explained that the first of the two contracts targets updating the lighting on the airport’s taxiway A.

“This lighting is very old, very outdated and it is a maintenance issue. We have many failures with our lighting, due to its age and condition, and this grant seeks to pay to replace that lighting, as well as our emergency backup generator and our wing coms,” McKee stated.

Nye County Contracts and Grants Manager Stephani Elliott, who is currently acting as Nye County comptroller, noted that funds have already been earmarked to cover any matching funds the county may need for grants associated with the project.

“These are projects that are already approved through the FAA,” Elliott detailed. “However, we have also applied for [grant] applications. So at this time, we do have match set aside, as needed, through the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund (LATCF) to meet the obligations of any future contracts.

“The reason we would like this to be contingent upon FAA approval is, we haven’t been awarded the grant just yet. That should be coming, fingers crossed, within the next 60 days,” Elliott continued. “However, before the FAA will proceed with a grant award, they do require that the board has approved a potential contract, so that we are kind of locked into the pricing. And that is also justification for the FAA to award that grant.”

Typically, the county has been responsible for matching roughly 6% for grants of this type and the total match for the taxiway lighting grant would come to about $68,000. That match will be paid for using the more than $800,000 in LATCF the county has allocated for projects associated with its airports. McKee added that there is a potential for assistance with matching funds, too, through the Nevada Dept. of Transportation, Aviation Division, which could reduce the matching cost for the county.

As the board opened its discussion, commissioner Ian Bayne said he simply couldn’t support the project due to the board’s decision not to fund a public safety item he had put forward following recent violent incidences at Pahrump area parks. “If we’d gotten the $35,000 for the patrol and the lights [at parks], I would have voted for this,” Bayne remarked.

Commissioner Bruce Jabbour then jumped in to defend the importance of the Tonopah Airport.

“We are two and a half hours from any major hospital. The facts are, we have 60 minutes, one hour, to get a critical patient a flight-for-life and that’s the priority of having this airport,” Jabbour asserted. “This is about saving lives, it’s so very important. And we have deliveries of FedEx and UPS. Planes land here for fuel. We don’t have mail delivery service, everybody is forced to go to the post office.”

Jabbour then made the motion to award the taxiway lighting project contract to Mesquite Electric in the amount of $1,098,950 contingent upon award of the FAA grant. Commissioner Debra Strickland offered a second and the motion passed 4-1, Bayne the sole voice against.

Moving on to the next item, McKee said this particular contract was intended to cover the costs to reseal Tonopah Airport’s taxiway A. There were three bids received for the reseal project, including a $189,900 bid from American Road Maintenance, a $154,935 bid from C.R. Contracting LLC and a $149,752 bid from the ultimate awardee, Straight Stripe Painting Inc.

“This project consists of crack-sealing and surface treating taxiway A. This is a maintenance application to extend the life of our taxiway,” McKee reported.

Jabbour made the motion to award the reseal contract to Straight Stripe Painting Inc., also contingent upon the FAA grant award, and this passed 4-1 with Bayne against.

A third airport contract was before the commission on August 5, as well, this one for a reseal project at the Beatty Airport.

“This project is much like the last, just a different airport,” McKee detailed. “This would provide crack-seal and surface treatment to taxiway A1 and A2, taxiway B, the apron and runway 1-19.”

Four bids were submitted for the Beatty project, with Maxwell Asphalt joining the previous three bidders. However, once again it was Straight Stripe Painting Inc. that had the lowest bid at $269,610.

Jabbour made the motion to award the contract to Straight Stripe, contingent upon an FAA grant, which also passed 4-1 with Bayne opposed.

Both reseal projects will have matching funds paid for out of the allocated LATCF dollars.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com