Change orders approved for Airway Heights' Aspen Grove Park

In a short Monday, May 6 meeting, the Airway Heights City Council approved two change orders for the Aspen Grove Park development project, totaling $25,425.80.

Included in the change orders is a modification to the access slopes.

Parks, recreation and community services director J.C. Kennedy said other change orders had come in during the past week, including one that was turned down based on the contract agreement. Another change order that came in turned out to be a credit to the city totaling around $6,000.

The City Council also approved a request for proposals to perform maintenance on the city’s eight generators. Public Works director Kelly Williquette said another generator will come into the fold once the city’s new well comes online.

“Generators are extremely important and are one of those items that we do not want to go down when we need them,” he said. “They’re critical to our wastewater treatment plant as well as our water sources.”

If the city performed the maintenance itself, it would have been at an estimated cost of $75,000, when factoring in equipment. Training would also take several years, and one of the nearest locations offering training is in Illinois. Because of the cost associated with it, most cities in the area contract the service out to other entities.

Also at the meeting, the City Council approved a bid award for air monitoring equipment at its water reclamation plant to Arizona Instruments for $10,897.18. The company was the lone responder to the bid request.

“We were expecting to pay out a little over $11,000 to $15,000, but we had one bid come in, and that was $10,897.18, and that includes tax,” Williquette said.

In a resolution, the City Council paid respects to the three members of Crew 11 who perished last Friday on assignment at the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan. Crew 11 Week in Airway Heights was during May 5-11. The city also requested municipal flags be flown at half-staff, and invited other businesses to do so.

The City Council appointed Airway Heights resident Jacob Powers to the city’s Parks Board. Powers is a veteran of the Marine Corps and an EWU alumnus who recently moved to the city. With Powers’ appointment, the board is now complete after having different vacancies over the last year.

During his staff report, City Manager Albert Tripp recounted a recent visit city representatives paid to the city of Monterey, Calif. There, they observed how the city works with its local military installation regarding recent federal legislation that allows greater levels of cooperation between entities. Tripp said right now, Airway Heights is merely at the workshop stage with Fairchild, beginning the closer relationship.

“Military installations are really no different than cities,” he said. “They provide services to a population and in many cases the issues and challenges are very much the same.”

The next City Council meeting is Monday, May 20 at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers.

James Eik can be reached at james@cheneyfreepress.com.