Regional airports receive funding for projects

SANDPOINT – The Board of County Commissioner's allocated $541,566 of federal and county money for improvement projects in the Airport Department.

The first asked the commission to approve a change order for the Sandpoint runway repair project totaling $171,650. The funding will come from the department’s budget carried over from last year, and will be used to continue repairing pavement at the airport.

“We removed and replaced approximately 170,000-sqare-feet of the runway this summer, and patched another 92,000-square-feet,” said Dave Schuck, Airport Department manager.

Schuck said the department had set aside extra funding for the project in case it exceeded the estimated price of repairs. Now that runway repairs have been completed at close to the estimated price, the department has additional funding it would like to use to repair more pavement at the airport that isn’t strictly on the runway or taxiway.

The board approved the funding to be spent on the project.

The second item asked commissioners to approve a grant amendment request for the Priest River Airport. The request decreases the amount of federal Airport Improvement Program grant funds by $9,312, as the airport was unable to acquire all of the lots they were originally expecting to gain. AIP grant funds going to the Priest River airport now total $370,012.

The commissioners approved the amendment request.

The county commissioners hold a weekly business meeting that is open to the public at 9 a.m. every Tuesday in the administrative building at 1500 Highway 2.

Members of the public are encouraged to speak during public meetings. People can even speak about items not on the agenda at the beginning of the meeting. Those who wish to remotely attend can do so via Zoom. The meeting can also be livestreamed on Bonner County’s YouTube channel, where an archive of previous meetings can be viewed.