Well we'll move on to the next item on our agenda, which is an update on the Manhattan Regional Airport.

Good evening, Mayor Commissioners.

Brandon Keyser, real quick update on some things that are going on at Manhattan Regional Airport.

As you're all aware, we're gearing up for a rather sizable infrastructure project, and that is to replace our primary taxiway, Taxiway Alpha.

And just for the crowd, you know, just as a quick reminder, Taxiway is a pathway on an airport that connects to runway to a ramp.

Critical component of airfield operations.

So we are we have completed taxiway alpha's design, and one of the integral pieces that comes out of design is how to phase the construction.

And so when I when we walked into this project, I had a demand that this construction was not going to impact any type of operations on the airfield.

And so our consultant Olson, which is in the crowd, uh came up with all these different scenarios.

And we worked with the FAA and with our airport stakeholders to come up with a solution to allow this construction to occur that's also feasible that does not impact operations.

And what you're seeing here is that construction phasing schedule of what the FAA airport, Olsen, and our stakeholders agreed upon.

You can see it's five phases, roughly four phases of construction that starts would start in March of uh 2027 and be completed in November of 2027.

Again, I'll point out if you have any flights you're planning to fly next year.

This project will not impact your flights, so go ahead and book them.

Realistically, all that you'll see is if you got a window seat and you pull open the shade, you'll be able to see some construction, see how neat it is, and then taxi out to the primary runway.

So schedule overview, November 18, 2025.

Came to the commission seeking approval to uh move forward with design.

The reason for that is the FAA uh gave us an opportunity to do all three different sections of Taxiway Alpha, get discretionary funds, and then also take advantage of a better grant split.

And I'll talk about that in a little bit.

And so traditionally, uh Taxiway design for our project design uh this size typically takes about a year.

It was compressed substantially because we had to hit that June 1st grant application deadline.

So we completed design uh April 17th.

We bid the project April 21st.

We had a build up bid opening on May 19th.

It was a very competitive bid opening.

We had four different uh major contractors that submitted for this project.

Uh the lowest bid was Clarkson Construction, which also has uh familiarity with our airport because they're the contractor that did the runway project.

So following that bid opening, we had two weeks to put together a hundred and twenty-three-page grant application and get to the FAA.

So I just want to give a big shout out to my assistant airport director, Kim Boyce.

She's a big part of us being able to hit that deadline.

And actually, we got it done two days in advance.

So we submitted that two days prior to it.

So now we're in a holding period.

We're waiting for this really large check from the FAA.

Uh once we actually get that grant offer, I'm gonna come back to the city commission to secure approval to uh accept the grant offer and award the construction contract.

And if you grant that, then we'll move forward with construction starting in March with completion in November.

Project funding, yeah, the big question, right?

How much does it cost to build 7,400 feet by 50 feet wide of a taxiway?

It's a lot of money.

It's 15.6 million dollars is what it all comes down to.

Uh but one of the things that I'll point out, again, like I mentioned, uh, since we were able to get that grant application submitted on before June 1st, we're able to take advantage of a better split.

Traditionally, our grants that we receive are 90 to 10 split, 90% covered by the federal government, 10% by uh local municipality US.

Uh but luckily with FAA reauthorization, we were able to take advantage of a 95-5 split.

And so we're looking to receive roughly 15 million from the FAA, and the city's cost is a little over 700.

I'll pause there for any questions that you might have before I transition on.

I don't know if I'll answer them, and my intent was to just hear all your questions, and then when I bring it back, I'll be really getting it.

No, I'm just kidding.

I'll answer all the questions.

As I recall in some of our previous conversations, the airport takes in some fees out there ticket sales that can't be used for anything else other than eligible projects.

This type of project.

Absolutely.

So I would assume this the city share of this would be mostly paid for by those.

Yeah, so what you're referring to is the passenger facility charge program.

It's a program that's created by the federal government.

It allows airports of our size to go out and uh fill out an application, utilize that that city share to put towards those PSCs or allow those PSCs that we get to help pay for that.

It will take a little while for us to realize those funds, but my full intention is this project is completely eligible for that, and so I intend to put that onto the PSC application once the project is all done and we know all the information.

So it's at a point, the city will be in reimbursed for that amount plus interest.

Again, shameless plug.

The more people that fly out of Manhattan, the more the more PSCs we collect, the quicker we can pay off these things.

That's it.