DRAA members question process for bidding work

The Delta Regional Airport Authority Board, meeting last week, discussed the airport’s current farm lease and how it should be handled in the future. The board also discussed issues with the bidding process for projects on the airport’s property and a safety Saturday event to be held by the Federal Aviation Administration at the airport. According to board vice president Nancy Jarratt, the current farm tenant, Edmund Barnes, has been asking about the property lease agreement. "I would like to talk about the farm lease," said Jarratt. "The farmer that we currently have on the land is asking about the future. I was hoping we could go ahead and bid it so he can know as soon as possible if he will have it again. I am just trying to get him an answer as soon as possible. I didn't want to wait until the actual contract was up. "If it is not legally binding, I don't think we have to bid it every time," said board chairman Shannon Hobbs. "I think he has done a great job." "Is it something that has to be bid or doesn't have to be bid?” asked board member Chad Runsick. "Is it our decision or is it in the bylaws?" Hobbs explained that he feels that Barnes has done an exceptional job working the land at the airport and would like to see him keep the lease. "It needs to be put in the bylaws," said Hobbs. "I have absolutely no problem with the farm tenant on this property. As far as I am concerned, he has done everything we have asked him to do and he has added to that list substantially. He has kept the fence clean, he has done everything we have asked him to do. If I can extend the lease to help him, I can write a letter to the AG. I don't know how fast I will have a response, but I think I will have one by the next meeting. "I feel the same way about the guy mowing this place, too," continued Hobbs. "We have not had to ask him to come back and redo not one thing out here. As far as I know, he has not broken one light on that taxiway or runway once. He did the time before, but when he did, he came to me and told me about it." According to Runsick, the process of collecting bids for projects through the DRAA needs to be clarified. "We need to find out whether or not we have to bid or rebid all of this stuff," said Runsick. "We need to know about everything. The water project. Tell me about that. Who is working on that and how did this company get that job? Did we not have to bid that?" "We did," said Hobbs. "We didn't bid it," said Runsick. "The board did not bid it. Who bid it?” "We bid it out to Garver," said Hobbs. "We allowed Garver to bid the project out?” asked Runsick. "We allowed Garver to bid it out," agreed Hobbs. "I had to pay for the ad to go in the paper for the Delta Regional Airport and stuff like that." Runsick said the board did not bid the fire suppression system project themselves. "I have had two people call me about the project," said Runsick. "They were fussing because they didn't know it was a biddable project. They didn't know. We as a board did not bid it. We have done a lot of stuff but we didn't bid that." "Well, we did," said Hobbs. "It went out for bid because we had a bid opening ceremony." "Find that in the minutes that we, as the board, bid that project and that we opened bids on this table," said Runsick. "We did not." "We did not open bids, they did that at the corporate offices," said Hobbs. "Where did Garver advertise it?” asked Runsick. "The Arkansas Democrat Gazette," said Hobbs. "That is Little Rock," said Runsick. "I have had a couple of companies approach me because they didn't know about the project being biddable." "They didn't read the paper," said Hobbs. "Where was it advertised?” asked Runsick. "That is the problem. We have gotten in trouble with that before." According to Hobbs, no local advertising was done for the project or any projects that have been bid through Garver. "There is a protocol for how it is put out," said Hobbs. "You can put it in your locals, but the problem we run into is that after two years ago, we no longer have the Wynne Progress, we only have the Forrest City Times-Herald. People who used to get the paper, no longer do. We do the state like we are required to do." "So, no locals were done," said Runsick. "Not Forrest City or anything?" "No," said Hobbs. In other business, Hobbs told the board that he had been approached by the FAA to host a safety meeting on the airport grounds on Saturday, Aug. 2. “They would like to use the airport and do a safety Saturday here," said Hobbs. "It is a safety meeting, but they want to make it a fun, fly-in type of deal. They said they wanted to get this together for Saturday, August 2. I wasn't given a schedule, they were just talking about doing breakfast and asked if the airport would entertain doing a lunch like hamburgers and hotdogs. They are going to put fliers."

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