Months after it was affected by large amounts of flooding, the Jefferson City Memorial Airport terminal will soon be demolished.
On Monday, the Jefferson City Council approved a $24,000 demolition contract with Stan Morris Construction, out of Kennett, Missouri, for pre-demolition asbestos removal and building demolition. The city will pay $12,000 each for the two services.
The airport and terminal closed in May due to heavy flooding. While the airport was able to reopen in July, the terminal remained closed.
After flooding receded, the terminal was inspected, and it was determined repairs would cost more than 50 percent of the building's pre-flood value, which is the limit for repairs of structures in a floodplain, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's structural improvement rules.
If the terminal wasn't demolished, it would need to be raised about 9 feet to comply with the rules.
Britt Smith, operations division director with the city's Department of Public Works, said the airport will remain in operation during the work.
"We believe that this is not detrimental to our airport operations, with the exception of the fact it's going to have some construction going on very near a ramp, but we have allowances for that, and I think we're in good shape there," Smith said.
Special provisions attached to the contract state the contractor's activities can't affect the operations of the airport, and should any work potentially affect the ramp, they have to provide Airport Manager Ron Craft with 48 hours notice.
They must salvage all exterior signage and memorial plaques from the building, among other provisions.
The council also approved a supplemental appropriation of $30,000 from the airport surplus account to pay for the demolition. Some of the funds in the airport account came from the building's insurance settlement of $220,000.
Smith said they asked for some extra funds in case of any incidental costs incurred during the work.
Stan Morris Construction won't begin work until they are given a notice to proceed from the city, and once work has begun it must be completed within 20 working days, according to the contract.
Work is expected to start within a month, Smith said. Some demolition work will take place before the asbestos removal, then a few inspections will need to take place before full demolition can begin.
Also on Monday, the council approved a grant agreement with the Missouri Department of Transportation for public transit operating assistance.
The grant, in the amount of $11,284, is designated by the Missouri Legislature for transit support under the Missouri Revised Statutes.
The funds require a 50 percent local match and will be used to help fund JeffTran, the city's bus service.
The operating and capital costs for JeffTran were $2,758,337 in 2018, according to the grant application. Total passenger ridership in the same year was 282,025.
In 2018, $1,240,829 in local tax support was used for JeffTran's operation.
Jefferson City Transit Division Director Mark Mehmert previously told the News Tribune, in general, about $900,000 of the division's $2.5 million annual budget comes from the federal government, $1.2 million comes from the city and about $170,000 comes from bus fare revenue.
In other business, a supplemental appropriation from the general fund was introduced to the council.
The supplemental appropriation would move $107,000 for software upgrades to outdated email, office and payroll software.
The upgrades include a switch from Microsoft Exchange 2010 email to Exchange Online and an upgrade of the Microsoft Office programs on city computers from the 2010 version. Both 2010 programs will be out of support in 2020, meaning no security updates or technical support will be available.
The city will also upgrade their accounting, payroll and utility billing software - Springbook - to a newer version.
The appropriation also includes an amount of $5,685 for grant matching funds for the Heartland Port Authority of Central Missouri.
In May 2019, the council approved a grant match not to exceed $7,000 for a portion of the 10 percent required match for the port authority from the Missouri Agriculture and Small Business Authority. The actual city share of the grant match is $5,685.
The total supplemental appropriation would be $112,685.
A bill which would have expanded the hours during which garage sales can be held expired from the council's informal calendar Monday.
The bill would've allowed garage sales to start at 6 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. Bills placed on the informal calendar expire after three meetings without action.