Resolution authorizing the City Manager to enter into Grant Agreement Number 3-27-0055-034-2023 with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for Capital Improvement Project 10905; Air Traffic Control Tower Siting Study (SP A0701-122) at the Mankato Regional Airport.

Adoption of the attached resolution.

In August 2021, the City Council authorized staff to update the Benefit Cost Analysis (BCA) report previously completed by Quadrex Aviation, LLC and submit an application on behalf of the City to be considered for the Federal Contract Tower (FCT) program. Upon completion of the update of the BCA, it was subsequently submitted to the FAA for consideration in late October 2021 and the City received notice in April 2022 that the FAA had reviewed our application, and the Mankato Regional Airport had been accepted as a candidate for the FAA FCT program.
 
Conditions of the April 19, 2022 acceptance into the FAA FCT program Stipulate:
 

• MKT will have 5 years from the date of the letter (April 19, 2022) to provide a control tower that has successfully completed an Operational Readiness Inspection (ORI).
• MKT will be required to sign an Air Traffic Control Tower Operations Agreement (TOA).
• Tower funding is subject to availability.
• If the airport fails to provide a control tower that successfully completes an ORI within the 5-year period, the airport returns to Phase 1 (Interest Phase) and can reapply for acceptance into the FCT Program.

 
Since acceptance into the program, staff has been working through processes with the FAA Regional Airports Division and District Office (ADO), Central Service Center, Terminal Engineering Center, and Contracting Office along with MnDOT Aeronautics on our ATCT siting process.
 
On April 10, 2023 the City Council Authorized the City Manager to enter into Agreement Number AJW-FN-CSA-23-GL-005650, a reimbursable agreement, with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to perform a siting study for the purpose of selecting a site for the construction of an Air Traffic Control Tower and on June 12, 2023, the City Council authorized the City Manager to enter into a contract for professional services with Toltz, King, Duvall, Anderson, and Associates (TKDA) and Short, Elliot, and Hendrickson (SEH) for the same purposes.
 
When the professional services agreements for FAA and the consultants were brought to Council, staff informed the Council that a grant agreement would follow sometime in the fall of 2023 and on June 21, 2023 staff submitted an Application for Federal Assistance (SF-424) requesting reimbursement for eligible costs related to the Air Traffic Control Tower Siting Study.
 
Attached to this memo is the grant agreement containing the terms, conditions, and reimbursable amounts for the siting study and a brief summary of the reimbursable amounts are as follows:

 

ADMINISTRATIVE	FAA	MnDOT	Local Share
FAA Reimbursable Agreement	$115,502.76	$6,416.82	$6,416.82
Independent Fee Estimate	$5,400.00	$300.00	$300.00
Engineering/Planning	FAA	MnDOT	Local Share
TKDA/SEH	$270,000.00	$15,000.00	$15,000.00
TOTAL	$390,902.00	$21,716.82	$21,716.82

 
A companion grant from MnDOT will follow sometime in the future and the resolution attached this memo also authorizes the City Manager to enter into the MnDOT companion grant when it arrives.

Note, the FAA Agreement will be made available once received.