Franklin County Commissioners have agreed to seek
another 1.3 million dollars from Triumph Gulf Coast to help pay for the construction
of a new fuel farm at the Apalachicola Airport.
In 2021, the County was awarded a 1 million dollar
grant through Triumph Gulf Coast to install the new fuel farm which will
include two new 12,000-gallon tanks, an entirely new fuel system, and
self-serve card reader - It will also include a back-up generator for the
system.
The county had planned to kick in about 25
thousand dollars for the project.
The problem is that the only bid for the project
came from a company in Lakeland for nearly 1.9 million and that does not
include the amount that was needed to draw up the plans for the fuel farm.
Franklin County’s grants coordinator Eric Griffin
said this is not surprising as they have seen construction costs skyrocket for
a number of projects in recent years.
The county has now agreed to send a request for an
additional 1.3 million dollars to cover the increased cost, and the county will
increase its portion to 50 thousand dollars.
The County began working to get a new fuel farm
after Hurricane Michael hit our area in October, 2018.
After the storm. the Apalachicola Airport was the
only airport able to deliver fuel for an area between Tallahassee and almost
Pensacola.
And while everything worked well, it could have
been much different because of the age of the fuel farm.
No comments:
Post a Comment