Video courtesy of Nancy Kusky of Goldendale TV. Don’t forget to Subscribe to her Youtube channel.
The Goldendale City Council met last night with a bare quorum of four of the seven city councilors in attendance. Councilors passed a major milestone on the long-awaited upgrade of the Goldendale Airport in approving a bid from Northwest-based Masscot Equipment Company in an amount not to exceed $162,766.25 to install an aviation gas fuel system at the airport. This is a project that has been in the works for several years and will be funded by a state grant for $550,000 for airport improvement that was awarded in 2019. This would be for the first part of the project. Consultant Corley McFarland described what would go out for bid in the second part:
“That’ll be the power to the fuel system, the concrete slab, and a small apron to park the aircraft on.”
He said that second part would be going out for bid soon, and the current lead time from bid to installation is running 16 weeks.
Councilors also approved a public meeting policy. Under the state’s new relaxed restrictions, all Washington counties will move to phase three on March 22nd, which means that the council will be able to meet in person with a limited audience in the council chambers, along with masking and social distancing. One small positive outcome of the previous restriction is that more people are able to attend online, and Mayor Mike Canon said access by Zoom and telephone will continue even after meeting in person is allowed:
“Using Zoom and telephone ability to attend the meeting is going to be available long term – very long term. The Zoom system has become very, very helpful for workshops and things of that nature and the telephone has worked well as well.”
He added that continuing those systems would be helpful for people who will not be comfortable attending meetings in person