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WILLIAMSTOWN -- The Wood County Airport Authority received more than $240,000 from a contractor in exchange for cutting trees on the property and selling the lumber during Tuesday's meeting.
Airport Manager Ben Auville said the airport received two bids for the project.
The first was from Mack Haessly Jr. and Tusco Hardwoods, who offered to pay $242,316 up front and cut certain types of trees that grew over 18 inches. The payment is an estimate of how much money the company would earn by selling the lumber.
The contract would last approximately two years if it was awarded to Tusco, Haessly said.
He also said if the authority wanted to have the job done as soon as possible, he would switch crew schedules to accommodate their request.
Authority President Bill Richardson asked Haessly if the airport would have to incur any expenses if the contract is awarded to them. Haessly said no.
A second bid from JB Logging proposed cutting trees down to 16 inches and harvested.
Once the lumber is collected, a fee for moving the logs would be deducted from the final sale proceeds. After the lumber was sold, proceeds would be split 50% between the Airport Authority and JB Logging.
"His proposal is, he'll cut down to 16 inches, he will take his costs for doing all that off the sale, then what's left over is a 50/50 split," Auville said. "This is an indeterminate contract."
"This is apples and oranges," said Wood County Airport Authority member Andy Daniel. "You'd be rolling the dice with the one, and the other seems like a pretty good deal and have everything taken care of."
"I think a sure thing is better than betting on whatever costs come up because those are out of our control," Richardson said.
The board awarded the contract to Tusco Hardwoods unanimously.
Authority member Terry Moore said the airport hasn't had large-scale tree trimming on the property for almost 20 years and it was time to do so.
Daniel also updated the board on progress on the remodeling of Hangar 4 by showing board members pictures on his iPad. He said the goal is to get the mechanic section of the hangar by the end of April.
The area was leased to 3D Construction Properties, which Daniel owns, at the authority's Feb. 8 meeting.
The company will then sublease the space to River Town Aviation and River Town Aircraft Services. Daniel said the goal is to get the mechanic section of the hangar by the end of April.
Kristen Hainkel can be contacted at khainkel@newsandsentinel.com