By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
More than $6 million in construction and renovation projects to benefit Laughlin Air Force Base are being overseen by Val Verde County Commissioners Court.
County Engineer Carlos Velarde gave county commissioners court members an update on the Laughlin projects during the court’s last regular meeting of the year on Dec. 20.
“There are five different projects the county is doing at the base: Four of them are state-funded by the DEEAG (the Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant Program), and the fifth one is federally funded,” Velarde told the court.
The five projects include the Val Verde County/City of Del Rio/Laughlin Air Force Base compatible use study, Laughlin AFB field lighting, T-1 sunshades, aerospace physiology building and flightline maintenance facility renovation.
Velarde went over details for each of the five projects.
He said the total grant amount for the compatible use study was $682,924 from the Department of Defense, and the performance period of the grant was from September 2021 until the end of February 2023.
Velarde noted there was an item on the commissioners court’s agenda to request a six-month extension for completion of the study.
“We’ve done the first and second technical committee meetings and the policy committee meetings. The task that we’re working on is the data review, mapping and identification of local conditions, existing land use and airspace compatibility analysis, and we also have pending the land use conflicts and compatibility recommendations and implementation of the plan,” Velarde said.
Following Velarde’s presentation, the court unanimously approved his request to seek a six-month extension for the completion of the project.
The second project is the LAFB airfield lighting project, which is scheduled for completion at the end of February 2023.
“This is a state-funded project, and the total grant amount was $2.4 million, and the contract to the company was for $2.1 million. On this (project), we do have an issue that came out yesterday (Dec. 19). We had 22 regulators that the contractor is installing and based on the design, two of them will not work. The order time for the two new regulators is going to be 20 weeks,” Velarde said.
He said he will likely need an extension because of the regulator issue and will speak to the state about the problem.
“We’re going to ask the state to give us more time, at least until the regulators come in, and we will bring it back to the court with more information,” County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. added.
The third project is the T-1 sunshades.
Velarde said the grant amount for this project was $1.5 million, and the project performance period is February 2020 through August 2023.
“We have a contract fully executed with the designer/contractor, and we pretty much have all the design complete, and it’s now being reviewed by Laughlin. They estimate breaking ground in January 2023,” Velarde said.
The fourth project is the aerospace physiology facility.
“This is also state-funded, for $864,000. The period of performance for this one is February 2022 through February 2024,” Velarde said.
He said the county received bids on the project on Dec. 16 and is in the process of reviewing those bids before a recommendation comes before commissioners court.
The fifth and final project is the renovation of the flightline maintenance facility.
Velarde said the renovation project is also funded by the state for $1.4 million, and the period of performance is February 2022 through February 2024.
“We have received the design and the proffer letter. We are working on bid specifications, and we’re shooting to start advertising (for bids) on Jan. 4, 2023, and opening bids on Feb. 14, 2023,” Velarde said.
“I asked Carlos to bring us this update, so all of you would know, in case you’re asked, by the public, about the work that we’re doing on the base. I will tell you that other than the compatible use study, there’s $6,313,000 worth of grants that we’ve been able to acquire to move forward with these projects to help Laughlin, and we have another $682,920 for the compatible use study,” Owens told the court.
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