RENOVATION SPURS MOVES AT THE AIRPORT

This is moving day for the remaining tenants in the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport terminal building, as the city prepares for a $1.1 million renovation of the facility.

Renovation work is expected to start later this spring, but tenants are being asked to temporarily relocate to prepare the terminal building for an asbestos removal project.

On Thursday, Midwest Weather Services moved from its office to temporary quarters in a mobile home situated near the control tower.

The offices for Hertz and National car rentals were expected to be relocated temporarily to a mobile home in front of the terminal building. The Trans World Express airline ticket office also will be moved to another mobile home in front of the terminal building.

Larry Swader, airport maintenance supervisor, said after the tenants are out, the remaining furnishings and fixtures in the terminal will be taken out so removal of asbestos insulation and floor tile can begin.

He said the asbestos work should start later this month or in early March and will take about 28 days to complete.

After the asbestos has been removed, Swader said the actual renovation of the building will begin. The renovation project is expected to be completed late this summer.

City Manager J. Ronald Fischer said Thursday the city staff has next week will recommend the city council authorize a renovation contract with Sides Construction Co.

The council will consider the matter when it meets Thursday at 7 p.m.

Fischer said all of the bids on the project were lower than the architect's estimate.

"We will have the contract put together in the agenda packet for the council to consider and hopefully approve at Thursday's meeting," said Fischer.

Sides was the apparent low bidder on the project with a low base bid of $868,500. The architect's estimate for the project was $926,686.

Federal Aviation Administration entitlements will pay for about $420,000, and the city received a $130,000 loan from the Missouri Department of Natural Resource's Division of Energy.

The low-interest DNR loan will go toward energy conservation improvements in the building. The city will finance the remaining costs through Public Facilities Authority Bonds.

Included in the project are improvements to the airport wastewater treatment facility, which the DNR estimates will save the city more than $17,000 annually.

The DNR money will be used to replace windows, modify light fixtures and install high-efficiency pump motors, new boiler-chiller controls and roof and wall insulation.