The Springfield Airport Authority obtained a Federal Airport Enchancment Grant for a number of tasks, together with an emergent restore venture on a runway. Nevertheless, the airport has waited greater than two years for the state to disperse the federal funds and paid the contractor $1 million within the meantime.
Think about being owed $1 million and going years with out amassing.
Emails are despatched, with no response. Cellphone calls aren’t returned. Knocking on the door does not do any good as a result of nobody appears to ever be within the workplace. As a final resort, a word demanding fee is slipped below the deadbeat’s door.
However nonetheless, no verify has arrived.
That is the predicament the Springfield Airport Authority finds itself in with the state of Illinois.
The Illinois Division of Transportation administers Federal Aviation Administration cash. In September 2019, the SAA obtained a Federal Airport Enchancment Grant for a number of tasks, together with bettering the airport’s foremost runway and making different enhancements comparable to drainage and wildlife management.
One of many tasks was awarded in September 2022 within the quantity of $1,050,306, and the work was accomplished by December of that yr. The FAA made funding obtainable in February 2023 to pay invoices, however IDOT by no means dispersed the funds.
“It is simply been hanging on their books for a few years, and we have been ready on the state to pay us so we might pay the contractor near $1 million,” mentioned Mark Hanna, government director of the SAA. “We couldn’t wait any longer. We needed to get the contractor paid, so the Airport Authority paid the steadiness to the contractor.
“The cash has been sitting at IDOT, on the division of aeronautics, for fairly a while. And unexpectedly, we’re getting pings from the FAA concerning the interval of efficiency for these grants. This grant specifically has come up, and they’re eager to recall the {dollars} as a result of the state has not drawn down the cash.”
Confronted with the prospect of the feds clawing again the {dollars} due to the state’s inaction, Hanna compiled a thick folder of all of the letters, emails and different correspondence that the airport has despatched to IDOT. He then went to the company’s division of aeronautics workplace, which mockingly, is a tenant on the airport.
“They went over to take it to the individuals on the constructing, discovered the constructing was locked and there wasn’t even a guard there,” mentioned Dianne Barghouti Hardwick, a member of the SAA board.
A number of extra journeys have been made to the aeronautics workplace, all with the identical end result. Lastly, Hanna slid the file below the workplace door in hopes somebody would get again to him.
“I did get a name again from the director of aeronautics, and he’s now personally concerned,” Hanna mentioned. “And I feel issues are beginning to loosen up and the venture is meant to be getting paid, I suppose.”
However no verify has arrived thus far.
When contacted by Illinois Occasions, IDOT spokesperson Paul Wappel mentioned in a written assertion, “We’ve got been coordinating with airport workers, in addition to the Federal Aviation Administration, to verify the required steps are so as so the funding might be processed. We anticipate any excellent points to be resolved within the subsequent couple of weeks.”
Hanna mentioned he has no thought why the state is so sluggish in paying what it owes.
“I am not going to fake to know 100% what they do,” he mentioned. “Or how they need to go about doing it.”
In his response, IDOT’s Wappel provided this clarification for the tardiness, “The timeline for fee (is) as a consequence of administrative modifications with the grant settlement. At the moment, all events are working collectively to see that the funding is offered as quickly as potential.”
Hanna mentioned Springfield isn’t distinctive; airports throughout the state have had comparable issues with IDOT in getting paid.
Hanna added he has no thought why the state’s workplace on the airport grounds is commonly empty.
“I do not know their work hours or their work schedules,” he mentioned. “I feel some do work distant, some do not. Often, the safety guard over there’s comfortable to open the door. However not this time – the guard wasn’t even there.”
Airport Authority Chair Frank Vala mentioned he’s hopeful the federal {dollars} administered by the state will come by means of, regardless of the feds calling for clawing again the cash.
“I consider that the federal authorities simply fired a shotgun to see who catches a pellet. And if they do not (catch a pellet), they go onto one thing else. That is my wild guess proper now – till I can get into it deeper.”
