Othello port commissioner has issue with new hangar construction

OTHELLO — A Port of Othello commissioner is raising some concerns about the construction of the port’s newest airplane hangar, which is expected to be completed soon.

Gary Weaver, one of three members of the commission overseeing the Port of Othello, said the construction company, Straight A Contracting in Othello, which built the new hangar, failed to use the door the port commissioners agreed upon in the original contract and because of that, was able to win the contract by significantly underbidding other companies.

Weaver, who said he designed and built airplane hangars in the 1970s and ’80s, said commissioners agreed to use a hangar door from Wisconsin-based Hi-Fold Door Corporation because he said the design is one of the best available.

“I think it’s probably my fault,” Weaver said. “A hangar is designed and built around the door, and that is one of the best trouble-free doors there is.”

Because Straight A did not use that door, or even include it in its bid documents, Weaver said the company was able to bid around $550,000 for the project, while the next-highest bid was $630,000. That bid, he said, included the Hi-Fold door.

In a short letter read at the previous Port of Othello commission meeting and shared with the Columbia Basin Herald, Weaver wrote the situation was “unfair to all the contractors who bid this job as per our specifications” and Straight A “needs to be held accountable and build the hangar per the specifications of the board.”

Weaver also said with the hangar nearly completed, it’s too late to do much about the situation.

“Hopefully, it will turn out for the best,” he said. “Being a pilot, I want to see the airport do well.”

Jeff Unrau, the owner of Straight A Contracting, said he thought the matter had been resolved, port commissioners reviewed his bid and “accepted the contract as it was,” and the door he used is “very high quality.”

“I didn’t realize this was an issue,” Unrau said.

Commission chair Kenny Schutte said he was also caught “off guard” by Weaver’s concerns and said he thought they had been addressed at a previous meeting.

Schutte said when the commissioners found out in late May that Straight A was building the hangar around a different door, they took a trip to Yakima to see that door in action.

“Those doors are better than what Gary wanted, and we all three decided to work through this,” Schutte said. “It’s not practical to tear down the building.”

The new hangar is set to add 10 new bays for airplane parking and storage to the tiny Othello Municipal Airport. Work began in February, but the start of construction was delayed after the Federal Aviation Administration demanded the Port of Othello move the building site several feet to ensure the new building did not obstruct ground traffic.

Port of Othello Executive Director Chris Faix said the hangar building is “on the downward slope for getting done.”

“The interior walls are going up, and it’s definitely coming along,” he said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.