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TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Steve Andras, PE
Airport Manager
Richard J. Veenstra
Corporation Counsel
DATE: April 1, 2022
SUBJECT:
Expiring federal grant funds for airport purposes.
PURPOSE:
To expressly authorize the City Treasurer to agree on behalf of the City to participate in the exchange of federal entitlements with other public airports with the assistance of the Division of Aeronautics of the Illinois Department of Transportation.
BACKGROUND:
From time-to-time, the City is eligible to receive project grant funds from the Federal Aviation Administration for various purposes related to its Airport. In many instances, the City must use these funds within a defined time period. The City does not use these funds by the time the grant expires, the City is no longer entitled to them.
The FAA allows airports to exchange grant entitlements with one another. This option allows a public airport with current projects to be funded with grants expiring well in the future to exchange its entitlements with another public airport that has grants which are about to expire, but does not have an immediate project capable of using the funds. The exchange allows airports to use the proceeds of their original entitlements beyond the date the entitlements are set to expire.
IDOT's Division of Aeronautics facilitates exchanges of entitlement between airports. Before the Division can pair airports, each public airport sponsor must certify that it intends to transfer the entitlement to a recipient airport and its attorney must certify the authority of the sponsor to make that certification.
It is unclear whether or what City officer or employee has the authority to authorize an exchange of entitlements on behalf of the City as the Airport's sponsor. While the Airport Manager is directly involved in infrastructure projects at the Airport, there is a financial component involved and it may be more appropriate for the City to designate the City ...
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