Grand Forks moves forward with air service consultant

GRAND FORKS – The Grand Forks City Council on Monday approved a contract with Meehan Aviation Group to explore expanding air service at Grand Forks International Airport.

In October, Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski formed a committee to explore expanding and improving air service from Grand Forks. Throughout the fall and winter, the committee met to discuss solutions to increase flight options and encourage people and businesses to fly to and from Grand Forks.

Out of those meetings, it was decided a consultant would be hired to help the city and airport apply for air service grant funding, which could help bring additional routes or an additional carrier to Grand Forks.

“We’re going to put together a strategic plan that’s going to help very aggressively with this mayor whose goal is to be aggressive (in solving the issue),” said Sonjia Murray, of the Meehan Group. “Based on our preliminary work being here, this is a very aggressive community that’s coming together very quickly and I think when everybody is pointed in the same direction, Fargo needs to look out.”

In the five years leading up to 2020, Grand Forks saw an average of 125,461 enplanements a year. After dropping to 46,891 enplanements in 2020, last year saw 93,815, continuing a post-pandemic rebound. According to Meehan Group, however, Grand Forks is underperforming and is lagging behind other North Dakota airports in recovery from the pandemic travel downturn.

Importantly for Grand Forks, its market is good for doing business, according to Murray.

“We have a market that is strong, and importantly, is growing,” Murray said. “Three years from now it’s sounding like the business landscape is going to be even more developed, which is key because airlines that are here make some pretty good money and that’s compelling for carriers when they’re looking at a market.”

The Meehan Group has worked with other small and mid-sized markets in places like Spokane, Washington; Provo, Utah; and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Their goal is to have an air service action plan by late summer.

Also Monday, the council approved JLG Architects as the architect of record for the city's new recreation facility — the Altru Sports Complex — for the amount of $1,697,661.51. The city, which will own the facility, has not chosen a final design but some members of the council did have issues with the potential costs of the new facility.

“I’m really nervous about putting us in a position where we just have another Alerus Center and we’re going to have to go back to the tax base,” council member Rebecca Osowski said. “I think we just need to be really careful.”

The Alerus Center is operated by a third-party contractor, OVG360. The city is responsible for capital repairs, paid for with a 0.75% sales tax that has been in place since the 1990s and which recently was extended by voters.

The extension will generate funds for the Altru Sports Complex. However, instead of a third-party contractor, the Grand Forks Park District will operate it.

“Any project that the city’s involved in, whether it's the bike path or the cost of purchasing new police cars, I’m assuming the price when we come back later … isn’t going to be the same. It’s probably going to go up,” said Council member Danny Weigel.

Designs and the discussion of what to include and what gets excluded from the final plan likely will be discussed later this year — probably by late summer, according to City Administrator Todd Feland.

In other news, the council:

• Approved a consultant for the redevelopment of the old water treatment plant site downtown. The plant was decommissioned four years ago and the city is looking into what redevelopment of the site might look like.
• As the Board of Equalization, received the annual city assessing report and approved three protests to property valuation.