Bollig Engineering Serves Unique Market Niche

Over the last 15 years, Willmar-based Bollig Engineering's expertise has focused on airport projects that are crucial to the financial well-being of rural Minnesota.

Smaller GA airports need both technical support and funding advocacy. Their communities often have a good grasp of infrastructure needs, but struggle to understand the myriad funding programs available and their ever-changing rules and regulations.

"We help our clients understand and access the multitude of funding sources," said Brian Bollig, PE and company president. "We help clients express their desires in the right format, then bring their compelling stories to funding agencies. It's an art that involves people, emotions, and relationships."

In small town America, cities often do not have a lot of capital to spend on their airports, as they are also juggling other city infrastructure and equipment needs.

Keeping up with airport infrastructure maintenance can be a struggle, especially when larger projects, such as pavement preservation or building construction must be completed.

While MnDOT and the FAA fund most of the cost of these important projects, there is usually a local share that can be very burdensome, leaving cities feeling stuck, unable to move forward.

"Smaller cities with airports often struggle with matching funds for MnDOT and FAA projects due to other commitments and needs throughout their communities," said Angela Holm, AIA, Bollig's aviation lead. "They still have to come up with a local share and depending on project's size, it can be challenging. If they have a $5 million project, 5% becomes a lot of money."

Pavement preservation is critical. Airport sponsors work hard to keep up with the ongoing maintenance of their pavements and are generally able to meet financial commitments for the local match for preservation and minor maintenance activities, but struggle when it's time to perform costly repaving projects such as mill-and-overlays or reconstruction.

The overarching problem is money and finances, added business development executive, Mike Beard. Critical infrastructure drives financial needs.

On average, a runway lasts 20 or 25 years, and when it needs to be repaved or rebuilt, that leads to a financial crunch. Another need is hangars. "Demand is really driving discussion," he said. Waiting lists for hangar space are two or three years out, or even longer.

Increasing construction costs for hangars is also a challenge, with recent steep material cost increases for key project components such as steel, and ongoing supply chain issues. These projects also remain out of reach for many airports from a cash flow perspective.

"We're not afraid of taking on challenging projects," said Kris Ambuehl, director of client development. "Sometimes, it's a project that has been abandoned by another consultant because it's time-consuming or requires work with multiple stakeholders and different local facets."

Bollig Engineering takes pride in being neighbors serving neighbors, working on projects that improve everyday life in rural communities, Holm said.

An FBO expansion project in Elbow Lake, for example, helped a local business which was constrained in its growth by the size of its existing hangar.

Prairie Air, Inc. Oowner Joe LaRue has increased his employees from 10 to 12 as a direct result of the expansion, and he's now actively looking for two to three A/P mechanics.

Through the City of Elbow Lake's investments in critical aviation infrastructure, its Pride of the Prairie Airport is being noticed all over the nation for its support of aviation business development, Holm said.

Another project that will transform a rural community is the new Karlstad Airport, which is currently in the design phase.

"Our team facilitated a connection between the city and state legislators to secure $5.6M in funding to build a new 4,700-foot runway to replace the short, wet, turf runway," Holm said.

Due to the existing runway's condition, the business community in the area, which secures contracts for equipment all over the world, was unable to take advantage of air travel in an efficient way. Like Prairie Air, their business growth is constrained by a lack of adequate airport facilities in their community.

After the new airport is built, those businesses expect to hire approximately 100 employees over the next 5 years. In addition, the city will then have improved facilities for medical evacuation and firefighting, a service that is seen as critical.

Understanding stakeholders' needs is important, but what's more difficult to quantify is an airport's direct economic impact, Bollig said.

"You'll never see that as a line item on a budget. It's very easy for a city council, a county board, or a regional airport authority to say, 'That's costing us money.' " There's never an easy solution to show aviation revenue, he added.

Four of Bollig's clients – Elbow Lake Municipal Airport, Tracy Municipal Airport, Orr Regional Airport, and Hector Municipal Airport – received FY2022 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Airport Allocations. The federal awards were announced last December. Holm said Bollig has been collaborating with FAA staff, looking to strategically deploy the new airport funding.

"We've restructured our airports' CIPs to take maximum advantage of these funds and save them up for hangars," she said. "Hangar funding is a constant need for GA airports. It can be difficult to secure grants for such funding. MnDOT's revolving hangar loan fund is available, but those funds are in high demand, and have a long waiting list. There are still many unknowns about the BIL funding. Hopefully the FAA will provide guidance on these questions," Holm said.