— The Decorah City Council voted 4-2 Monday night in favor of a 20-year hangar lease agreement with Gundersen and to accept bids for the project.
GUNDERSON, CO – Gundersen Health Systems will have a permanent hangar for its MedLink AIR helicopter at the Decorah Airport.
“Gundersen Health System is happy to have one of our medical helicopters and flight crews located in Decorah,” Stephanie Hill, Gundersen AIR director said after the vote.
“This partnership with the Decorah City Council and Airport Commission will benefit all residents in Northeast Iowa. Now that the necessary approvals have been secured, we will move forward with construction on the site which we hope to begin soon.”
Construction of the hangar is expected to be completed in December. The total project cost, including engineering, architectural design and financing, is anticipated to be $1,315,019 with the city’s contribution estimated at about $315,019.
At its last meeting, the Council tabled action on the lease, and Council members asked Gundersen to amend the agreement to make payments that reflect the city’s principal variable payment schedule. Gundersen agreed to the amended lease terms that call for Gundersen to pay the city $1,002,000 in 30-installments during the first 15 years of the lease.
The installments are tied to the city’s bond payments and are unequal from year to year. Council members Dan Bellrichard and Randy Schissel cast the two dissenting votes. While he’s in favor of Gundersen having a hangar in Decorah, Bellrichard has maintained the city should not be responsible for the approximately $300,000 in financing costs when city officials originally were told the hangar would be built at no expense to the city.
Gundersen officials said their funding for the project was capped at about $1 million. Gundersen has been leasing a hangar at the airport for the past year and is currently paying the city $2,500 per month. The Gundersen flight crew was told it would be in temporary quarters in the airport lounge and a mobile construction office for about six months but the crew has now been in the temporary quarters for more than a year, according to Gundersen Community and Regional Relations Specialist Laura Olson.
“We want to get them a permanent setting as soon as we can,” she told the Council.
Nine members of the 14-member Gundersen helicopter crew live in Decorah, Hill said, and four of them moved to Decorah to serve on the flight crew.
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