MARSHALL — Parts of the fuel system at Marshall’s airport are over 40 years old, and due for an update, Marshall city staff and City Council members said this week. At Tuesday’s city council meeting, council members voted to approve a grant agreement with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, that would help the city pay to replace underground fuel tanks at the airport.

“The Airport Commission has been strongly interested in this for a number of years,” said council member Craig Schafer. “I think this is really good for the airport. I think it’s very necessary.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, Marshall Public Works Director Jason Anderson said the city had been awarded a grant from MnDOT Aeronautics to replace the fuel systems at the airport.

“It’s a 60/40 cost split between MnDOT and the city for the engineering services cost,” Anderson said.

The engineering services are not to exceed $100,000 for the project, and there would also be $3,000 in city administrative expenses, according to materials in the agenda packet for Tuesday’s council meeting.

“Once we get a project bid, we’ll amend this same grant agreement to include the project cost,” Anderson said.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $1.278 million, and under the grant agreement the city of Marshall would be responsible for 40% of the project cost.

The current fueling system at the airport is owned and operated by Midwest Aviation. Midwest Aviation is the city’s fixed base operator, and offers aviation services at the airport.

According to agenda materials for Tuesday’s meeting, the fuel system at the Marshall airport includes a 15,000-gallon underground tank that was installed in 1985, and a 12,000-gallon tank that was installed in 1996. The city is proposing to install new 15,000-gallon aboveground fuel tanks that would be located closer to the airport’s arrival and departure building.

A resolution authorizing the MnDOT grant agreement passed unanimously.