HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-02-10 Council minutesMINUTES
JOINT MEETING -
IOWA CITY CITY COUNCIL & AIRPORT COMMISSION
EMMA J. HARVAT HALL
FEBRUARY 10, 2003, 6:30 PM
COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: CHAMPION, KANNER, LEHMAN, O'DONNELL, PFAB,
VANDERHOEF, WILBURN
AIRPORT COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: ANDERSON, ELLIS, ROBNETT, MASCARI,
THROWER
STAFF: ATKINS, HELLING, DILKES, DULEK, O'NEIL, O'MALLEY, KARR
TAPES: 03~15, Side 2; 03-17, Side 1
STATEMENT OF JUSTIFICATION FOR MEETING SITE CHANGE:
Mayor Lehman read the following statement: "For good cause tonight's meeting was moved
from the Iowa City Airport tonight to Harvat Hall on less than 24-hours notice due to equipment
difficulties which would have prevented the taping of the meeting if held at the airpod."
INTRODUCTIONS:
BUSINESS/STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS:
Lehman requested a member of the Airport Commission (AC) walk the Council through the
strategic plan that the AC had proposed, addressing what they wished to do and what they
hoped to accomplish.
Anderson said at the last joint session one of the goals was to put together a strategic
business plan for the airport. As a result, they had put together a subcommittee. Thrower and
Robnett had volunteered to work on that group and had come up with some
recommendations.
Robnett said Ellis had spoken with the group prior to her joining the AC about doing strategic
business planning. She said it had quickly become clear during her first three or four months
as part of the AC that that was needed. There was no one source that she could go to to find
financial projections, marketing strategy and growth. "There was no one document." She said
the master plan that the airport had had a consultant do many years ago talked about how to
care for the airport facilities, the runways, the lighting, etc. It talked in detail about what the
elevation of the runway was at one end versus the other end, what the prevailing winds were
what percent of time and what they recommended for capital to maintain, to improve or keep
what the airport had as hardcore facilities. She had not seen any budgets or financial repor[s
on a monthly basis. Robnett said she had read six months of minutes, but it was difficult to
tease out what she perceived to be all the projects the airport was working on. That didn't tell
her what other projects the AC also wished to work on, how they would get there and how they
would finance those changes or growth.
Robnett said following Ellis' suggestion, they had moved forward with looking at strategic
planning. She said Ellis had done a significant amount of research including looking at
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City Council & Airport Commission
February 10, 2003
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companies that provided strategic planning for airports and came up with a list of names and
companies, researched them all and then requested RFP to be submitted to the Council for
funding. Robnett said she thought it was a very reasonable priced RFP from a very
experienced consulting firm.
Robnett said they knew they wanted to grow and they wanted to market themselves, but there
were things they didn't know as aviation persons or as volunteers with no aviation experience.
Items that even Thrower or O'Neil might not know that they could have the benefit of for a few
short dollars. Robnett said having done a lot of prior work with strategic planning and pricing
consultant's services, she didn't think that was very expensive. She had been told they would
never find one for less than $25,000 for the College of Nursing, but after having done her
research and homework, she had found one. Robnett said (a consultant) was one of the next
steps the AC would need.
Robnett said some questions she had were, was it feasible to grow?; was it feasible to have
no tax support for operations?; how many airports in Iowa made money?; why did they make
money?; why wasn't the Iowa City airport making money as a more than break-even analysis?
Robnett said after looking the different types of consulting companies, Ellis had asked a very
well prepared group to submit the RFP and she was very impressed with it.
Champion asked what was the amount of money in cash? Robnett said $10,000 plus
expenses. The gentleman was willing to do the work with the least amount of expenses
possible because he knew they were actually in the red. The AP had actually tried to find a
local facilitator. She had asked Jude West this past summer if he would be willing to facilitate
and use students and faculty from the College of Business, but he had been booked at that
time. Unfortunately she couldn't even get a student team to work on the project, as they had
been planning to do, because of the negative press and the fear to put students on such a
project. Robnett said the UI had teams that would do marketing, business planning, web site
design, programming, all types of student teams 'for free.'
Ellis said the correct dollar amount was an estimate of $15,000 plus expenses. They wanted
$5,000 up front and would bill by the month. Ellis said the AC had kept expenses down. The
office of the vice-president of the consultant's company was located in Denver and it was a
straight flight from Denver to Cedar Rapids. It had been his expectation to come to Iowa City
only once. That was part of a very tailored proposal. The AC had "cut out all of the extra" and
went straight for the things that they thought were very necessary. Ellis said beside the
strategic plan, which was the vision, they got the action plan which was the business plan, the
key initiatives, and a lot of value added product which were things such as the regional
analysis of the airport, how it fit in, and what products they could reliably expect to go into so
they didn't sit and spin their wheels during vision planning and get all wrapped about the axel
about things they could never do. The consultant was going to keep things very tailored,
provide the milestones or a roadmap, so the AC could stay on a track in keeping more with
who they were and what type of airport they had. Ellis said by having only the one visit, that
was how they planned to keep expenses down. The visit would be for one week's duration
while the consultant gathered information and did interviews. The value added would come
out when they received an airport operations manual to review their minimum standards, to
help write airport regulations and standards. The consultant would review the airport's leasing
policies, do a regional analysis of rents, rent structures and pricing, and things they could do
both aeronautical and non-aeronautical - that was value added. The consultant would look at
all those things as well as at management practices as part of the things the consultant
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February 10, 2003
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needed to know to help the Iowa City airport develop a strategic vision and an action plan to
follow it
Anderson said having done a lot of consulting and master planning himself, the only concern
he had was he would like to see the consultant here more than one trip, if he could. With two
trips, they would get a much better product out of it.
Champion asked when would the second trip come? One year later or immediately afterward?
Anderson said what he could see happening was the consultant would come to Iowa City, do
the research, gather the data and then write the report and make a formal presentation to both
the Airport Commission and to the City Council as to what the strategic plan was and be
available to answer questions that might come up during the presentation that perhaps only
the consultant could answer.
Ellis said the consultant had offered that, but he as well as the consultant were trying to keep it
as inexpensive as it could be done. Given that in the Airport Commission's point of view they
were on a time schedule, they didn't have the amount of time to do a long term analysis over a
four-or five-year period. The analysis needed to be done relatively quickly, it would be a 90-
day deal. Ellis said the consultant believed we could gather all the information up and produce
this vision with the Airport Commission's assistance in a 90-day period, once they started.
Lehman asked if it also included a marketing plan. Ellis said yes, it did. Robnett said it was an
extensive marketing plan. She said the best part of the plan was the feasibility analysis of the
airport the consultant was going to do, potential growth projects that they might be able to take
on, and the marketing processes. The consultant had included a large chunk that was free
marketing, she had worked in that area. Robnett said there was a substantial amount of free
marketing that could be done, it was just how did they do it. That was not her area of
expedise, how to do the marketing to the right targeted groups and keep expenses down. Ellis
said it was definitely an information plan, not some pie in the sky projection. It was very
realistic.
Wilburn asked Robnett if she had seen an example of the plan, especially the action plan.
Robnett said no, she had not.
Ellis said he had talked to the Aircraft Owner's / Pilot's Associations, Airport Support network.
They had referenced a website for a copy of an airport business plan that they thought was the
best, which came from the American Airpod Executive's website, the other trade agency which
was actually an accreditation agency for airport management. An example that was used for
the industry was the one developed by the same company that the AC was trying to hire. It
was very extensive, and much more extensive than anything the AC would try to develop.
That was the advantage of bringing in a third-party industry expert.
Wilburn said when they had discussed this before and Ellis had mentioned a strategic/
business plan and an action plan, he had been thinking more of the action plan piece - such
as "here is how we are going to come up with the fund." Wilburn said he was glad it
incorporated that. Robnett said based on the RFP she thought that was more of what it was.
It was very "To Do" focused, not theoretical. Wilburn said they had mentioned a specific time
table, he was glad they were focusing on that. Wilburn said he thought the Council's focus
was on the action planning piece, but what ever else the AC walked away with was fine too.
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February 10, 2003
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He said another example was the Senior Center Commission, who had realized that they were
going to have a deficit. Without going through this process and coming up with a strategic or
master plan, they had really focused on an action plan for themselves. Wilburn asked if they
could speculate how it would benefit us more or what was it preventing us, with the AC getting
right at that 'here is what we need to do to come up with.' Wilburn said it might be a step type
of thing where this would be a first step and the next time it would be something more broad.
He said another example was the Parks and Recreation Commission who had been
discussing a Parks and Recreation Master Plan for several years, but in the mean time they
had re-evaluated their fees structure and kept true with the policy that fees had to be so much.
Anderson said he thought they were really doing some of those shod term things. Such as the
Nodh Commercial area which was one of those that through sales and leases they could
increase cash flow to decrease indebtedness. They had just in the last year increased hangar,
etc rents to bring quick capital in. He said the key thing came down to the process. Anderson
said in his business every year when they did the business plan, they looked back to a session
their six offices had done as a corporation four years ago. They'd spent quite a long time
developing the vision for their company by asking, who do we want to be; where do we want to
go and what do we want to do. He said on a year-by-year basis when they develop the
business plans for that year, they always go back to and look at what was the vision for where
they wanted to be and how were they tracking that year to year progress at getting toward
their vision. He saw the airport in the same position - unless they really knew where they
were going, how did they know what business plan they needed to develop or how to get
there. It would be like jumping in with the cart before the horse. If they didn't know where they
were going, how did you know what to do to get there?
Pfab said the Senior Center program was not working too well. He wanted to caution Wilburn
against using that example. Lehman said that was totally another issue. Pfab said perhaps in
the fact that the Council had thought it was solved and it really was not solved, perhaps that
would be a reason why the AC would take a harder look at the present. O'Donnell said no one
had thought it was solved.
Lehman asked if there were questions from the Council for the airport commissioners relative
to the strategic plan and what they envisioned or what the airport commissioners envisioned
Lehman also asked Atkins to join in the session.
Kanner said he had some problems in that he felt if a strategic plan were going to be done, he
would like to see more of an overall point of view, the main purpose was to see how the AC
was going to be independent of City funds within "x" number of years. He said North
Commercial had also been mentioned. Kanner said they still did not have an idea of how that
was going to affect the bottom line. It was unknown how it would affect the budgets in the
future, they did not have a plan. If the AC wished to do a strategic plan that would look at
making them independent in 5 years, Kanner said he would be more likely to say, lets vote for
it. But he did not hear that as the over-riding, over arching goal of the Plan. That was one of
his major concerns with the Plan.
Kanner said he thought Atkins had touched on that in his memo to a certain extent. Their
main concern right now was the budget, for this year and the next few years down the road.
City Council saw their subsidies to the airport going up from the general fund, they were
continuing to pay debt obligations, again from property tax which was a different levy. Kanner
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February 10, 2003
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said that was a concern for him, he needed to see that more directly addressed in a strategic
plan than what the AC was projecting.
Anderson said as they had mentioned on numerous occasions, the sale of the land in the
North Commercial area would take care of the immediate debt burden that the airport had to
the City. He said, in actuality they would put some money in the bank that they could draw on
for use. Anytime a project came along, such as the extension of the runway or any capital
improvement project, that money had to be used for, it had to be used until it was gone, then
the federal government would pitch in again. Anderson said at some point in time they would
be right back where they were now, if they couldn't get enough business out there.
Lehman said that would be taken under the next item on the agenda, but he understood what
Anderson was saying. Lehman said he would assume, from his perspective, that a strategic
plan looked at the long term value of the airport and where they wanted to be 5, 10, 15 and 20
years from now. "A goal".
Anderson said that was correct and hopefully more ways to entice more businesses out there.
Lehman said then they started filling in the blanks as to how to get to what the goal was.
Atkins said the memorandum that he had directed toward the AC was, as Kanner had pointed
out, that their thinking was somewhat similar. It seemed to Atkins that until their financial
house was in order, there was very little predicting and projecting that the AC could do.
They'd had an economic analysis done in 1994 of the airport. They'd had that information
available to them. Atkins said he was concerned reading the phrases "the long term value",
because they had to be prepared that the assessment might be that it was not the value that
they thought with respect to the economic indicators for the airport. Atkins said he felt that as
a matter of policy the City Council had said that the airport would be a functioning part of the
package of municipal services and therefore the airport needed to be run as efficiently and
effectively as could be. It was a financial issue, the subsidies were growing far greater than
any of the other operations. Until they got the airport in line, Atkins said they could wish for all
sorts of things, but a strategic plan that didn't have the backing of a city council and/or its own
home grown revenues, was not going to do a whole lot of good for the City.
Robnett said they as Commissioners were all volunteers and realized that the Council would
love it for the AC to develop a strategic plan and give them something more focused, but they
could not. They all had full time jobs. Part of what the plan would do was talk and evaluate
about potential feasible options that they could implement to grow the airport. She said none
of the Council Members were taking on the analysis for how and whether to bring utilities to
City owned utility. It was the same question. Could the AC invest in some planning and some
money to actually get up and get going? Robnett said part of the reason was they couldn't say
it wouldn't become completely independent was because how feasible was it and how many
places in the United States were totally independent. She asked O'Neil to answer, "How many
airports in the state were making more than break-even?" O'Neil said he didn't know the exact
number. He said, for an example, today's newspaper had had an article about Waterloo, a
commercial service airport, who was trying to do some different things so they didn't have to
pay out of their general fund. They were a commercial service airport and certainly had more
avenues to raise revenue than a general aviation airport did. Robnett said at one point, O'Neil
had told her that three airports in the state were making more than break-even.
Atkins said that was fine, he understood that. But the Council needed to say that they
expected to subsidize. If they expected to subsidize, the extent to which they were going
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February 10, 2003
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subsidize was something that they would have to decide, but they couldn't make that decision
until they had some sense of what the financial resources were that the airport could generate.
It seemed to him to be silly to make a long term strategy when they didn't have the money in
the bank to ultimately finance it.
Thrower said the strategic planning proposal that they had put forth might be a misnomer in
the sense that he heard a great deal of focus being applied to the long range elements of it.
They were also saying that went hand in hand with the long range elements, which were
literally the tactical implementation, which was literally to the City Manager's point. The short
term need and need assessment targeted actions that needed occur for this activity to move
forward. If they didn't have their short term house in order they would never reach the long
term objective. Any strategic plan that missed the tactical implementation would be wanting.
Thrower said another point that had not yet been touched on was the notion, an objective third
party. He said clearly the current AC had the ability to apply certain techniques and skills in
the amount of time available to all of them that they had to attempt to put something together.
He said it might be called into question in regards to overall objectivity. The AC had really
wanted to have some 'third eyes' come to the table, look at this proposal compared to national
and regional standards and apply the national/regional standards objectively to the airport's
current infrastructure and make some hard recommendations back to the AC and back to the
City Council through the AC ThrowedRobnett subcommittee. Thrower said he thought having
both the long term, the short term, as well as the objectivity of the consultant really created a
more digestible response to what the City had been asking them for.
Lehman requested to move on to item #3.
AIRPORT FINANCIAL SELF-SUFFICIENCY (NO TAX SUBSIDY}:
Lehman said he had been on the Council for nine years. He thought there had always been
some subsidy from the City to the airport. It was his understanding that that was true of most
airports. There had always been an interest on the part of the City, as he was sure there had
been an interest on the part of the airport to generate as much of the funds as necessary to
operate the airport. Lehman said he had a real personal problem with the City having an
ultimate goal of the airport being self sufficient, he didn't know if the airport could be totally self
sufficient. He didn't believe that a policy that said the airport would be absolutely self sufficient
was a good policy, it was not one that was in the best interest of the airport. Lehman said the
first item under this agenda section was to establish a goal. For him a goal would be to
generate as much of those funds as they possibly could, within the frame work of what they
had. Beyond that and as long as the airport was well run, well managed, a great operation, it
might very well over the years have to have subsidies of varying amounts from the City.
Champion said they subsidized a lot of transportation, there was no question about it. She
said she didn't really think the airport could be totally self sufficient. She thought the Council's
goal was to make them as self sufficient as possible. She said she didn't know what had
happened, but she felt the amount of money they were subsidizing now was a lot of money out
of the general fund. They could blame 9-11 or the economy or a lot of things, but she thought
the quick escalation had kind of frightened the Council. They didn't have the money, it would
have to come from some other service.
Wilburn said certainly it was reasonable to have an expectation, such as with Parks and
Recreation which was a self-imposed goal, that fees would cover a certain percent.
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February 10, 2003
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Mascari said to keep in mind that the reasons the AC had moved forward in trying to sell the
property in the north area was to eliminate the debt that the airport had incurred in putting in
the infrastructure in the first place. The last estimate that they had received from their realtor
was that the property was worth $.40 per square foot, which added up to be a little over 5
million dollars. The amount that the City had loaned the AC to put in the infrastructure in was
right around 1.6 million dollars. He said the biggest obstacle, the biggest thing that caused the
jump in the subsidy was the fact that they had the main big hangar built a couple years ago,
and then lost their tenant. He said with the sale of the property, they could see how they could
relieve and pay off the debt of the infrastructure, pay off the debt on the big large hangar
building, and pay off the remaining debt of the T-hangars that had all been built in the last few
years. That would allow them to take the rent that was being received right now for all the T-
hangars and apply it toward the operating budget. Mascari said one thing that they had to
keep in mind, which was very important, was that they were mandated by the FAA that any
funds generated by the FAA had to remain with the airport. That meant that any excess funds
that they got out of the North Commercial area sale had to be used for airport development.
The problem with that was the FAA typically gave 90% loans on any project. If they saw a
balance in the checking account, the 90% would go away. Until that was gone, at which time
they would kick back in with the 90%, that was why the AC said that it would be short term.
Once the funds were gone, they would be back in the same ball park.
Champion asked Mascari to explain what he meant by short term. Mascari said once the
funds were gone from the sale of the property by doing airport improvements, then the FAA
would start with their 90% again. But as long they saw a balance in the checkbook, the 90%
went away.
Vanderhoef asked if the sale of the land had to go into capital projects or could it also be used
for operations? Mascari said he could not answer that. O'Neil said he thought it could go to
either one. Lehman said as long as it was airport related it could go to either one. Vanderhoef
said when Mascari was talking about money in the checkbook, if it was obligated for airport
maintenance, obligated for Ron's salary, all those kinds of obligations, if it was obligated would
the FAA still kick in with the 90%? Mascari and Anderson said no. She said Anderson and
Mascari were saying, 'when the checkbook is empty', but she was saying, "Here is the budget
which says that this much is going out each month of this money for operations." Anderson
said they would have to ask the FAA that question. Mascari said to keep in mind too that all
the revenues that were being received right now for rents, T-hangars and such, would be free
and clear money which they could apply toward the operation of the airport. He said they did
have, even without a strategic plan, some goal in mind.
Pfab asked for a clarification, Mascari had said that any funds from the sale of the property
had to go to the airport, so did that mean that they could not pay off the City debt? Lehman
said that was incorrect, that was airpod.
Lehman said they needed to make something very clear right now. He'd heard what Mascari
had said, but there was the airport policy thing that Atkins had written which essentially said
the proceeds from all sales would go directly to debt, so that all debt would be retired for the
airport. Lehman said he thought that was good business. Anderson said he thought so too.
Lehman asked if everyone was all in agreement on that. The consensus, except Champion,
was yes. She said she was not in full agreement on it. She said she didn't think they should
sell all the land.
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February 10, 2003
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Mascari said that idea had been tossed around too, the idea to sell enough of the properly to
retire all the debt. If they were talking a little over $5M, they probably owed the City less than
$3M, which would leave a balance in the checking account. Mascari said if they did not sell all
of the property and leased the balance of the property, they could use the lease payments as
operating too. Champion said she thought that was a valid thing to do, if it was possible.
Lehman said, "IF they could lease it." Champion and Mascari said they didn't know yet if they
could lease it. Ellis said they had only given the whole leasing operation one year before they
were sort of compelled to doing something else. Champion said she didn't object to them
selling par[ of the land, she thought it was great, it was kind of like eating chocolate when a
person wanted something sweet, it took care of it. But you had to diet afterwards. Champion
said she hated to see them sell all the land, but if they ended up having to do so eventually,
she could live with that. She didn't think the leasing thing was really bad, the roads were
already there, the land was pure gold.
Lehman said it could be part of the plan that they put together.
Atkins said he had calculations that might help to focus the discussion of points A, B, C in
Section III. The value of the Aviation Commerce Park (ACP) when sold would be about $5.5M
if it all was sold. That would be the income. The outstanding ACP debt was $1.7M. The City
had other outstanding obligations from the airport that they were financing. In total, the ACP
plus hangars, master plans, other expenses of capital, total $5.4M. Atkins said what he was
trying to accomplish by this policy was that they would focus all the proceeds toward the
airport. If all the land was sold at $5.5M and they could pay off all the outstanding debt at
$5.4M, they were right back at his initial point that they needed money to operate the airpod.
They could sell ACP and get out of debt, all the debt, if they chose to do so. Or they could
choose to focus the payment.
Mascari asked Atkins what he meant by the master plan debt. Mascari said they couldn't pay
that back, he didn't think that was something that was required of them by the City Council.
Atkins said that was his point, that was where he was going. Mascari said they had discussed
that last year. Atkins said there were Council Members who were interested in seeing all the
debt repaid. Mascari said he thought they needed to discuss that with the FAA first. Atkins
said he agreed with Mascari on that, he was not arguing about that. He said that the Council
needed to focus its debate, in limit or take it all away with respect to the outstanding debt at
the airport. Mascari said he thought that really needed to be discussed with the FAA. He said
he didn't think they were allowed to do that. The 10% match that they had to put in with the
FAA on their grant money was not something that they expected to be put back using the
airport property. Lehman said that was something they could work out. Atkins said if that was
the case, they could split out the master plan expense, and cover hangars, terminal
improvements, fuel tanks and thing such as that. Atkins said but the important thing to get
back to the point, was that they still needed money to operate, to run the day to day. Atkins
said he agreed with Mascari's point. He was trying to show the Council the simple arithmetic
of the value of the asset they were about to sell off, ACP, the outstanding debt, it was truly
coincidental, that they were very close to the City's obligations at the airport. The policy
position that he had written and distributed was intended to focus all the money toward
payment of airport obligations. If the Council chose to continue to finance through the debt
service levy, master plan for example, they could certainly chose to do so.
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February 10, 2003
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Lehman said if the north airport property were all sold and all the debt was paid off, and if all
the revenue were unencumbered, he wondered how far they would come from covering their
costs right now. They might come very very close. Champion said, "But was it a smart idea to
sell all the land?"
Ellis said the next time they needed to build a T-hanger, they would have to borrow the money,
they would be right back to where they were now. Atkins said that is where they as a Council
had to decide in collaboration with the AC, if they looked at the policy position, he had made
the assumption that their priority for repayment was ACP. There was other outstanding debt.
Atkins said they had raised that question with him in the past and he felt the obligation to show
that in the policy. The items were listed in order of priority. If everything was paid off, what
ever was left would go into an improvement reserve depreciation account because right now to
run an enterprise fund for the airport they should have a depreciation account in order to
replace some of the capital assets that were out there. Kanner asked Atkins what he was
referring to. Atkins said he had written the policy yesterday and given it to Ron, who
apparently had given it to only some of the members of the Commission. Atkins said it was
very straight forward.
Robnett said the conclusion Atkins had just come to was the same conclusion the AC had
come to. They didn't plan on selling all the airport land if it was feasible not to. Regardless
they were going to get to a point where they had to be self sufficient. That took time to
develop those means and it didn't happen overnight. She said what she did for the College of
Nursing was start new businesses. It was very rare that a new business even broke even
within the first three years. They had to start now so that after they paid all the money off, they
had revenue streams coming into the airport. They couldn't wait, if they waited they would be
back in the same hole again in which they existed now, in debt beyond their eyeballs. That
was a huge chunk of what the plan proposed - what could they do, what was feasible, how
could they market the airport and how could they proceed to get the new revenue generating
services working for the airport.
Lehman said he thought one key thing was when they did the North Airport Commercial, they
were thinking of leasing the property. They had set it up on a 20-year payment period and the
airport was going to pay so much a year extended over 20-years, just as the hangar rents
were going to be used to pay off the notes on the hangar. Lehman said what he was hearing
at the meeting, and he thought it was correct, the revenue from the sale of the North Airport
Commercial would be applied to whatever outstanding debt they had at this point on hangars
and the infrastructure on the North Airport Commercial. He had been told the airport would be
free and clear of capital debt. He didn't recall that the issue of master plan had been an issue.
He said he thought there was another issue that they had to get cleared. Lehman said he was
sure there were FAA regulations relative to the sale of airport property, how proceeds from
sales and leases were used, and he thought that the City needed to have copies of those
regulations. It would prevent the Council from having the questions is this or that okay? He
said the regulations should be in written form which would be to both of their benefits so there
would be no questions. Lehman said he heard the Council saying that they would use the
revenue to retire the debt. He said he suspicioned that as the North Airport sold, it would be a
lot easier to lease property if there were buildings going up there than it would be as a vacant
property. They might decide at some point that leasing was better than selling because then
they would have a revenue stream, which along with the rents from the hangars would go a
long way toward making the airport self sufficient.
Minutes
City Council & Airport Commission
February 10, 2003
Page 10 of 20
Lehman said another issued they had touched on, but he had not heard a definitive answer on
was, was the Council of an opinion that the airport must be self sufficient? Champion said she
thought, "As near as possible. The goal should be to be self sufficient." Lehman said he
agreed with that. [There was over lapping discussions if this should be listed as a goal or not].
Lehman said the goal would be self sufficiency but the Council would recognize that from time
to time the airport might need a subsidy from the City.
Atkins said, "Why not make the goal self sufficiency, back into the number, and then they
could assess the consequences." Atkins said as a statement, "We will be sufficient.",
indicating that that was the outcome and not just a tentative goal. He said in doing so, if
airport hangar rent had to go from ten to twenty dollars, that was unacceptable in this market,
so then they would have to make an adjustment. Atkins said when they aimed at nothing, they
hit it every time. They needed to have a goal, and then they could back off from the goal and
the Commission could report back to Council that they had to take these sorts of financial
steps in order to bring the airport subsidy toward some identifiable numerical point. Atkins
said hopefully they could design a policy similar to the City's own reserve position where they
had the five-year floating average policy. Robnett said that is why she had felt so naked
without financials, she had always been responsible for financial aspects of department in
hospitals she had been in. That was exactly what they had done. Atkins said they had to be
hard on themselves. Robnett agreed saying once they had established the dollar figures,
where they needed the help was how did they get to those dollar figures. To her that made
total sense, the shot-gun-shooting hoping they made some money was not good.
Mascari said he wished to remind the Council that the airport was not a service that they
provided. It was in fact a facility, not unlike other facilities within the City. Fortunately for
them, their facility had the ability to generate some income. They applied the income toward
the operations of the facility. It was in fact a facility, it was not something they did for other
people as a service. It was not something they could charge more money for because they
were providing a service for them. Lehman said they understood that, but it very definitely was
a service. If it weren't for the service aspect, it would not be an airport. There would be no
reason to have an airport. Mascari disagreed. Lehman said it was a service, it served the
community of Iowa City. Mascari said it was a facility that served the community.
Ellis said he thought it was also important to know, that if they wanted to reduce costs at the
airport, they had talked about cost reductions at their last joint Council/Commission meetings.
The AC had told Council that they had cut expenses just about as Iow as they could go. They
hadn't added anything and nothing had changed. The top three things they paid for were: debt
resurfacing, employee costs and electricity. Below that were very miniscule amounts of
money and they had done things like reduce janitorial services. Ellis said those were
inconsequential amounts of money that could be reduced from the operating budget. Lehman
said he thought Ellis was exactly right. Vanderhoef said reduction was not the problem, it was
the income. Ellis said income had to stay with what the market would allow them. Lehman
said Ellis was correct. Ellis said that was in the grant assurances that the FAA sent them, that
the ideal of self sustaining on an airport was just that, an ideal, which was an almost
unattainable one because of market conditions. Ellis said it was important to know that there
were over 13,000 airports in the United States. Over 5,000 were public owned, public use
airports. 360 were operated with airlines, of those 300, 80% were self-sustaining. Ellis said
he had called and checked with a number of places on self sustaining airports. He had found
two commercial airports that did not have commercial service which were totally self
sustaining. One was in Nebraska where they had discovered oil on the property, the second
Minutes
City Council & Airport Commission
February 10, 2003
Page 11 of 20
was DuPage. Champion said they were not arguing that. Ellis said the self sustainment
issued needed to go to rest. Lehman and Champion said it was a goal. Ellis said it was
exactly that, a goal.
Kanner said the airport industry was one of the most heavily subsidized with public dollar
industries. Ellis said that was a fact. Kanner said he thought it was at the expense of other
more widely used more beneficial ones. He said getting back to a point that Lehman had
made earlier, he thought the AC did a fine job of what they were doing. The question was up
to the Council of what they wanted to do, they were the ones who needed to set the goal from
their perspective. He thought self sufficiency was possible. Kanner thought they should set a
goal and could do it at a gradual level, similar to what was done for Parks and Recreation. For
example, starting with 50% of the total operation repayment was subsidized by the City and
eventually working it down to a zero over a number of years. Kanner said he thought it was
within Council's realm to say that. He said, as had been mentioned, that future Councils could
also change that. He thought it was up to them, as a Council, to set the goal and then say to
the AC, "Make it work." Just like they set the broad policy in others and said to Staff or to the
City Manager, Make it work.
Anderson said the airport was used by a lot of other people besides Iowa City. If the
Commission knew how many businesses came in (here) that were going out to Coral Ridge
Mall, the airport was providing services for more than just Iowa City. They were providing for
Coralville, North Liberty, Johnson County and the University was a very large user. He asked
if there was any way of getting some revenue from the different users. Lehman said no, it
would probably not happen. Vanderhoef said there had been an article in Monday's paper
regarding Waterloo and Cedar Falls doing just that very thing. Initiating an airport tax or some
such thing that covered a lot more people so that one city didn't have to carry the burden for
the region.
Kanner said that is what he had suggested. He said he thought the Council would set the goal
and it would be up to the AC to initiate ways to meet the goal, such as charging people not of
the City a higher price and start charging landing fees. Kanner said it was up to the AC to
figure out how to get that (revenue) and how to get it from other communities through
increased fuel fees or hangar fees or fund raising. There were a number of different ways.
Ellis said they had addressed landing fees at the last joint Commission/Council meeting. They
were not allowed to charge landing fees, that was a state requirement.
Champion said they could not price themselves out of the market. They were an airport.
Lehman said the market would dictate that. Kanner said, "Who was the market for?" Ellis said
this was one of the things that the third party consultant could help them with. Kanner said
approximately 600 persons a week used the airport, which was miniscule compared to the
other transpodation systems that they put money into. Roads and public transportation, tens-
of-thousands used them every week. Kanner said to Champion, the question was, "How much
did the Commission want to give for approximately 600 people a week using the airport." He
had gotten his figures from Ron. The airport was not used by a great amount of persons.
Ellis said 68% of the traffic in and out of the Iowa City airport was non-local. They were not
people who lived here. They were people who either flew in to conduct business, be tourists
or buy and sell things.
Minutes
City Council & Airport Commission
February 10, 2003
Page 12 of 20
Lehman said they had one thing decided about what they were going to do when they sold the
property. Lehman asked if it was it fair to say that the goal of the Council was to ask the
airport to be as nearly self sufficient as they could possibly be. He said he didn't think that was
any different than what the AC's goal was right now. The AC agreed with Lehman.
Atkins and Vanderhoef said they either needed to say 'self sufficient' or 'not self sufficient'.
Vanderhoef said, "Don't say, as nearly as possible." Atkins said he meant his next statement
respectfully, "It was half pregnant."
Pfab said he'd heard Mascari make a statement, but he was not sure that he understood it
correctly. Pfab said Mascari had said that as long as there was money in the checkbook, the
federal government would not go back to a 90-10 help facility. Pfab asked if it was to an
advantage to be totally self sufficient. Pfab said he wanted to ask about the study the AC had.
Who were the people that they had looked at? Were they the people who had drawn up the
master plan for the industry group or for more than one big airport? Ellis said they were the
same folks that gave them the proposal for their strategic vision plan. Pfab asked what were
their credentials? Ellis said they were a nationally accredited airport planning firm. They didn't
do businesses for FPO's, they worked almost exclusively for airports. Pfab asked if they had a
track record? Ellis said that was correct, they had written some of the documents used by an
accrediting agency. They had a very broad expertise.
Pfab said he thought perhaps, or perhaps not, now was the time to take and spend money to
have the consultant. He was aware of other cities and operations not too far from Iowa City
who'd had miserable histories and opted to utilize a consultant service and were now doing a
heck of a job. Lehman said that was what the AC was telling the Council.
Mascari directed a question to O'Neil. Mascari said he knew there was something in the grant
assurances that the FAA put out that addressed self-sufficiency. Ellis read, "An airport is
supposed to be financially self sufficient and as sustaining as possible given the
circumstances that exist at that airport." Mascari said what they were trying to say was that
they were already mandated by the FAA to do just what the Commission was telling them to
do. Ellis said the document went on and on to discuss the market and conditions that would
prevent an airport from becoming self-sufficient.
Lehman said he thought what the Commission would be telling them was that they didn't want
them to be half pregnant, they would like them to be self-sufficient. Kanner said he thought
the Commission had to set the goal, a definite, yearly goal. O'Donnell said they could have
bake sales at the airport, but he didn't think that was realistic. Kanner said they had an animal
shelter that had fund raising, there were a number of commissions, there was Parks and
Recreation and they could ask more from the AC. O'Donnell suggested that Kanner get
together with the AC to discuss his proposed sales.
O'Donnell said he had a question on leasing versus selling. He asked if the FAA mandated
how a property could be leased, for example number of years. Lehman said yes. Ellis said
the FAA's original issue with leasing was that they didn't want a property leased so long it
became a sale. He said as far as they could research, the reality of the industry was that a 99-
year was possible. That was about as close to a sale as one could get. Ellis said other
airports had done so, but they had not specifically addressed it. The FAA had allowed them to
go forward with the sale, he didn't think, especially given the way the airport was set up, if they
sliced off that land and once it had become developed, it would not be returnable to airport
Minutes
City Council & Airport Commission
February 10, 2003
Page 13 of 20
use. He didn't think either the FAA or the AC would encourage, as they had discussed at one
of their meetings, the broker. If they could offer a 99-year lease, would it help them in
attracting some business? He said that was again one of the things that they hoped to find an
emerging trend or some practical concepts from the business consultant. The consultant
knew what was out there, what was working and what wasn't.
Anderson said they had had many discussions. He said the AC was on the same page as
Champion, they would rather be leasing if they could. It was a much better deal than selling.
That was their goal. Champion said she hated to have them sell all of it, but she thought
selling part of it was a really good idea. It might inspire persons to lease once they got some
buildings out there, it would not be just a little isolated area. Champion said she thought the
AC all did as good a job as they could, there had been some circumstances and the economy
had not been the best to help finance or to help anything. She said, as elected officials, they
all got pressure from persons who didn't like the airport, not everyone liked it. Champion said
she really wanted to see them maintain their autonomy, and she didn't want to be forced to
have the City take over the airport.
Lehman said it seemed to him that for a number of things that they had been discussing he
didn't know if anyone really knew the answers. Lehman said he thought that if nothing else,
they were making a really good case for some sort of strategic plan. He said as far as the time
to become self sufficient, he didn't think they knew enough to be able to tell the AC on "this
date" you will become self-sufficient. He said neither the Council nor the Commission had a
basis yet for establishing an exact date. Lehman said there was more that they didn't know
than they did know, and they knew they didn't know.
Champion said she knew that Atkins didn't have this in the budget. She asked what they had
left in the Council budget? She said she thought if they could finance a water study, perhaps
they could also finance this study. Lehman said he thought that if they did go forward with a
strategic plan, one of the goals of the plan had to be self sufficiency. Anderson said that had
been their goal for a long time.
Vanderhoef said from the memo, if they were talking about the $50,000 that was placed in the
Council budget, there would perhaps be some left over [$35,000 for the electric and $10-
$15,000 left over.] She said there was one other point that she wanted to make people aware
of but it wouldn't probably effect what they did. She said the sale of the land would put it into
private property, which then became taxable and assisted the general fund. Having the
balance between leased and purchased was win-win for both parties. Lehman said even the
leased property had to pay taxes on it. Vanderhoef said they would pay on the building but not
on the leased property.
Kanner said they were asking for TIFS, which he assumed would be on the building part,
which would abate any taxes for a number of years. Several Councilors replied, "If we
approve it." Vanderhoef said one by one they would look at each project. Kanner reminded
the Commission to keep in mind that there might not be any [sentence unfinished], that the
Council tended to approve TIFS. Champion said they liked TIFS. Vanderhoef said the TIF
was there for an economic deveropment tool that built the tax base that would continue to
produce taxes over a very long period of time. She said when they looked at 3-5 years on a
TIF or declining abatement of taxes, that was still a good investment in her mind.
Minutes
City Counoil & Airport Commission
February 10, 2003
Page 14 of 20
Atkins asked Lehman what the Council had decided. Lehman said he thought that they had
agreed that the goal of the airpod was self-sufficiency. Lehman said, speaking for himself, he
didn't think they could put a date on self-sufficiency. There had to be something come back to
them in the way of a plan that said we believe we can do it by "date". Lehman said the Council
might decide that the time was too long and negotiate something. Unless they had numbers
and data to work with, there were so many variables, if the economy went sour and they didn't
sell land for three years, or if it was all sold in one year, -- there were so many variables.
Mascari said they were very fortunate that they had the land to sell. Many airports didn't have
that option. Lehman said he thought the land was really choice stuff.
Champion asked if they were all agreeing to the strategic plan. Anderson said that is what he
thought he'd heard. Atkins said he was asking if they had confirmed the strategic plan.
Lehman asked, "Do we agree that the strategic plan is a necessary part of what they were
asking the Airport Commission to do?" Pfab asked for a clarification of what Lehman was
asking. Multiple Councilors answered him. Vanderhoef said they were asking the City Council
to approve financing and the Council had chosen to finance it. O'Donnell said the AC had
come to the Council asking for help and he was in favor of it. Lehman asked if they
concurred. Kanner said he went along with Atkin's memo, he thought they had to get other
things in order before they approved the strategic plan. He said Atkins memo addressed
issues that he also had concerns about, so he was not in favor at this time of approving it.
Vanderhoef said with the plan that they had, it was very difficult to reach the spot where Atkin's
memo was talking about on the marketing and the value of the assets to create money. She
thought it was a total package. She was willing to go so far as to say to get where they
needed to go she thought they needed the whole package, not just a start of the money and
try to work backwards.
Champion said one thing that they had talked about last time was the airport manager
reporting to Atkins on the everyday business or weekly or monthly business. Lehman said he
thought that would come up under item 7.
Wilburn said he was okay with going forward with the strategic plan, but they had to have the
piece to answer the question. Lehman said he didn't think they could get the pieces without it.
Wilburn said he understood that, but if they walked away from the strategic planning process
without that piece, then it had failed. Robnett said then they would not pay them, that was part
of the product that they were asking for.
Lehman said they had 6 to 1 in favor of moving forward with the process. Atkins said it would
be his intent, since the Council had taken it as far as they had, that he would authorize a
transfer to the contingency which meant that they could virtually begin as soon as possible.
He asked Lehman if that was what they wanted. Lehman said he thought that was what they
wanted.
Kanner said to partially answer Champion's question, O'Neil met with Atkins and the other staff
weekly during a staff meeting.
Champion asked if they agreed that the funds would come out of Council money. Lehman and
Atkins said they would come out of contingency account, that was why they had an emergency
account. Lehman said that that was coming out of this fiscal year and they were talking about
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City Council & Airport Commission
February 10, 2003
Page 15 of 20
next fiscal year. Atkins said in response to Vanderhoef's question, then the likelihood in the
upcoming budget, they were over budgeted for the public power study, assuming it came in at
the projected $34,000 figure. Atkins said they were in Fiscal '03, the AC wanted to stad this
thing and he wanted to be able to authorize release of the money so they could go get their
contracts put together.
MARKET AIRPORT SERVICES:
Lehman said his personal feeling was this was part of the AC strategic plan. A question and
personal observation that he had that related to a public relations, marketing, etc, was, he
could not understand why the Airport Manager's office was not located in the terminal building.
Lehman said they didn't put the City Manager's office in Public Works, at the water or sewer
plant. Atkins thanked Lehman for that. Lehman said when someone flew in or someone from
the public went to the airport, the Airport Manager was not accessible. Ellis said he absolutely
agreed, but right now they were on a lease that gave all the property to the businesses there.
He said it would be tough to go back and renegotiate. Lehman questioned, "All of it?" Ellis
said in the terminal, other than the public spaces, the offices all belonged to the businesses
and they used them all. Mascari said the public space right by the windows on the main floor
belonged to the City. Mascari said it was generating revenue. Lehman asked if he could
suggest that they talk to the people down there to see if they could work something out. He
thought it was to their advantage as much as to the rest of the community that the Airport
Manager be visible.
Ellis said they were actually negotiating with them on some issues of that very nature.
Lehman said he thought it was important and he didn't think they'd had the negative
comments about the airport nearly in the last 3- or 4-years that they'd had previously. Ellis
said they had put a beautiful facility out there. Lehman said for the AC's sake, the public's
sake and for the persons who flew in and out, it would really be nice if they could walk in and
see Manager over the door and they would have someone there.
Ellis said marketing was one of the value added projects that would come out of strategic
planning.
Champion asked the AC to explain what their revenues were.
O'Neil asked her if she wanted specifics or generally what an airport received? Ellis said
airports got money from renting land and space. They either rented the concessions, rented
the farms, rented the businesses. He said if it had commercial traffic it could charge a landing
fee. If it had passenger terminal it could charge a passenger service fee which was where
commercial airports made their profit. The Iowa City airport would rent the land, build
buildings and rent hangar space in those buildings or rent land to farms or businesses. That
was where the capital funds came from. The industry average for an airport was $10 of
invested revenue gave a $1 return.
Anderson asked O'Neil what was the airport's income on a monthly or annual basis for all
those things. Q'Neil said about $165,000 to $160,000 was what they budgeted. Ellis said
$160,000 was the projected income for next year.
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City Council & Airport Commission
February 10, 2003
Page 16 of 20
Vanderhoef asked how much of that was encumbered in paying back for the hangars, leases,
etc. There were several fixed expenses that had to come out first. Lehman said 100%, they
had subsidized them $180,000. He said it took $340,000 a year to operate the airport. Atkins
said that was not correct. Master plan and some of those expenses were being financed by
debt service, they were separate levies. Lehman said it took $340,000 to make the debts on
the loans, Atkins said that was incorrect, it was not all the loans. They had loans that were
being financed through the debt service fund. He said that is why he was bringing up that it
was an aggregate. Anderson said he didn't think they could answer this question. Lehman
said those were the types of questions that they needed to answer.
Ellis said when they talked about airport self sufficiency, what they would probably only ever
be able to do was come up with operating budget, the money it cost to turn on the lights and
run an airport. When they went beyond that into debt servicing and capital improvements, Ellis
said he doubted that the airport would ever become self sufficient regarding that side. Ellis
said the goal for self-sufficiency would be that they would be able to turn on the lights, pay the
employees and run the airport with the monies generated from within the confines of the
airport.
PROJECT UPDATES:
Atkins said improving internal controls were a result of the report they had done and things
were doing very well.
Lehman asked if they knew the timeframe for runway extension. Atkins said some of the items
had been put on just to allow the Council to ask questions. Anderson said they were
proceeding with the process of getting environmental impact statements done. He didn't know
the exact schedule, but they were on track so far. Lehman asked if it was correct that the
North/South runway would close only after the extension was completed. Anderson said that
was correct. O'Neil said if they continued to get the federal funding it was projected for Fall
'05, at the soonest.
Champion said she would suggest only selling enough land to payoff the immediate debt.
Ellis said that would be something that they would need to coordinate with the Council
because of the way the agreement was written. It put the sale on the Council's shoulders,
they were the sellers. Lehman said there was a much larger issue too. If they listed all the
property with a commercial real estate agent and the agent thought it was all for sale and
suddenly there was a buyer and the Council said no .... Lehman said it all hinged on the
strategic plan. The Plan might come back with a recommendation that only 40% be sold or it
all be sold, no one knew yet. Robnett said they had talked about this issue with the realtor.
They had told the realtor that they might not want to do an all or none type of deal. There
were people who were approaching the AC who would potentially do leases first, for instance
the Civil Air Patrol. Robnett said because they were a government agency, they would be
much more interested in leasing than in buying and owning assets.
Vanderhoef said if they were looking at the long term and the AC was looking at 2005 for the
runway paving, did the Council know that they had 10% of that to come as a capital project.
She said she would like to know what type of dollars they were looking at. Anderson said it
was in the capital improvement budget submitted. Vanderhoef said she had not seen it.
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City Council & Airport Commission
February 10, 2003
Page 17 of 20
Champion said she hated to keep nagging, bui wanted to get an answer on this issue. Since
the strategic plan might take a while and they had a realtor in charge of selling the land, what if
the whole package was sold before the Plan was done?
Anderson and Robnett said it was a 90-day project. Ellis said he didn't think anything would
happen that fast. With that area being fenced off already, it was less a part of the future plan
of the airport than what they owned right now. There would be other development
opportunities on the western side once Mormon Trek was finished. Ellis said what they were
looking for from the consultant, especially on the airport side, was where were the aeronautical
opportunities at the airport. They had brought in businesses and business aircraft to help pay
the airport's way which would allow the businesses there to hire more mechanics, to pump
more fuel, use more of the runway. Ellis said that was where they hoped to bring self
sufficiency to the airport. Not by selling bit/pieces of land or doing other things non-
aeronautical, that was the emerging concepts they hoped to bring forward.
Ellis said when the consultant's report arrived, if they said don't sell that land, the AC would
listen.
Champion questioned what investor would invest if they want to buy all the land. Robnett said
over the past six months their experience had shown that that was not the case. Lehman said
they had also not been able to sell it. Robnett said she'd been referring to inquiries, they had
paid attention to inquiries.
Ellis said the Council had also placed some restrictions during the leasing as far as people
buying or leasing the land. They had had a certain amount of time to start building. They just
couldn't do a speculative purchase.
Lehman said the Mormon Trek extension was out for bid but was a two construction season
project. The completion of Mormon Trek would pretty much coincide with the completion of
the runway extension, which would also coincide with the closing of the North/South runway.
He said he guessed that there would be a significant amount of airport and non-airport
property that would be available for development. Anderson said it would be no where near as
large as the north section had been.
Mascari said he thought now was a good time to ask if O'Neil had had time to check with the
FAA regarding that. Lehman asked regarding what. Mascari said it appeared that the road
would actually penetrate a portion of airport property. They needed to make sure that the FAA
would allow that to become for non-aviation uses before they went forward. O'Neil said, where
a road was put, as long as it met safety standards, the FAA would tell persons that was a local
decision. Mascari requested they get it in writing, he thought that was important.
O'Neil said he wanted to clear up what had caused some very puzzled looks on the
Commissioner's faces about the 5.3 due. O'Neil said Atkins had included everything that the
City had used bond money for. That included the fuel system, the renovation of the terminal
building, some 10% matches, some of which the Council had looked at as a capital project and
agreed to pay for. That was the number, the 5.3 was what was out there that they had used
bonds to pay for. O'Neil said at the Commission level they were talking about the
infrastructure for ACP and the hangars, that was why there was a big difference in the
numbers.
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City Council & Airport Commission
February 10, 2003
Page 18 of 20
Mascari asked O'Neil if he would check on the prior referenced issue with the FAA. O'Neil
said he already had. Lehman said at some point they needed to sit down and get the list of
items that they agreed on that were capital. For example, the terminal building was to be
remodeled as a municipal facility and there had never been any intention from the Council's
perspective that that was to be repaid with airport monies. Lehman said he felt they needed a
laundry list.
Kanner said they had talked earlier about the sale of the property and the lease payments
covering all capital debts except possibly the master plan, which they thought might be
exempt. He asked if they were still going with that. He asked Atkins what was his
understanding. Atkins said his understanding was ACP for sure. He had asked that a report
be prepared that showed apl other outstanding debt which was being financed by the debt
service fund and or internal loans, knowing that the master plan piece of the list of projects
might be encumbered in some fashion by the FAA. Atkins said they had not decided on how
to split that out.
Kanner asked if Atkins had the requested list. Atkins said he had just gottenfiinished the list
that afternoon and was going to prepare it in a fashion that was easier for the arithmetic and
send it out to the Council.
Kanner said so they as a Council had to again decide their position and then work with the AC
on whether they wanted to include all of it or not and make a policy statement. Atkins said the
debts had already been incurred, bills were already being paid. It had become a matter of how
did they wish to use ACP resources, that was the policy decision that they as a council had to
make. They had not made that decision yet.
Anderson said looking down through the list, the decision to go ahead with things had been
made based on discussions with the Council. To them as a Commission, for example it had
been clear that they did not need to pay back the terminal. Champion said it had been a very
conscious decision on the part of the Council. The building was an outstanding building and
was being allowed to deteriorate. They had felt it was a City asset, they tried to keep all their
buildings very well maintained. This one was being allowed to totally fall apart. Champion
said the other issue was it was an entrance to the City. They tried to protect and keep them in
good shape. Champion said she agreed with Lehman, there had been an obligation on the
airport's part. It had been a Council decision to redo the building, not an AC.
Anderson and Champion agreed that it had been a much bigger issue.
Vanderhoef requested Atkins to copy the AC when he had the list ready.
Atkins said they were actively involved in putting together an annexation plan for all the
properties in and around the airport, particularly as a consequence of Mormon Trek extended.
They also had a sewer project that was listed in the capital improvement budget. Atkins said
the clear intent was that the airport was not going any where, it was where it was going to be.
The traffic system around it was being designed in a fashion to accommodate their interest as
well as general economic development policy interest.
Lehman said at some point in the Mormon Trek process, they would get some idea how much
airport commercial property would be available and how much the road added to the inventory
of the property that the airport would be able to sell. At some point he believed, if the road
Minutes
City Council & Airport Commission
February 10, 2003
Page 19 of 20
went adjacent to the airport, part of the cost of the road might be assessed to parcels that it
served.
Vanderhoef requested persons to keep their ears open for any clean fill to place in the south-
west area.
ROLE OF COMMISSION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO COUNCIL AND CITY MANAGER:
Lehman said from his perspective as a council person, and he suspicioned the same was true
for Atkins, he felt someone needed to speak for the Airport Commission. Someone needed to
be in charge, the buck had to stop someplace. Lehman asked, "Who is that person?"
Ellis said in total, it would be the Chair of the Commission, but they used the Airport Manager
as their conduit for information.
Lehman said who should the Council and who should the City Manager talk to?
Mascari said to the Airport Manager. Thrower and Anderson shook their heads in affirmation.
Lehman said for example when they requested copies of the FAA regulations relative to
revenues from the leasing and sale of airport property, they could expect that to come from
O'Neil. Several Commissions said yes. Anderson said with regard to policy, that would come
from the Airport Commission. With regard to management and day-to-day, that would come
from O'Neil.
Lehman said most of the information that Council and the City Manager needed were not in
regard to policy, they were in regard to day-to-day operational issues. Anderson said that
would come from O'Neil as he knew that stuff better. Lehman asked if Atkins needed
something from the airport, he should be able to call O'Neil. Anderson said that was correct,
he thought that was already happening.
Kanner said to Lehman he didn't understand where Lehman's question was coming from.
They received that information already. Lehman said over the years there had been lots of
spokes persons for the airport. He said there really needed to be one person who was the
final authority, who received that authority from "you". He said he assumed that person would
be and should be the Airpod Manager, but that was something that needed to be clear.
OTHER BUSINESS:
Lehman requested other business for the evening.
He said, to recap:
· They had agreed that the sale of the commercial property, the proceeds would go to retired
debt.
Lehman said a lot of this was precipitated by what probably would be characterized by the
public as a bit of a surprise. Lehman said he would ask that although the AC had the authority
to sign leases, if there were going to be negative surprises for the Council and for the general
fund, that those sods of things be communicated to at least the City Manager before they
happened. He said nothing might change, but there would not be any surprises.
Minutes
City Council & Airport Commission
February 10, 2003
Page 20 of 20
· They were going to do the master plan.
· They did have an agreement that self sufficiency was the goal for the airport.
· The marketing was something that they would expect from the master plan.
· They hoped that the Airport Manager's office became located into the terminal building.
· O'Neil would be the spokesperson for the airport when it came to the City Council and to
the City Manager.
· They would get copies of FAA regulations relative to the sale and/or lease of the property
so they could be kept on file.
Mascari asked how would they determine about the payback regarding the numbers Atkins
had versus the numbers that the AC had? Lehman said they'd get the numbers first then go
over them. He suspicioned that there probably would be very little disagreement as to which
ones. Those that they did not agree on they would sit down and talk about.
Anderson said he appreciated how quickly the meeting had been put together. Lehman said
he apologized for not having addressed this earlier than what they did. Lehman said he
believed in the airport, it was a real asset to the community. He thought it could be better and
liked the idea that they needed a roadmap to know where they were going, so as not to be
flying by the seat of their pants.
ADJOURNMENT: 8:00 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Candy Barnhill