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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-08-1998 Airport Commission Meeting Minutes MINUTES IOWA CITY AIRPORT COMMISSION THURSDAY OCTOBER 8,1998—5:45 P.M. IOWA CITY TRANSIT FACILITY MEMBERS PRESENT: Pat Foster,Rick Mascari,Howard Horan,Mark Anderson,Tom Bender STAFF PRESENT: Dennis Mitchell,Ron O'Neil CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Horan called the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the September 10th, 1998,Commission meeting were approved as submitted. AUTHORIZATION OF EXPENDITURES: Mascari made a motion to approve the bills. Anderson seconded the motion and the bills were approved 5-0. PUBLIC DISCUSSION—ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA: No items were discussed. PUBLIC HEARING—IOWA JET SERVICES FBO APPLICATION AND LAND LEASE: Horan opened the public hearing at 5:50 p.m. O'Neil said the public hearing was for the FBO application and the land lease. Gordon Peterson read from the 1989 FAA Compliance Standards. He said the standards do not require the Commission to allow additional commercial activity on the Airport if they think the additional activity could be detrimental to the future of the Airport. A single FBO operation would not necessarily be considered an exclusive right if the Commission determined the volume of business would only sustain one FBO. The question is whether the Commission exercises"due diligence" when making their decision. E.K. Jones asked who would be responsible for doing a feasibility study to determine if there was enough business for more than one FBO at the Iowa City Airport? He said he contacted the FAA in Washington, D.C.,to get answers to this question. Peterson said he thinks the regulations allow anyone to apply to be an FBO,but do not require the Commission to approve every application. Dennis Mitchell said he thought a feasibility study would have to be completed which showed the Airport could not support another FBO before an FBO application could be denied by the Conunission on that basis. Horan closed the hearing at 6:02 p.m. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION: a. ACSG Project: Greg Bridger circulated a revised schedule for completing the land acquisition project. He said the relocation of the Terrace Hill Park should be completed by the first week in November. The first notice for auction will be sent out soon. The land and easement offers will be completed by the end of October, except for the Dane and Meardon properties. Bridger explained the auction program and how long he thought it would take to dispose of the mobile homes. Mitchell said the Commission would need to discuss the ACSG contract as it relates to attorney's fees. He said that the original contract did not include the cost of condemnation proceedings. This will be addressed at a future Commission meeting. b. Minimum Standards: Horan said the next three issues are all related. At the last meeting,the Commission discussed amending the Minimum Standards to accommodate Iowa Jet Services. Horan said a lot of work was done to develop the standards and he thought the standards should not be changed. Foster agreed with Horan. Mitchell said that if the standards were not changed, the agenda item for Iowa Jet would have to be deferred until a business plan is received. Mascari said that when he was working on the minimum standards,he did not envision that a private developer would build his own building on the Airport He said he thought this gives the Commission an extra measure of protection because they get the building immediately if IJS were to go out of business. Anderson said that there is a sense of fairness in leaving the business plan requirement in the standards. He would like to see some type of a plan from anyone that plans to have a lease with the Airport Commission. Robert Staib,from Iowa Jet Services, said he writes several business plans a year and he could supply a plan,but it would not be very revealing. He said he thought that since he is investing his own money in the project and is not asking for a large investment by the City,the Airport would be protected in the event the business was not successful. O'Neil said if the Commission wants to change the Minimum Standards,they should still require a business plan,which would include a market analysis to show why the applicant thinks the new business is beneficial to the Airport. O'Neil asked if the Commission thought they should pay for a market analysis or if that should be the responsibility of the applicant? Anderson said the Commission should not confuse a market analysis with a feasibility study. He thought the applicant should be responsible for the market analysis and the Commission should be responsible for a feasibility study. Anderson said he would like to see US provide a charter jet service and ICFS provide full service FBO service. Staib said he would like to provide full services. He said building a place that provided full FBO services and reasonably price fuel was his goal. He did not want to be half of an FBO. His jet service repair would be here for all his aircraft. The bulk of his jobs and service will be in Iowa City,with the larger aircraft being based in Cedar Rapids. Gordon Peterson,from PS Air,commented that even if the Airport were to be given a building if IJS defaulted,there would be costs involved with the building. Peterson cited several airports in Iowa that had corporations abandon hangars and it resulted in costs to the cities that owned the airports. Horan said the Commission has a dilemma in trying to balance a new opportunity that may be in competition with an established business at the Airport. Staib said his primary goal was to develop a successful business that would benefit the Airport and the community. Mascari said he is in favor of the IJS proposal and he thought the decision should be based on free enterprise. He didn't think the Commission should base their decision on whether or not two FBOs can be successful at the Airport. Bender agreed with Mascari. Peterson said that because this is a government entity, regulated by the state and federal governments,it is limited because of the nature of the business and the normal rules of free enterprise might not apply. Horan said a feasibility study would take several months and could cost about$ 18,000. Jones said he knows of someone that would do a decent study for the Commission,not take six months, and not cost$ 18,000. Horan asked Jones to have that person call O'Neil. Mascari asked the Commission what would happen if a feasibility study indicated that only one FBO could make it at Iowa City? Would they base their decision on the study and not allow IJS to build it's business? Staib said the idea is not to split the current traffic among two FBOs,but to increase the amount of business at the Iowa City Airport. Horan said he would like to see both FBOs at the Airport. He would be reluctant to spend money on a feasibility study that would not necessarily answer the main question of having one or two FBOs. Mascari said he agreed with Horan and would like to see both companies operating at the Airport. Staib asked if the present contract with ICFS grants them any exclusive rights? Mascari said the Commission is not allowed to grant any exclusive rights. Staib asked if the Commission has done a study that would determine if an exclusive right could be granted? Horan said no study has been done. c. Southwest FBO hangar: O'Neil said the deadline for ICFS to make a decision is October 15, 1998. Bender said the Commission could contract the low bidder and ask for an extension. O'Neil said that if the remaining issues can not be resolved in the next few days,he did not think an extension would do any good. A meeting will be scheduled for Wednesday,October 14,if there is a contract to approve. Staib said if the Commission can not come to terms with ICFS,he would be willing to sign a lease for the proposed hangar. d. Iowa Jet Services: Horan said a business plan is still required and could be discussed at the October 14'h meeting. Staib said he would have the business plan to O'Neil by October 12's. e. Budget-FY2000: O'Neil presented a preliminary budget to the Commission. He asked the Commission if there were any line items the Commission would like to discuss. The budget is due to the Finance Department by October 21st. O'Neil said he made the adjustments needed in most of the line items. There were no changes except cost of living adjustments to most of the budget. O'Neil said he needed Commission input on at least two items. He recommended increasing the part-time maintenance worker from%z to 3/4 time. He said the workload has increased and with some of the projects anticipated in the near future,additional maintenance time would be needed. The Commission discussed the issue and decided that in order to adequately serve the Airport,the position would be increased from%z time to full time. O'Neil asked the Commission to prioritize their capital project list. The Commission needed to decide which capital projects they wanted to schedule for the next three years. O'Neil provided a list of several capital projects. The Commission decided to budget the Terminal Building renovation in FY 2000,a new fuel tank site in FY 2001,and additional T-hangar space in FY 2002. Anderson and O'Neil will work with HLM to design the Terminal renovation and have that project ready for construction by next summer. The design should be ready for Commission and Council review by January or February. Foster made a motion to approve the budget as amended. Mascari seconded the motion and it was approved 5-0. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT: Horan said he thought there was some very productive discussion on the items covered at the meeting and was encouraged that the projects were on track. COMMISSION MEMBERS'REPORTS: There was some additional discussion about Iowa Jet Services. The Commission will continue to work with US and ICFS to provide for both companies. Bender said he would like to see some of the projects they discussed earlier in the meeting actually get started to show the public there are some positive and exciting things going on at the Airport. Mascari said he went to the Iowa Aviation Conference in Ames and had an opportunity to discuss the Iowa City Airport with several DOT and FAA officials. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT: O'Neil commented that Anderson did an excellent job explaining the Terminal renovation to the Council during their facilities tour on September 15th. The Council was positive about the project and the Commission needs to go on to the second phase of the design. Ballot proposition information for the I%sales tax increase was included in the information packet. Horan sent`thank you' letters to those that helped with the fly-in breakfast. O'Neil said a letter from the Science Center was included in the packet. O'Neil said he contacted Jim Larew and suggested the Science Center give the Commission a proposal if they wanted to locate in the North Commercial area. O'Neil said MMS suggested reusing some of the abandon concrete on the end of RW 17 as base material for the road in the North Commercial area. This may require the taxi way to be relocated. The Commission thought this was a good idea. SET NEXT MEETING: The next regular Airport Commission meeting is scheduled for November 12, 1998,at 5:45 p.m. ADJOURNMENT: The meetinl was idjoumed . 8:0e ..m 41110. aa Howard Horan,Chairperson