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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-09-2000 Airport Commission Meeting Minutes MINUTES IOWA CITY AIRPORT COMMISSION THURSDAY NOVEMBER 9,2000—5:45 P.M. IOWA CITY AIRPORT TERMINAL MEMBERS PRESENT: Alan Ellis, Rick Mascari,Howard Horan, Mark Anderson STAFF PRESENT: Sue Dulek,Ron O'Neil CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Mascari called the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the October 12, 2000, Commission meeting were approved as submitted. AUTHORIZATION OF EXPENDITURES: Horan made a motion to approve the bills. Anderson seconded the motion and the bills were approved 4—0. PUBLIC DISCUSSION—ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA: Charlie Ruppert wanted to know if there were a lot of deer on the Airport? He said there were a lot in his area of town. O'Neil said there is a permanent NOTAM concerning deer and waterfowl at the Airport. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION: a. Building K- O'Neil said he sent the Commission a memo concerning the corrosion on the interior panels of the hangar being constructed. O'Neil said that because the sheet metal was stored outside without being covered since the original building collapsed in March,the metal deteriorated. Mascari said he looked at the panels with O'Neil. He agreed that the material should have been covered. O'Neil said Selzer Werderitsch Associates (SWA)had wanted an answer as soon as possible so he had contacted the Commission members before the meeting and the consensus was to have the panels replaced instead of repaired. O'Neil said he gave this information to Tom Werderitsch and also invited him to the Commission meeting to discuss this with the Commission. Werderitsch said he thought the City's insurance should pay for the damaged materials. Anderson said it was unfortunate that SWA didn't attend the meeting to discuss this. He said it should be the contractor's responsibility for the corroded material if SWA failed to keep the material dry until it was used. O'Neil said a claim has been made to the insurance company and SWA has said they will not reorder the material until they have the approval of the insurance company. It will take about six weeks for the panels to be replaced. The Commission directed O'Neil to send a letter to SWA, confirming the Commission wants the panels replaced. The$100/day liquidated damages begin on November 18, 2000. The completion date is November 17, 2000. Anderson said SWA was notified after the first corroded panels were installed and they continued to install the rest of the panels, knowing they were damaged. O'Neil said there might also be a problem with the size of the opening for the 48-foot door on the west side of the building. The door is required to have a 16-foot clear opening. This is similar to the mistake SWA made when they made the building 4 inches too short. O'Neil will check on this and report back to the Commission. b. Building D-bids- O'Neil said that the bids for the building were higher than the engineer's estimate of$ 77,000. The low bid for just the roof replacement was $53,128. The low bid for the entire project, including all the alternates,was Kennedy Construction for$ 91,000. The IDOT will pay for 70%of the project,up to$50,000. O'Neil said the difference between the bids and the engineer's estimate was in the alternate for the exterior siding. O'Neil said that if only the roof is replaced,about$13,000 of the IDOT grant would not be spent. O'Neil suggested discussing the project with the Finance Director to see if additional funding would be available to complete the entire project. Mascari commented that the fuel farm project came in substantially less than estimated. He said he hopes the Finance Department and City Manager would take this into consideration. Anderson said he thinks it only makes sense to complete the project at this time instead of putting a new roof on a building that would need additional exterior work. Anderson made a motion for a resolution to accept the Kennedy bid of$ 91,000,pending approval of financing. Horan seconded the motion and at roll call vote,the motion passed 4— 0,with Ruyle being absent. c. FBO services- Mascari said he wanted to make a statement before the FBO discussion started. He said he has been told by several people that there is a general feeling that he personally has problems with the current FBO and that he would like to see them out of business. He said that is not true and he wanted to make that clear. He said he does feel strongly that the whole community owns the Airport and the Commission needs to do their best to protect the community's interest. O'Neil said this is on the agenda because the Commission wanted to decide how to proceed with securing FBO services after ICFS's contract ends in December 2001. Mascari said there was discussion about whether ICFS invested in the infrastructure of the Airport,as discussed when the new owners bought ICFS a couple of years ago. The Commission and ICFS had discussed some type of lease extension or renewal based on ICFS's investment. Mascari said he did not think ICFS made any commitment to the Airport. Mascari proposed that ICFS invest in the infrastructure to meet their commitment to show a good faith effort to be the FBO of the future. Horan agreed with Mascari that some commitment should be made. Ellis said if no written agreement was made for an investment to be made,he did not think that should be held against ICFS. Dulek said the Commission is not required to go out for proposals before negotiating with ICFS. Anderson said his biggest concern was to have an FBO that is stable and that will provide the services expected from a good FBO. Gordon Peterson, from ICFS, said he would try to answer any questions the Commission had about what ICFS's intent was. Horan asked Peterson how many training aircraft were based in Iowa City? Peterson said there was one all of the time and another about halftime. ICFS was still working on having two planes based at Iowa City at all times. Anderson asked if the lease with ICFS is under the old minimum standards or the new minimum standards? O'Neil said the lease says that ICFS will adhere to the minimum standards and does not specify whether that means the current standards or the standards at the time the lease was signed. Mascari asked Peterson how he interputed the standards? Peterson said he had not read the lease lately and would have to read the lease before he could answer. Peterson said he did think ICFS made an investment in Building F that they use for a maintenance shop. He said ICFS had spent about$ 30,000 furbishing the hangar. Ellis asked Peterson if ICFS was interested in being the FBO. Peterson said he is willing to negotiate and wants everything in writing. O'Neil will revive the draft lease that he presented to Rich Lancial and Kenny Sandi four months ago and present it to ICFS for review. Mascari asked the Commission if they thought that the money ICFS has invested in Building F could be considered a significant investment? Mascari asked Peterson if he would provide a financial statement and business plan? Peterson said he would provide business information but would not want to give personal financial information. Mascari asked Peterson to provide receipts for the investment they made in Building F. Peterson said he could provide that. The Commission directed O'Neil to draft a lease and have it reviewed by ICFS. d. State F&E grants: REIL and radios- At a previous meeting, O'Neil informed the Commission that the REIL on Runway 35 were not working and because of their age, should probably be replaced instead of repaired. He thought this was an item that could be replaced through the IDOT's Facilities and Equipment Fund. O'Neil also said that the portable aviation radios that the Airport owns are also becoming obsolete as far repairs are concerned. Horan made a motion for a resolution to apply for a grant through the IDOT's F&E Fund to replace the REIL on Runway 35 and to apply for another grant to replace the portable aviation radios. Ellis seconded the motion and at roll call,the motions passed 4—0,with Ruyle being absent. e. North Commercial area 1. Marketing—O'Neil said he had advertised in the Press Citizen for letters of interest from firms interested in marketing the NCA. He said two letters were received. One was from Coldwell Banker and the other was from Prudential Ambrose&Jacobsen Realtors. O'Neil circulated copies of the letters to the Conunission. He said that the Commission could interview either or both of the companies or could advertise in a larger area than just locally to see if there were other firms interested in marketing the NCA. O'Neil said he thought it was important to move forward with this as soon as possible. The contractor has started constructing the infrastructure and now is the time to be marketing the lots. O'Neil also suggested that the Council/Commission subcommittee meet before the interviews are conducted. He said it may give the Commission better direction in their interview process. Mascari said he has contacted Mayor Lehman to schedule a meeting. The City Manager is waiting for appraisal information before a meeting is scheduled. O'Neil said there are several potential tenants interested. He said that all of the property owners that border the NCA on the north and east should also be contacted to see if they have any interest in leasing some of the property. The Commission discussed some of the issues they thought would be important to include as part of the interview process. Mascari and Ellis are the subcommittee for the NCA. Mascari said each firm will be allowed an opportunity to make a 30-minute presentation and there will a 15-minute time allowed for the Commission to ask questions. Mascari will work with O'Neil and Ellis to arrange for interview times after the Council/Commission subcommittee meets. 2. Other issues-Anderson said it is difficult to see the barricades north of the RW17& RW24 intersection when taxiing at night. O'Neil said a NOTAM has been filed and he has added additional barricades for those not familiar with the closed area of runway. Horan asked if the concrete being removed from the taxiway and runway is being reused. O'Neil said the original specifications called for reusing the concrete but he did not think that was included in the final plan. A question was raised concerning the number of ducks on the pond south of Wal-Mart. O'Neil said there was something in their original easement with Wal-Mart about controlling waterfowl on the detention pond. He will check the easement and see if a letter should be written O'Neil said rerouting the storm water in the NCA would require that the power cable for the RW 24 PAPI lights be relocated. The FAA has no problem with the cable being moved but said it will be a local cost. They will not pay the cost to relocate the cable. O'Neil said the cable should be relocated so the power comes from the FAA building by Building D instead of from the power pole at the northeast corner of the Airport. O'Neil will see if this is eligible for a grant under the IDOT F&E fund. f. Public restroom accessibility-O'Neil said the Commission had requested this be put on the agenda. Mascari said he would like to see the Airport provide restroom facilities 24 hours a day. Ellis suggested installing a coded lock on the door. O'Neil will check on the cost of installing a coded access door. g. Fly Iowa 2001- Anderson said plans are well underway and the fundraising will start soon. The Governor of Iowa will sign a letter of support that can be included with the fundraising letter. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT: Mascari said he wanted to comment on something from the October minutes. Horan had said that with the appointment of John Ruyle to the Commission,Horan was the only non-pilot on the Commission. Mascari said that he didn't want not having non-pilots to be interputed as a negative and that the Council should appoint the best applicant,whether it is a pilot or not. COMMISSION MEMBERS' REPORTS: Anderson said it is his understanding that after the new building is leased out,here will still be a waiting list for pilots wanting hangars. He said the Commission would need to consider another hangar. k Horan said that he has been approached by someone who would like the City to have autogas sold on the field. He said the same person has asked if a grass strip could be installed on the Airport. Ellis commented that the new FBO lease should contain an annual performance review and have enforceable sanctions if those performance standards are not met. Ellis asked about the idea of a central location for recycling oil. Mascari said Ruyle was looking into that idea. O'Neil said he did not think the Commission should get into the oil recycling business. The City of Iowa City is building a recycle center and that is one solution to the problem. Ellis said he would like to see something in the hangar leases that addressed storing used oil. Ellis wanted to know if the Commission could publish some type of approach procedures for the Airport? Most of the Commission agreed that the Commission does not have any control over aircraft in the air. Ellis wanted to know if a preferred VFR route could be published. Anderson said he would rather have pilots thinking about get on the ground in the safest way instead of thinking about a preferred procedure for getting to the Airport. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT: O'Neil said a copy of the USAR's renovation plan was in the Commission packet. A copy of the fuel site bids tabulation was included in the packet. The fuel site bids are in and the contractor will be given a "Notice to Proceed"soon and then a more precise construction schedule will be developed. O'Neil said he sent a letter to ICFS,expressing the Commission's concern about the material stored in hangar#27 and that it was suppose to be used for aviation uses. O'Neil said that he was considering consolidating all of the Airport operations and equipment storage into Building D. ICFS only uses the north hangar part of the building and he thought something could be negotiated to use the southern third of the building. Areas now being used to store airport equipment could be leased. The consensus of the Commission was to go ahead with the project. The Airport Zoning Commission will be meeting in November to discuss updating the Airport Zoning Code. SET NEXT MEETING: The next regular Airport Commission meeting is scheduled for December 14,2000,at 5:45 p.m. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 8:23 p.m. Rick Mascari, Chairperson 1