HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-14-2000 Airport Commission Meeting Minutes I.
MINUTES
IOWA CITY AIRPORT COMMISSION
THURSDAY DECEMBER 14,2000—5:45 P.M.
IOWA CITY AIRPORT TERMINAL
MEMBERS PRESENT: Rick Mascari,Howard Horan, Mark Anderson
STAFF PRESENT: Sue Dulek, Ron O'Neil
CALL TO ORDER:
Chairperson Mascari called the meeting to order at 5:47 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The minutes of the November 9,and November 28,2000,Commission meetings were approved
after some minor corrections to the minutes of November 9.
AUTHORIZATION OF EXPENDITURES:
Anderson made a motion to approve the bills. Horan seconded the motion and the bills were
approved 3—0.
PUBLIC DISCUSSION—ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA:
Dennis Gordon said he has not signed his lease for Building H and would like to go on a month to
month basis for a couple of months. He said his two tenants have not given him a commitment
yet. O'Neil said this is not a decision the Commission can make at this meeting because this is
not an agenda item. The consensus of the Commission would be to approve a month to month
lease at the next meeting. O'Neil will have this as an agenda item at the January 11,2001
meeting.
Jim Heihtsman,from Qwest Corporation, requested a lease from the Commission for a piece of
property on Southgate Avenue to install a small building for communications equipment. He
circulated a picture of the electrical equipment he wanted to install on the 25' by 30' piece of
property. Mascari asked if the equipment would emit any type of signal that would interfere with
aircraft equipment. Herlrtsman said he was not aware of any problems the equipment would
create.
Heihtsman said he would want a lease for as long as possible. He said the life expectancy of the
equipment is 20 years. He would also like to pay a lump sum as opposed to monthly or yearly
rent.
O'Neil said that the property Qwest would like to lease is the same property that Harry Wolf,
from Southgate Development,had contacted the Commission about last summer. At that time,
the Commission was not certain how much of the property they would be interested in leasing.
O'Neil suggested contacting Southgate before any decision is made. O'Neil said the property was
purchased from Tom Kennedy as part of a larger parcel for RPZ protection.
Mascari said this could be put on the agenda for the next meeting. He said there is a limit to the
length of the lease that the FAA is comfortable with. Mascari said Southgate should be
contacted to see if they are still interested in this piece of property.
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION:
a. Building K-O'Neil said three of the hangars are occupied. There are commitments for the
other hangars but the tenants will not be moving in until January I, 2001. Selzer Werderitsch
has agreed to pay the rents for the hangars not rented in December because they did not meet
their November 17, 2000 completion deadline. The building has been inspected by the
Building Department and has an Occupancy Permit.
O'Neil said there is a punch list of items to be completed. The contractor did not put handles
or latches on the two ten-foot garage doors. This makes it difficult to open or close the doors.
It is part of the punch list.
b. Hangar leases-#31,#32,#33,-O'Neil said these are the remaining hangars in Building G.
For hangar#34,the tenant was given a two-year lease. Harry Hinckley,the tenant from#31,
said he would like to see a five-year lease. O'Neil said Hinckley was informed that this
would be on the agenda for tonight's meeting.
Anderson had a question about the insurance requirements. Dulek said she will make a
correction in the insurance requirements and O'Neil will send an amendment to the hangar
tenants.
c. FBO services- Mascari said he reviewed the proposed lease. He said he thought the
Commission would offer a 10-year lease. Anderson said he would like two five-year leases.
O'Neil said there are about 18 years left on the lease for Building F. If the Commission
selects another FBO,the building will be leased to the new FBO.
Anderson said he wanted to go over some of the lease. Mascari said he thought 10 years
would be the right length of lease. Horan said he thought it should be longer because an
FBO would need a longer lease to get a return for his investment. O'Neil suggested a 10-year
lease,with another five or ten-year extension at the approval of both parties. Fees should be
negotiated at least every five years. Dick Blum,from H. R. Green, said his experience has
been that the FBO leases are for 20 years. He said he thought the FAA would like to see fees
negotiated on a five-year basis.
The Commission decided to offer a ten-year lease,with two five-year renewals. There would
have to be some mechanism to cancel the lease for default. Mascari said there is a real
problem with enforcement of a default clause.
Anderson said he thought the value for each building the FBO leases should be spelled out
instead of just listing the rent as a lump sum. O'Neil said he does spell out on the current bill
to the FB0 what each individual building costs.
There was discussion on the north T-hangars. O'Neil said in the current lease,the FBO is
given about 50%of the income for the north T-hangars. In the past,the FB0 was paid for
managing the hangars and doing the maintenance. O'Neil said that now,we do the
maintenance, supply the electricity and own the buildings and the FBO gets about 45%of the
rent. O'Neil said there is room for negotiation. The Commission could offer the hangars to
the FBO if there is something received in return. The F130 could do maintenance or pay the
electrical. Mascari said the Commission should take control of the north T-hangars.
Anderson said it should be specific who is paying what utilities on each of the buildings the
FBO would lease.
Anderson said he would like to make sure the FBO is providing rental aircraft and training.
O'Neil said this is something that would have to be changed in the Minimum Standards if the
Commission wants to require that rental and training be provided by the FBO. Mascari said
that in speaking with other FBOs, it has become clear to him that rental and training are not
profitable. Anderson said it should be done as part of the package of the FBO, even though
that segment of the business is not profitable.
There was discussion about what the FBO would be allowed to construct without the
Commission's permission. O'Neil said he thought there was sufficient language in the lease,
but it could be spelled out more clearly if the Commission wanted to.
Anderson had a question about the bankruptcy paragraph. Dulek said she needed to revise
that entire paragraph.
Anderson said the lease should contain language about business insurance. O'Neil said that
is all addressed in the minimum standards. Reference to the minimum standards will be
spelled out in the lease. Anderson said the expectations of the FBO services should be
spelled out clearly, such as parking aircraft and answering the UNICOM. Violations of the
minimum standards can be charged with a municipal infraction.
Mascari asked O'Neil to make the changes discussed and send copies to the Commission
members. The Commission can contact O'Neil with any comments and then he can send the
proposed lease to ICFS. This will be an agenda item at the next meeting.
d. North Commercial area
1. Marketing—O'Neil said there is a copy of the letters sent to the two companies that
expressed interest in marketing the property. He said that at their last meeting,the
Commission decided they would not interview the marketing companies until after the
CouncillConunission subcommittee met. Mascari said he has contacted the Mayor and
he attended a meeting of the Economic Development committee. Anderson said they
have been waiting for three months for the subcommittee to meet. He thought it was
important to move forward.
Mascari said he would write a letter to the Mayor and explain that the Commission is
ready to move forward. It is important that the Council and the Commission understand
the Commission's plan for reducing the amount of money needed from the general fund
for Airport operations.
Councilman Phab said he thought the Council was concerned about where the extra
money would go after the development got to the break-even point. Anderson said there
were several construction projects identified in the Master Plan that would require
funding.
2. Other issues—No issues were presented.
e. Fly Iowa 2001- Anderson said the committee had a meeting last week. He said there were
no new issues discussed. A professional fund-raiser has volunteered her services to raise
money for the event.
Dick Blum,part of the Fly Iowa committee, said the logo needed to incorporate the official
Fly Iowa logo.
f. Airside access policy- O'Neil said the Commission requested this be on the agenda.
Anderson was concerned with the amount of vehicle traffic on the airside of the airport,
especially during home football and basketball games. He said there is a push by the FAA to
limit runway incursions and he thought the Commission should do their part to limit
incursions.
Mascari said he thought the Commission should look into installing another access gate by
the Terminal Building. It could be activated by the FBO if someone wanted to get to their
aircraft to load or unload luggage. The gate could be on the north side of the Terminal.
O'Neil said the Commission had a grant to install a gate on the north side of the Terminal and
a past Commission decided that it was not a safe enough place for a gate. Anderson asked if
a grant could be written for a gate. O'Neil said the Commission would probably want to
apply to the IDOT. In answer to a question from Anderson, O'Neil said the project could not
be installed now and paid for later. Construction projects are not eligible for reimbursement
after the fact.
O'Neil said the north side of the ramp is a blind spot. Vehicles going in that gate do not have
a clear view of vehicles and aircraft on the ramp. The Commission agreed to apply for a
grant in the Spring for a controlled access gate. Horan suggested installing the gate on the
south side of the Terminal where there is better visibility.
Anderson said he would also like to talk about having a bathroom available 24 hours a day.
O'Neil said he got an estimate of about$ 1200 to$ 1800 to have a coded lock installed. The
price may have to include a new door. The door on the office the Commission wanted to
make available to the public may not be compatible with the type of lock the Commission
wanted to install. Anderson said he thought he could fmd a better price and would bring that
information to a future meeting.
O'Neil said there would also be a cost to keep the office clean. He said the Commission had
suggested raising hangar rents to pay for the costs. The Commission said to ask the cleaning
service how much more a month they would charge to clean the office and bathroom.
CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT:
Mascari said Councilman Phab stopped by his workplace the other day to discuss how things
were going at the Airport. Mascari said he appreciated that.
Mascari wished everyone a Happy Holidays.
COMMISSION MEMBERS' REPORTS:
Anderson commented on the article in the packet concerning Bob Staib and Iowa Jet Services.
Horan said the weather report would indicate that O'Neil would be working real hard this coming
weekend.
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT:
Dulek talked to the DNR about waterfowl around the Airport. The Fish and Wildlife Department
will come out and do an analysis of ways to eliminate or reduce the amount of waterfowl around
the Airport. The Commission agreed she should schedule a time for them to do that. She has
also reviewed the easement with Wal-Mart to see how much responsibility they have to control
waterfowl on their detention pond. She said there is language that makes them somewhat
responsible for controlling the waterfowl on their pond.
O'Neil said the Zoning Commission has voted to hire H.R. Green Company to update the Airport
Zoning Code. Green will start as soon as the City and the County review the contract.
The water lines to the sinks in the men's restroom in the Terminal Building have frozen. The
water lines were installed in the outside masonry wall. Larew is looking for a way to reroute the
water lines so they will not be in an outside wall. O'Neil said he met with Morrie Cohen,from
HLM,to discuss why the water lines were reinstalled in an outside wall when the building was
remodeled. There will be a question on who should pay for rerouting the waterlines.
O'Neil asked Blum if he had a schedule for bidding the new fuel tanks. Blum said that the tanks
would be bid in February,with a construction completion date on June 1,2001.
SET NEXT MEETING:
The next regular Airport Commission meeting is scheduled for January 11,2001,at 5:45 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 p.m.
Rick Mascari, Chairperson