HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-13-2003 Airport Commission Meeting Minutes •
MINUTES
IOWA CITY AIRPORT COMMISSION
THURSDAY,MARCH 13,2003—5:45 P.M.
IOWA CITY AIRPORT TERMINAL
MEMBERS PRESENT: Michelle Robnett,Randy Hartwig,Alan Ellis,Baron Thrower,Rick
Mascari
STAFF PRESENT: Sue Dulek,Ron O'Neil
CALL TO ORDER:
Vice-chairperson Ellis called the meeting to order at 5:46 p.m.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Dulek provided the Commission with information on how they could proceed with the election of
officers. She said they could appoint O'Neil to clerk the meeting until a chairperson was elected.
They could also vote by ballot or by voice vote. Mascari made a motion to have O'Neil clerk the
meeting until a chairperson was selected. Robnett seconded the motion and the motion passed 5
—0.
O'Neil asked the Commission if they wanted to vote by ballot or voice vote? The consensus was
to vote by voice vote. O'Neil asked for nominations for chairperson. Mascari nominated Ellis.
Robnett seconded the nomination. Thrower nominated Mascari. Ellis seconded the nomination.
O'Neil asked for other nominations. Robnett made a motion to close nominations. Mascari
second the motion and it was passed, 5—0. O'Neil called for a vote on the Ellis nomination. The
vote was 4—0. Thrower made a motion to withdraw his nomination of Mascari. Robnett
seconded the motion and the motion was passed 5—0.
Ellis asked for nominations for vice-chairperson. Robnett nominated Thrower as vice-
chairperson. Hartwig seconded the motion.Mascari nominated Robnett. Ellis seconded the
motion. Ellis called for a vote on the Thrower nomination. The vote was 3—0,with Thrower
abstaining. Mascari withdrew his nomination of Robnett. Robnett seconded the motion and it
was passed 5-0.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The minutes of the February 13, 2003,Commission meeting were approved as submitted.
AUTHORIZATION OF EXPENDITURES:
Mascari asked about the bill for repair of the north access gate? He said he thought the bill was
high. O'Neil said the cost was for the keypad that Mascari wanted replaced. Mascari asked
about the heat exchanger in the Terminal Building. O'Neil said the building has three heat
exchanger units and the one for the north end of the building had air in the boiler line and the air
in the line had to be purged. Mascari made a motion to pay the bills. Robnett seconded the
motion. The motion passed 5 -0.
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PUBLIC DISCUSSION—ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA:
David Hughes,from Earth Tech, said the bids for the extension of Mormon Trek were due in
May. He was at the meeting to answer any questions the Commission had about the project.
Mark Anderson said he had applied for the Airport Zoning Commission.
Ellis welcomed Randy Hartwig to his first meeting as an airport commissioner.
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION:
a. Aviation Commerce Park(ACP)—O'Neil said Tracy Overton,from Iowa Realty,was on
vacation and would not be at the meeting. O'Neil said Overton's monthly report was in the
Commission packet and if there were any questions,he would be back in town next week.
Mascari said he thought there were people lined up to purchase the property and were only
waiting for the waiver from the FAA. O'Neil said there was one offer reviewed and a
counter-offer given. There are two interested parties that have both said they will be
submitting offers. One of the businesses interested in lots#16 and#17 has decided to look
elsewhere. O'Neil said if anyone has questions for Overton, let him know and he would
contact Overton when he gets back from vacation.
b. Obstruction mitigation project- Mike Donnelly, from Stanley Engineering,updated the
Commission on the project. Donnelly said he would take direct charge of the project and
will be the contact person for Stanley. He said all of the obstructions have been identified
and cost estimates for mitigation have been determined. Stanley is now ready to contact the
property owners of the obstructions to set up meetings to discuss the mitigation. Donnelly
said a draft letter has been prepared and will be reviewed by Dulek and O'Neil before it is
sent to the property owners.
Stanley will meet with the property owners and after meeting with the owners,give a formal
report to the Commission. All contact with owners will be made with Stanley employees
that live in the Iowa City area and are familiar with the community.
Donnelly said there was an invoice sent to the Airport that did not accurately reflect the
percentage of the project that has been completed. He said he had not reviewed the invoice
before it was sent out. He asked the Commission to disregard the invoice and a corrected
one would be sent.
Mascari asked what would happen if a property owner does not agree to have the obstruction
mitigated? Donnelly said they would work with all owners to accomplish the mitigation. He
said the Airport has a finite amount of money and he does not want to spend all the Airport's
time and money on just a few difficult cases. He said this is a safety project and the
designation of something as an obstruction is for the protection of the people on the ground
as much or more than the people in the aircraft. He said it would be presented as a safety
benefit to the community to remove the obstructions.
Mascari said that sometime at his body shop,they have a problem that they can not figure
out on their own. He asked Donnelly if Stanley has outside resources they could call for
help?Donnelly said there are about 700 people that work for Stanley,all over the United
States and they are available as a resource for his office. Donnelly said most projects have
problems. What he tries to avoid is having surprises. O'Neil said he was satisfied with the
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course of action Donnelly has proposed to continue on with the project. He said the
Commission should express any concerns they have. O'Neil said the project is at a point
where the property owners are to be contacted. Good public relations will be critical. Ellis
said that when Stanley was interviewed,one of their selling points was that Stanley said they
had a group of people that were very strong in public relations. To finalize the obstruction
list,Donnelly will work with his staff and relay the information to O'Neil. If there is an
impasse on removing an obstruction,the Commission will be informed and asked for their
opinion.
Robnett asked what landowners would do that can't afford to have the obstruction mitigated?
Donnelly said the purpose of the grant is to pay for mitigation of the obstructions. Donnelly
said there would be two different letters. If an obstruction is man-made,the owners will be
required to show they had an air space study done by the FAA. If they haven't,they may be
in violation of federal airspace and mitigation of the obstruction should be at their expense.
Mascari asked how much aviation experience Stanley has? Donnelly said they have aviation
experience throughout the United States. He said their base of work is with municipalities.
Ellis asked if Stanley would be available to present information to the Council if necessary?
Donnelly said Stanley would be available and he would be the contact person. Ellis said he
is comfortable proceeding on the path they were on.
Mascari wanted to know how Stanley would determine how much a tree would be worth?
Donnelly said the IDOT has a schedule that shows the value of certain kinds and sizes of
trees. He said there are other ways to determine values.
Ellis asked if the Commission could terminate Stanley's contract if they were not satisfied
with the progress of the project. Dulek said there was termination language in the contract.
Mascari said this is an important project for the Airport. He said negotiations with the public
are going to be important. Mascari said he would like to make a motion to terminate
Stanley's contract. There was no second to the motion.
Robnett said she is comfortable with the job Stanley is doing and is glad that Donnelly will
be the point of contact.
Ellis said he would be at the next Council meeting to give them an update of the obstruction
mitigation.
O'Neil reminded the Commission that the grant is not to reimburse the owners of
obstructions for the value of the obstruction. The grant is for the cost to remove or otherwise
mitigate the obstruction. If the Commission would want to reimburse someone for an
obstruction, local money would need to be used.
c. Environmental Assessment project—Richard Blum, from H.R. Green,said two sections of
the project were completed and submitted to the FAA for review. The noise section and
historical analysis have been completed. Green has concluded that they do not think there is
or should be a historical district on the Airport. On the noise study,there is a small area of
the 65dn1 noise contour that is not on Airport property. The noise generated by the airport is
not significant. But as this area is developed,the noise level will increase because of the
additional traffic. Blum said Green could draft of letter to Karin Franklin to make her aware
of the potential impact to the area to be annexed. Ellis asked Blum to send a letter to
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Franklin,outlining the potential problem. Blum said he does not think this is an airport
problem,but the Planning Department may be interested in the information. The
Commission will be copied on the letter.
O'Neil asked if Green was still on schedule to get the information to the FAA to meet the
2003 funding deadline? Blum said Green would have the information to Kansas City in
April. Blum said the ALP is still in Kansas City being reviewed. He said the ALP under
review more closely matches the Airport Zoning code.
d. Hangar#31 and#33 leases-O'Neil said that the tenant in hangar#33 had some minor non-
substantive changes to the lease. O'Neil wanted to know if the Commission wanted O'Neil
to initial the changes and have the tenant complete the lease. The tenant for hangar#31
wanted to keep the language of the old lease, updating the term and the rent. Robnett asked
if the Commission wanted a universal due date? O'Neil said there is a universal date for the
one-year t-hangar leases. The leases under consideration are multi-year leases.
Mascari asked if the offices are limited to aviation uses? O'Neil said the purpose is to
eliminate operating unauthorized businesses from the hangar office. Ellis said that if the
tenants have changes,they should propose them to the Commission. All the leases would
then be changed. The changes would be offered to the tenants that have active leases. If
they did not want to change,the new language would be incorporated into the next version of
the lease.
O'Neil said this could be on the agenda for the next meeting.
e. Vertical Infrastructure grant-Buildings B and C—O'Neil said the contract to develop
the plans and specifications is ready to go and he wanted the Commission to authorize a
Notice to Proceed. Mascari said this was a 70/30 grant,with the IDOT maximum share
being$50,000. Mascari made a motion to send H.R.Green a Notice to Proceed for the
Vertical Infrastructure project for Buildings B and C. Robnett seconded the motion and it
passed 5—0.
f. Strategic planning—subcommittee—Robnett circulated a copy of the subcommittee
meeting minutes from the February 17 meeting. She said that she thought the Scope of
Services developed by Dulek and O'Neil was very complete. Thrower asked if individual
people should be named for the groups ABS is to contact? Robnett said she thought just
listing the contact group was adequate,with additional names supplied directly to ABS.
Ellis had two changes he wanted to make. He wanted to include additional language to the
section that describes the goals of the Commission. The other change was to increase the
expenses from$3000 to$5000 or not put a cap on expenses. Robnett said she agreed with
Ellis. She said she had priced facilitators and thought ABS could facilitate for the same price
or less than some of the local facilitators. Dulek suggested that ABS give a timeline for
accomplishment of the goals. Thrower said the minutes of the meeting with the Council
should be reviewed to see if there was a dollar amount for expenses discussed with the
Council.
O'Neil said if there is to be anything over the$15,000 number,a letter should be sent to
Council confirming that the funding is there. He said the letter and Scope of Services that
was given to the Council indicated the expenses would be up to 20%of the$15,000 fee.
That is where the$3,000 number came from. O'Neil said that it should be reinforced with
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Council that it would be the$15,000 plus 20%. He said that if the Commission anticipated it
would be more than the$3,000 in expenses,they needed to discuss that with Council. Ellis
will review the transcript and see if there was any specific expense numbers discussed.
Robnett asked where the 20%number was generated? O'Neil said it was in the cover letter
sent to the Council. Dulek said she could not recommend a contract with no cap on
expenses. Mascari said he thought the cap should be$3000. Ellis said he wanted flexibility
in case the expenses were above the 20%. Dulek said if ABS is to be the facilitator,that
should be spelled out in the contract. Ellis said ABS would facilitate at the meeting while
they are here,but a local facilitator would be needed if the Commission holds additional
meetings without ABS present. Thrower said he did not think the Council authorized
anything above the$15,000. He said he thought they were expecting a completed project for
$15,000.
There was discussion on the contents of the contract. Mascari said he thought the Scope of
Services included more than ABS proposed. O'Neil said the Commission should ask for
what they wanted. If ABS does not agree,the Commission could negotiate with them and
get as much as they can for the$15,000 fee. Thrower agreed that there was room for
negotiation and the Commission should ask for what they wanted.
Thrower made a motion to accept the agreement as proposed. Robnett seconded the motion
and it was approved 5—0. Ellis said he would like to see the agreement before it is sent.
O'Neil said he would e-mail a copy to the Commission after the changes were made that
were suggested by the Commission.
CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT:
Ellis thanked the Commission for electing him chairperson. He said he anticipated some changes
would come out of the ABS report. He said he wanted to make a slight change to the way the
agenda items were discussed. Ellis thanked Hartwig for applying for the Commission. Ellis said
he hoped the ABS report would give some insight on what could be discussed in the Commission
members' reports.
COMMISSION MEMBERS'REPORTS:
Mascari welcomed Hartwig to the Commission.
Mascari said there was a letter in the packet that said the State was in charge of new approaches.
Robnett said the State is just a conduit for the FAA. Mascari asked if Iowa City had applied for a
precision approach? O'Neil said the Commission does not have an ALP with an approach slope
that would allow for a precision approach. The ALP was changed from a 50:1 to a 34:1 because
the Airport has too many obstructions for a 50:1 approach. Mascari said he really wanted the
instrument approach. O'Neil said that until the obstructions are mitigated,a precision approach
could not be sighted. O'Neil said he would contact IDOT and discuss whether it would be
beneficial to have a request form on file.
Mascari asked about the moving the Manager's office to the Terminal? O'Neil said this was
something discussed briefly at the Council/Commission meeting. O'Neil said he sent a letter to
Jet Air,asking if there was space in the Terminal they would be willing to give up. He said he
talked with Ron Duffe from Jet Air and Jet Air is using all their leased space. O'Neil said he is
negotiating with them for space in Building D. That would make the Manager's office more
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assessable and allow for office space in Building G for the Civil Air Patrol. Dulek said that if the
Commission wanted to discuss this in more detail,it should be an agenda item.
Mascari thanked Thrower and Robnett for nominating him for chairperson.
Robnett said the subcommittee would be working closely with ABS on the Strategic Business
Plan.
Thrower said there were some incorrect telephone numbers on a contact list memo. O'Neil said
he would make the corrections.
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT:
O'Neil asked the Commission if they were interested in changing the rules for the meeting room?
There was a request that the room fees be waved for anyone based at the Airport. The
Commission indicated that they were not interested in changing the room policy at this time.
The owner of Berg Auto inquired about leasing the Airport property next to him. Robnett asked
about Hargrave Mceleney's interest in the same property? She said the Commission had
discussed selling or leasing the property to them. O'Neil said he would have this as an agenda
item at the next meeting. Ellis said he thought Hargrave was going to come back to the
Commission with a proposal.
There is a bill before the State legislators that would increase the tax on aircraft. O'Neil said he
doesn't know if the bill made it out of committee.
O'Neil said he was at a meeting in Ames most of the day to review proposals to select a
consulting firm to update the Iowa Aviation System Plan. He said the IDOT committee that he is
on would be interviewing firms on April 10 or 11. The project will last 12 to 15 months.
SET NEXT MEETING:
The next regular Airport Commission meeting is scheduled for April 10,2003,at 5:45 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 8:04 p.m.
-hoLsegi9
Ls
Alan Ellis,Chairperson
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