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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-10-2003 Airport Commission Meeting Minutes A- MINUTES IOWA CITY AIRPORT COMMISSION THURSDAY,APRIL 10,2003—5:45 P.M. IOWA CITY AIRPORT TERMINAL MEMBERS PRESENT: Michelle Robnett,Baron Thrower,Alan Ellis,Randy Hartwig,Rick Mascari STAFF PRESENT: Sue Dulek,Ron O'Neil CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Ellis called the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Dulek suggested that the minutes should reflect who voted and who abstained when the Commission voted for officers. O'Neil said he would review the tape and report on the vote. The minutes of the March 13 and February 17,2003 Commission meetings were approved with O'Neil to verify the vote for the officers. AUTHORIZATION OF EXPENDITURES: Ellis said he thought the payment to Stanley was to be delayed. O'Neil said the invoice from Stanley had been revised. The percentage of work left to be completed was changed. Ellis asked if the fee for Aviation Business Solutions was included as part of the Airport budget or as a capital project? O'Neil said the operating budget was amended to pay for the project. Mascari made a motion to pay the bills. Hartwig seconded the motion.The motion passed 5—0. PUBLIC DISCUSSION—ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA: Mascari said he had an issue for discussion. Dulek said he should bring up the issue under Commission members' items. Mascari said he wanted to bring it up as public discussion because it had nothing to do with Commission items. Dulek advised Mascari to bring it up under Commission time. Mascari said he wanted to bring it up at this time. He said he has an old van that he uses to transport fuel from the self-service pump to his hangar. He would like to park the van at the Airport. O'Neil said he would advise against it since this was not an approved vehicle for transporting fuel and it would set a example for others that want to store vehicles at the Airport. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION: a. Jet Air lease amendment-Bldg.D and H—Ellis said Jet Air was going to give the Commission an update on Jet Air's first year in Iowa City. He said that he would recommend the Commission listen to the information,but table the vote on the lease amendment until the next meeting. O'Neil suggested that Jet Air make their presentation and if the Commission was not ready to vote,they could defer the item. He said the space exchange was a straightforward issue they discussed before and he could explain it to the Commission after Jet Air was finished. 1 Several representatives from Jet Air were present. Harrol Timmons,president of Jet Air, circulated information to the Commission. He said that Jet Air would be having an open house on May 3 and he invited everyone to attend. Timmons said Jet Air has 8 full-time employees and 10 part-time employees. He said there is a King Air turbo-prop and two twin engine Cessna based in Iowa City to use for their charter business. Next week,a 2003 Cessna would be based in Iowa City. He said payroll last year was over$200,000. He said fuel sales generated a good income. He said they invested over$300,00 in capital investment at Iowa City last year. He said that they had over$1,000,000 in sales the first year. He said there was more business traffic in Iowa City than they had predicted. He said they only sold two planes in Iowa City last year but he was expecting that would increase next year. Jet Air now has the franchise for Cessna aircraft for almost the entire state of Iowa. He said that income from aircraft maintenance would increase. Timmons said he is working toward being certified as an aviation repair station. Iowa City will soon become a Cessna repair station and a Cessna pilot center. He said Jet Air is optimistic and is in Iowa City for the long haul. Robnett asked what Jet Air is going to do about plane rental and instruction? Timmons said he would like to expand in that area. Robnett asked if Jet Air was going to conduct ground school training? She thought that would be an attraction. Timmons said a ground school is a good thing to get people started. He said Cessna has an excellent ground school program. Tom Schnell said he would be interested in collaborating with Jet Air on a ground school. Timmons said it is very important to have good instructors. Mascari asked if there was anything the Commission could do to help Jet Air? Timmons said the Commission needs to keep promoting the Airport. He said that it has been his experience that business leaders looking to build or expand their businesses don't come to town on the bus or the train or by car. The guy that signs the check comes to town in an airplane. Thrower asked if Jet Air's Galesburg financial situation would change by adding on Iowa City. As an example,would providing charter in Iowa City be competition for their other operation? Timmons said he thought the Iowa City location would compliment the Galesburg location. He said their charter and mechanic services customers come from all over the United States. He said only about 5% of customers for those two services comes from the Galesburg area. He said Iowa City has had a capital investment cost,but it has also contributed to a positive revenue stream. Ellis said that IOW and Jet Air are merging and he wanted to know how this would affect services? He wanted to know how the Commission could help. Timmons said that most communities have no idea how much of an investment a FBO makes in a local airport. He said Jet Air would invest more in the future. Timmons said that airports are an intricate part of a community. He said that more and more leaders and decision-makers are flying charter as opposed to commercial airline service. Ellis said the Commission needed to move on with the lease discussion. O'Neil said that three or four months ago,he told the Commission that there were several people looking for space at the Airport. The Civil Air Patrol was one of the groups. The Commission directed 2 O'Neil to see if he could negotiate to provide space for everyone. The agreement on the agenda represented the results of the negotiations. Jet Air would have the north 2/3 of Building D. It would become part of Jet Air's lease and the IOW Aero lease would be terminated. Airport operations would be in the south 1/3 of the building. The Civil Air Patrol and perhaps another group would share the office vacated in Building G. There is some renovation to be done to the office and shop part of Building D. O'Neil said he has discussed this with the City Manager and received approval for finding. Jet Air would store their fuel trucks in the equipment storage area in Building H,which is currently used by Airport maintenance. O'Neil said unless the lease is changed,the project will need to be put on hold or abandoned. Thrower asked if there would be a negative impact on revenue? O'Neil said this is an exchange of space and the rents will not change at this time. O'Neil said he needs heated space for the Airport's snow removal equipment. O'Neil said he has told the Civil Air Patrol that they would be responsible for their own utilities in Building G. Ellis asked if there is anything in the lease for Building H that would prevent the exchange of space? O'Neil said that the truck bay in Building H is not part of the Gordon Aircraft lease. Tom Schnell,who subleases space from Gordon Aircraft,said he would be interested in the truck bay in the future if his aircraft simulator needed room to expand. He said shop space for the simulator would be needed. O'Neil said that if they do not exchange space with Jet Air,they would not be able to lease the space Schnell anyway because there is not other heated space for the Airport's equipment. Gordon has expressed interest in adding on to Building H at some time. Timmons said there might be some space available on the second floor of Building F. Ellis said he thought the exchange of space should take place. The Airport equipment would all be in one place and the Airport Manager would be more assessable on the airfield. It would be better for Jet Air and safer for the fuel trucks. Robnett made a motion for a resolution to add an amendment to the Jet Air lease and to terminate the lease with IOW Aero for Building D. Mascari seconded the motion. At roll call vote,the motion passed 3—2,with Ellis and Thrower voting no. b. Aviation Commerce Park(ACP)—O'Neil said Iowa Realty's monthly report was in the packet. There were no new offers to report on. Overton would be at the next Commission meeting to report to the Commission. O'Neil stated that he had checked the minutes from previous meetings and the Commission had not directed Dulek to try to collect rent owed by Nichols. The Commission directed Dulek to file a lawsuit to try to collect the past rent. c. Hagen property—O'Neil said there is interest from two different parties to buy or lease this property. O'Neil said it was part of a lot purchased when land was being purchased for the Runway Protection Zone for Runway 07. The consensus of the Commission was that they would wait until an actual offer was made to discuss either sale or lease of the property. d. Obstruction mitigation project-O'Neil said letters had been sent to the property owners of the obstructions and personal follow-ups would be made to the owners. Kerry Fitzpatrick, from Stanley Engineering,would be making the contacts. Ellis stated he introduced Fitzpatrick and Mike Donnelly at the Council meeting last Tuesday. 3 e. Environmental Assessment project—O'Neil said that all of the reports had been forwarded to the FAA in Kansas City and H.R. Green was waiting for a reply. The information needed to meet the FAA FY 2003 funding deadline has been sent to Kansas City. f. Strategic planning—subcommittee—The contract with Aviation Business Solutions has been signed. O'Neil said he has sent the Notice to Proceed and a deadline of July 7 for the initial draft to be completed. Robnett said the Commission would need to provide a list of names to ABS on whom to contact for the initial informational meeting. O'Neil said he contacted Mike Hodges and Hodges thought they would try to schedule a meeting in Iowa City during the week of April 14'11. Hodges said he would contact O'Neil when his schedule was set. g. Hangar#31 &#33 leases—O'Neil reviewed some changes the tenants of hangars#31 and #33 had requested.Ellis said he would like to keep all of the leases the same and that if the tenants wanted to make any changes,they should be submitted as a written addendum. The Commission would decide on whether or not to include them in the lease. If the addendum was added,the changes would be reviewed and could be included in the lease when it was renewed,as long as the language was the same in all the leases. h. MOT funding- O'Neil said he put this on the agenda with a hope that the State would fund some AIP projects. The State did not fund any AIP projects. O'Neil circulated a list of what is eligible for State or Federal funding. Mascari asked about funding for snow removal equipment? O'Neil said that only commercial service airports were eligible for fire trucks and snow removal equipment. O'Neil said there may be funding for the Vertical Infrastructure Program. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT: Ellis said he had talked to the Mayor about some issues at the Airport. Ellis said that when there is information to go to the Council, it should come from the Commission or the chairperson. When there is information to go to the City Manager,it should go through the Airport Manager. He said that should be the normal connection. He said everything should be in writing. Ellis said he would like to include an item on the next agenda to discuss how the agenda is developed. He would like to have a written report and staff recommendation on any item that needed action. He said this would reduce the amount of discussion time. Ellis said he was at the City Council meeting on Tuesday to give the Council a quick update of what was going on at the Airport.He said O'Neil was there and two people from Stanley Engineering were introduced to Council. He also publicly thanked Mark Anderson for his six years of service on the Airport Commission. COMMISSION MEMBERS'REPORTS: Mascari said he wanted to express his personal disappointment about the situation at Meigs Field in Chicago. Mascari asked why the cable TV has only come to one meeting? O'Neil said they will record a meeting upon request,but if it were on a regular basis,the Commission would need to pay for the production. If there was something in particular that the Commission wanted to have broadcast, 4 J they should request it. Thrower asked if there was anything in the budget for filming the meetings? O'Neil said there was not. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT: O'Neil said there was a memo in the packet,describing how to file a NOTAM. O'Neil said that if the Commission could not contact him or the maintenance person and there is a need to file a NOTAM,their names are on file with FSS. He gave the Commission instructions on how to file a NOTAM. O'Neil said there is a trend in the industry to hire an engineering firm for a given period of time to implement Master Plan projects. There are advantages and disadvantages to doing this. It saves a lot of time advertising and interviewing for each project. On the other hand,there may be a better match for a project,depending on the project. O'Neil said he had a request for long-term storage in the old United hangar. It was a non-aviation use. The Commission was not interested in discussing this at the next meeting. At the last meeting,Mascari had inquired about applying for a precision approach. O'Neil contacted the DOT and their reply was included in the Commission packet. For their information, O'Neil provided the Commission with a copy of the form used by developers to file for an airspace study. O'Neil sent a letter to the FAA,requesting a temporary tower for the fly-in on August 24. Ellis asked O'Neil about the Central Region FAA Conference? O'Neil said it is the first week in June. He had included information about the conference in the Commission's March info packet. Thrower commented on a communication policy. He said there is a memo in the packet from Dulek concerning e-mails. Thrower said he would like to discuss this as an agenda item. Ellis said that ABS is going to help write policy documents for the Commission. Thrower asked if that was in the Scope of Services for ABS? Ellis said it was. Thrower said he would wait until the policy was written to discuss it as an agenda item. SET NEXT MEETING: The next regular Airport Commission meeting is scheduled for May 8,2003,at 5:45 p.m. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 8:21 p.m. 4I01_ g\Alan lis,Chairperson 5