HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-12-2003 Airport Commission Meeting Minutes MINUTES
IOWA CITY AIRPORT COMMISSION
THURSDAY,JUNE 12,2003—5:45 P.M.
IOWA CITY AIRPORT TERMINAL
MEMBERS PRESENT: Alan Ellis, Randy Hartwig, Rick Mascari,Baron
Thrower
STAFF PRESENT: Sue Dulek,Ron O'Neil
CALL TO ORDER:
Chairperson Ellis called the meeting to order at 5:48 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The minutes of the May 6,2003,Commission meeting were approved as submitted.
AUTHORIZATION OF EXPENDITURES:
Mascari made a motion to pay the bills. Thrower seconded the motion.The motion passed 4-0,
with Robnett being absent.
PUBLIC DISCUSSION—ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA:
Ellis introduced Randy Bisgard and Bobbi Thompson,from Airport Business Solutions,to the
members of the Commission and staff.
Ron Duffe,from Jet Air,said Jet Air has hired three more mechanics. He said the volume of
maintenance has increased. He said he would like to work out an agreement to use t-hangars on a
temporary basis when long-term tenants are not using them. O'Neil will work with Duffe on an
agreement.
Dick Blum,from H. R.Green,said he would like to remind the Commission that Fly Iowa 2003
will be in Cedar Rapids on July 4, 5,and 6.
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION:
a. Aviation Commerce Park(ACP)-Tracy Overton,from Iowa Realty,presented his monthly
report. He said there was not a lot to add to the report. He said commercial real estate sales
are slow for everyone. He said there was an offer for the entire property but the offer was
not enough to be considered a serious offer.
Mascari asked about national advertising. O'Neil said Michael Hodges,from ABS,was
going to contact Overton on where he thought it would be best advertise nationally. Thrower
asked about the marketing plan from Iowa Commercial. Ellis said it was his recollection that
Iowa Realty was selected with the understanding that the marketing would be regional
instead of national. The Commission did not have additional funding to advertise nationally.
Thrower asked what type of regional advertising is done? Overton said he meets with the
Cedar Rapids office weekly, it is on their web site,and every quarter he sends an e-mail to
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3200 commercial brokers. Thrower asked if there is a direct mailing part of their marketing?
Overton said they have not made any direct mailing. O'Neil said Cedar Rapids Airport has a
marketing person and they could be contacted to see hoe Cedar Rapids markets their
property.
Overton said he called a commercial broker in Joplin, Missouri. Joplin has a similar
development to Iowa City. Overton said the realtor told him that commercial sales were
slow. He said he is trying to get information from other people in the area and what their
marketing plan is. O'Neil said the Joplin lease was reviewed when the lease for the ACP
was being developed.
Mascari made a motion to send a recommendation to the Council to terminate the agreement
with Iowa Realty. Thrower seconded the motion. Ellis said he thought Mascari not giving
Overton enough time. He said the entire commercial market was slow. He said ABS was
hired to help the Airport and Iowa Realty. Thrower said some representations have been
made by Iowa Realty and he did not think they had been fulfilled. Hartwig said because he
is relatively new to the Commission,he was not ready to change realtors.
Mascari said he has nothing personal against Iowa Realty or Overton,but since none of the
property has been sold,he thinks a change should be made. He does not think Iowa Realty is
being aggressive enough. He said he understands the market is slow, but he wants someone
that is more aggressive.
Ellis said that before the Commission selected Iowa Realty,Iowa Realty told the
Commission it would be a ten-year project. Mascari said that if they hired another firm and
they sold only one lot,that would be a 100% improvement. He said there have been no new
contacts. He said he could have done as good of a job.
O'Neil said the Commission needs to review the contract. Dulek said there is one contract
that provides for leasing and sales. Ellis called for the vote. Mascari and Thrower voted for
the motion to recommend to Council to terminate the contract. Ellis and Hartwig voted
against the motion. The motion was defeated for lack of a majority.
b. Hangar#31 lease- Harry Hinckley,the tenant for hangar#31,was present to discuss the
lease. Mascari asked Hinckley what specific changes he would like to make to the lease?
Hinckley said he thought the whole lease should be changed. He said social engineering
should not be done in a lease. He said it is a t-hangar lease modified to try to conform to a
corporate hangar. He said the old lease form was better and more accurate for a corporate
hangar.
Hinckley said he would like to sit down with the Commission or a subcommittee and discuss
the lease. Ellis said the Commission is not going back to the old lease. Hinckley asked
specifically what the Commission thinks is wrong with the old lease? Ellis said the
Commission is attempting to make all leases on the Airport more uniform.
Hinckley said the Commission needs to take the time to read both leases and they will see
the original lease is better. Ellis said there is nothing specifically wrong with the old lease.
Mascari and Hartwig will meet with Hinckley to discuss the lease. The subcommittee will
recommend a lease to the Commission for action at the July meeting.
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c. Environmental Assessment project(consultant-Howard R.Green)—The Commission
agreed to discuss this issue with item(t).
d. Strategy/business plan project(consultant ABS)—Thompson said they would review and
comment on the corporate hangar lease as soon as information was sent to them. Otherwise,
they were just there to observe and collect information while they were in Iowa City. O'Neil
will send copies of the lease to ABS.
e. Obstruction mitigation project(consultant Stanley Engineering)-Mike Donnelly,from
Stanley, said they had made several contacts with obstruction owners. He said contacts were
made by letter,phone and personal interviews. He said a list is being prepared that will let
the Commission know how many obstructions they can mitigate for the money they have.
Donnelly said he had contacted Menards. They have a corner of their building that is an
obstruction and they would be willing to light it. O'Neil said Menards applied for an
airspace study and were suppose to design the building so it would not be an obstruction. It
should not be an obstruction if they built it according to plans. Donnelly said Menards said
they couldn't find their copy of the airspace study.
Donnelly said he has discussed several other ways to mitigate some of the obstructions and
he thinks many of the obstructions will be mitigated. O'Neil said the obstructions need to be
mitigated,regardless of whether or not the airport would get a precision approach. Donnelly
said there is an unknown liability by the owners of the obstructions. The obstructions are a
violation of federal airspace.
Donnelly said that he has spoken with Gary Nagle, from the University of Iowa,and
informed him that the University was required to do an airspace study before they placed the
flagpole on the Old Capital dome. The University was not aware they needed a federal
study. Donnelly will follow-up with the University.
f. United Hangar disposition- Dick Blum,from H.R.Green,said he met in Kansas City last
week with the FAA to discuss the EA. The disposition of the United hangar was discussed
in connection with the extension of Runway 07.
Joe Tmka said that the FAA had some questions about the noise contours that were included
in the draft EA report. He said another question was that of rerouting or putting Willow
Creek in a culvert.
Trnka said the United hangar would need to be removed. It is an obstruction. Tmka said it
would be about$20,000 to document the building before it is torn down. He said it could be
moved and restored or moved and not restored. The FAA will pay for relocation,but not for
restoration of the building. They would pay 90%of the site preparation if the building were
moved.O'Neil said he had additional information that may be helpful and left the meeting to
get the additional information.
Blum said that in conjunction with doing the EA,the question was raised concerning what to
do to reroute Willow Creek so it would not be in the runway safety area. The ALP has a
design that would reroute the creek to the west. Blum suggested installing a culvert,with an
overflow swail on top.
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To best accommodate the culvert,the runway elevation would be reduced by about 7 feet.
This would mean less fill over the culvert and less fill for the runway extension. If the creek
is put in a culvert,the creek would not be considered to be rerouted and that should reduce
the time to receive approval from the various agencies. Blum said all the design and
construction work is eligible for funding through the FAA AIP program.
Blum said O'Neil could contact the FAA to see if they would agree to pay for the revision of
the ALP. Ellis asked what the alternative would be? Blum said the alternative is to design
the culvert with the runway elevation as it is currently shown on the ALP.
Mascari asked if this was addressed when the 1996 ALP was completed? Blum said he
thought there was discussion on rerouting the creek, but there were not a lot of questions on
how McClure intended to reroute it. O'Neil will contact Todd Madison to see if the FAA
would fund the additional planning.
The discussion returned to the United hangar. Trnka said the Commission would need to
decide whether they wanted to tear down the hangar or move it. If it were moved,would it
be restored for use,or restored back to historic condition? Mascari said he would like to
move it. He said the decision should be made on where it could be moved.
O'Neil said one possible site would be east of Building H. A new service road would need
to be constructed for the hangar and Building H. It would also access the buildings to the
south. O'Neil said this location would not affect the two potential commercial lots on
Riverside Drive. The FAA would participate in moving the hangar,to include site
preparation. Restoration of the building would not be eligible.
Thompson asked if there had been any cost/benefit analysis done on moving the hangar as
opposed to tearing it down? She asked how much interest there was from the community to
save the building and was there local funding to assist in restoration? Blum said H.R.Green
has not done any cost analysis. He said Green would be willing to give the Commission a
quote on doing a cost/benefit analysis. Blum said that several years ago, someone interested
in moving the hangar to the ACP got an estimate of$20,000 to move the hangar. This did
not include the brick office on the east side of the building. Ellis said this would be on the
agenda for the July meeting.
g. FY 2004 budget update-Ellis said he is not sure if the Commission wants a general
discussion or if there were specifics the Commission wanted to discuss. Ellis said that in
light of the cuts at the State level,he thought the Commission should review the budget
again. He said they have reviewed the operating budget several times and did not think there
was anything left to cut. Ellis said the City Manager had made a couple of suggestions and
he would like to wait until the report is received from ABS before addressing his
suggestions.
O'Neil said he has reviewed the budget. He said because of the concern from Council last
summer,the Commission dedicated more time to the budget than would normally be
expected. O'Neil said that from an operations perspective,this is one of the tightest budgets
he has had in the 15 years he has been at the Airport.
Mascari asked how much money was being spent on the vehicle replacement fund? O'Neil
said he thought it was about$12,000 a year for all the vehicles. Mascari said he would like
to cut that vehicle replacement by half. O'Neil explained how the vehicle replacement
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system worked. He said if the Commission wanted to reduce the dollar amount,they could
amortize the vehicles for a longer time period. He said currently, airport vehicles are not
automatically replaced at the end of their amortization schedule. They are assessed at the
end of the schedule.
O'Neil said he thought it was important that the Commission discuss the budget. He
suggested a letter be sent from the Commission to the Mayor,outlining their discussion. He
suggested the letter explain that the Commission has ABS looking into both expenditures
and revenues. O'Neil said the operations expenditures have not changed dramatically over
the years. The problem developed with the drop in revenue that started with the past FBO.
O'Neil said Robnett had suggested at an earlier meeting that what needs to be done is that
the budget should stay intact and that the Manager watch the expenditures even closer than
in past years.
Thrower said he has looked at the report from the City Manager and looked to see what other
departments were doing to cut budgets. He said that if they can come up with any cuts,even
if it is a small part of the budget,it would be helpful.
Mascari made a motion to reduce the contribution to the vehicle replacement fund and to
remove the line item for window coverings for the second floor of the Terminal building.
Thrower seconded the motion and it passed 4—0,with Robnett being absent. Ellis said he
will sent a letter to the Mayor,offering these cuts.
CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT:
Ellis said he had nothing additional to discuss.
COMMISSION MEMBERS'REPORTS:
Thrower reminded the Commission of the open house on June 14. He said Cable TV was going
to film the event and run it on the public access channel.
Mascari said he wanted to thank Hills Bank and Jet Air for their participation with the open
house.
Mascari said Mark Anderson told him about an airport he was at that held a city public works day
at the airport. Mascari said he would like to look into doing that.
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT:
O'Neil asked the Commission members if they knew of anyone that would be interested in being
a member of the Airport Zoning Commission or the Airport Zoning Board of Adjustment. There
have been vacancies for a long time.
O'Neil said he would be advertising for an engineering firm for phase II and phase III of the
Runway 07 extension project. O'Neil said an engineering firm should be selected to be ready to
go when a grant is received. The RFP needs to include all projects that the Airport wants the firm
to do. Firms know that they will not receive any money unless a grant is received.
O'Neil said the FAA has a mobile unit to use for training for aircraft fires. It costs about$7000
for the training. He is working with the Eke Department to see where funding could be raised.
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O'Neil said it would be valuable training for the volunteer departments in surrounding towns.
There is no money in the Airport budget for this.
O'Neil said he met with Ellis and a developer concerning property west of the Airport. O'Neil
told the developer that nothing would be done until the Environmental Assessment is completed.
There is some property that may be available for lease. The Commission indicated they would be
willing to look at leasing property.
O'Neil said he received an application from the national Deaf Pilots Association. They would
like to hold their national meeting in Iowa City in July of 2005. O'Neil said the main down side
to the convention is that the pilots do not use radios. Duffe,from Jet Air, said he thought it would
be a good event for the Airport. The consensus of the Commission was that they would be in
favor of the event.
O'Neil said he sent a letter to Double Check, explaining they were still responsible for
maintenance for another year on the fuel farm system. He has not heard back from them.
The bids for the Mormon Trek project were due May 20. The bids were all under the engineer's
estimate.
O'Neil said the Commission would need to decide what to do about the fuel tank in between
Buildings G and H. There are several costs associated with maintaining the fuel tank. This will
be on the agenda at the next meeting.
SET NEXT MEETING:
The next regular Airport Commission meeting is scheduled for July 15,2003,at 5:45 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 8:44 p.m.
//,
Alan Ellis,Chairperson
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