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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-09-2003 Airport Commission Meeting Minutes I/ t MINUTES IOWA CITY AIRPORT COMMISSION TUESDAY,DECEMBER 9,2003—5:45 P.M. IOWA CITY AIRPORT TERMINAL MEMBERS PRESENT: Randy Hartwig,Baron Thrower,John Staley STAFF PRESENT: Sue Dulek,Ron O'Neil CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Thrower called the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the November 13,2003,Commission meeting were approved as submitted. REVIEW OF EXPENDITURES: O'Neil reviewed the check requests for December with the Commission. O'Neil said the SPCC Plan expenditure was the only bill not budgeted for in the FY 04 budget. O'Neil also said the AAAE dues for the next year were budgeted at the corporate rate. He suggested continuing with the individual rate. It would save the Commission about$400.00. PUBLIC DISCUSSION—ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA: No items were presented. UNFINISHED ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION: O'Neil said that in response to the remarks by Staley,he contacted ABS to request they check the employment numbers they had attributed to the University of Iowa in their Airport Business Plan. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION: a. Aviation Commerce Park(ACP)—Tracy Overton, from Iowa Realty, presented his monthly report to the Commission. Overton said he has sent information to a potential buyer that is looking for 2 to 3 acres for a medically related use. He will follow up on that lead. Overton said he is running a new ad. It will run every two weeks. He presented a copy of the ad to the Commission. Overton gave the Commission a copy of a letter from the president of Iowa Realty, confirming that he thought the pricing for the lots was reasonable. O'Neil said the agreement with Iowa Realty expires in January. He included a copy of the proposed extension amendment and a copy of the original agreement in the Commission's info packet. Thrower suggested this be on the agenda again for the January meeting. b. Runway 07 project—O'Neil said he and Dulek have been working with Earth Tech on an agreement for the project. O'Neil said he had just received the revised draft today and he distributed a copy of the agreement to the Commission. O'Neil said that unless the 1 Commission wanted to discuss it sooner,this would be an agenda item for the January meeting. c. Environmental Assessment project—O'Neil said he received several copies of the Historic Building Inventory and Evaluation report from H.R. Green. The report was also sent to the FAA. Hartwig asked how this was related to the project that Earth Tech would be doing? O'Neil said there is some crossover. Green was assigned to determine the historic and enviromnental impact. Earth Tech would be doing the obstruction mitigation, in relation to the Runway 07 project. Thrower asked about the MOA that was referenced in the report. O'Neil said this involved the technical agreement between the Commission and the other governmental bodies that have jurisdiction and he thought that Joe Trnka, from H.R. Green, could better explain this to the Commission at their next meeting. Thrower asked O'Neil if it was being explained to whomever makes the final decision on the United hangar that the Commission has concluded that unless additional funding is received, the building will have to be demolished? O'Neil said he does not know how clear that is spelled out in Green's report. He would defer to Tmka to explain that to the Commission at the next meeting. The FAA is the federal agency that makes final decision. Their top criterion is safety. The building is an obstruction. Thrower said it needs to be clarified what the intentions are for mitigating the obstruction. Green and Stanley will have to work together on this. d. Obstruction mitigation project-O'Neil has asked Stanley Consultants to provide a construction timeline for the obstruction mitigation. O'Neil said that Mike Donnelly,the project principal,was out of the country on another project and could not attend the meeting. Thrower said to remind Stanley that one of the reasons they were selected to do this project was that they are local and said they could provide the service required to stay on schedule. O'Neil said Stanley was going to send another engineer to the meeting but she would not have been as familiar with the project as Donnelly. O'Neil said he wants to complete the construction part of this project during the winter months when it should be less disruptive. e. Strategic planning—Thrower said he wanted to get with everyone and see where they were with their part of the document. He had drafted a template and O'Neil provided it in the info packet. Thrower said he wanted to be able to provide something to the Council as soon as possible. O'Neil said the next Council meeting is December 16 and the first meeting in January is the 61h. Staley said he has discussed the FY 2005 budget with O'Neil and he did not have any recommended changes at this time. Hartwig said he would like to work together on the plan more as a group, either as the Commission as a whole or as a subcommittee. Thrower said he would work with Hartwig as a subcommittee. Thrower said that when the Commission first decided to put this plan together,they were fully staffed at five members. This has changed in the last six months,yet the commitment to the Council is still there to produce a planning document. He said the Commission should decide as a group if they need more time or if the three remaining members can complete the project. O'Neil said he had discussed the Strategic Plan with the City Manager and explained that at this time,the budget the Commission submitted in October for FY 2005 would not change. Atkins concern was having a budget to work with to be able to present to the Council. 2 O'Neil said the expenditure side of the budget was set and the Commission was working on a way to improve the revenue side of the budget. O'Neil said a copy of the final ABS report could be sent to the Council. Thrower said he had reservations about sending the ABS report as a stand-alone document. Thrower said there were useful parts of the document,but there were some weaknesses that may not adequately relay to Council the intentions of the Commission. O'Neil said the final document was received today and he had only had about 20 minutes to review it. There were very few changes from the draft document the Commission received in September. Thrower said he would like to have more time to review it before it is sent to the Council. O'Neil said he had explained to Atkins that there was little change from the document the Council received in September. Staley and Hartwig said they would also like more time to review the final ABS report. Thrower said that in whatever document is given to the Council, it should lay out the appropriate direction for the facility, its governance,the capital structure,and its expense model. Thrower said he and O'Neil did a survey to identify capital improvements needed at the Airport. O'Neil will work with Public Works to try to identify costs for these improvements. The challenge is to produce ideas for revenue to make the improvements. The FBO should be included in finding revenue sources. Their business should benefit in the long run if the infrastructure is maintained at a high level. Staley asked what kinds of user fees are charged at airports? Hartwig said commercial service airports usually have service fees in addition to what is collected at general aviation airports. O'Neil said the fees charged at general aviation airports are usually the fuel flowage fees. O'Neil said some of the improvements on the list might be grant eligible. Although aviation fees contribute about$8.3 million annually to the State general fund,the State has decided to use the majority of that money for non-aviation uses. The State's grant program the last two years has all but disappeared. O'Neil said the Johnson County state representatives have supported legislation for aviation funding in the past. Thrower recognized Mark Anderson. Anderson said that in the airports he has been in,there have been fees charged for tie-downs and overnight parking. He did not think enough would be collected to pay for any capital projects. ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIRPERSON/SECRETARY Thrower said that because of the Commission resignations and his election to chairperson, a new vice-chairperson would need to be elected. Staley nominated Hartwig. Thrower seconded the nomination. There were no other nominations. The vote for Hartwig was 2—0,with Hartwig abstaining. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT: Thrower said he will be discussing airport improvements with Jet Air and see what their involvement could be. O'Neil said the president of Jet Air said he would attend a meeting to discuss this with the Commission. Thrower said to invite Mr.Timmons to the January meeting. Thrower said he would try to contact Mr.Timmons before the meeting. Thrower said his survey of the airport was informative and he said there are definite capital improvement needs to be addressed. 3 COMMISSION MEMBERS'REPORTS: Hartwig said he thought it would be appropriate to mention that the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first successful flight will be celebrated on December 17th,2003. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT: Dulek said there was a nice article in the Des Moines Register about the 100 years of flight. She said the Wright Brothers lived in Cedar Rapids before moving to Ohio. O'Neil said the FAA appropriations bill passed the Congress and has been sent to the President for his signature. The first phase of the Runway 07 project,worth about$1.4 million,will be funded through that federal legislation. It will probably be February before the grant is officially offered. The NDB was decommissioned on November 24,2003 at 9:00 a.m. It was costing too much to maintain. The Commission budget meeting with the Council will most likely be January 22"d or 27th. There was a memo in the packet that Dulek prepared concerning the rules involved with the Iowa open meeting legislation. O'Neil said he is working with someone that would like to teach ground school classes. She has discussed what she would like to do and how this could be coordinated with the FBO. She would like to teach a private pilot class and an instrument class. The Fire Department annual inspection said that all of the outlets on the north t-hangars needed to be relocated to inside the hangar. O'Neil said the buildings were built to code and he will have a discussion with the Fire Marshall. There would be a significant cost to rewire the three buildings. In the FY 2004 budget,the Commission allocated money to install a telephone for the conference room. This would be useful to groups that rent the room. The Commission said to go forward with having the phone installed. There will be a block on the line so only prepaid or 800 long distance calls could be made from the phone. O'Neil said an updated emergency phone numbers list was included in the packet. There was a memo in the packet on the latest developments on the LAAS system. Council will appoint the two new Airport Commission members at their meeting on January 6, 2004. O'Neil said he is on a State DOT aviation committee that is reviewing the Aviation Systems Plan for Iowa. This is the State's Airport Master Plan. Iowa City is in the Enhanced category,which is the top level of general aviation airports. O'Neil said he has submitted a proclamation for the Council agenda for December 16 to declare December 17 as Aviation Day, in honor of the 100 years of powered flight. The Mayor will make the proclamation. Thrower said he will not be in town,but he encouraged other Commission members to attend the Council meeting. 4 SET NEXT MEETING: The next regular Airport Commission meeting is scheduled for January 8,2004,at 5:45 p.m. ADJOURNMENT: The _ was adjourned at 6:37 p.m. B.J•*Thrower, An hrperson 5