HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-08-2004 Airport Commission Meeting Minutes MINUTES
IOWA CITY AIRPORT COMMISSION
THURSDAY,JANUARY 8,2004—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 December 9,2003,Commission meeting were approved as submitted.
REVIEW OF EXPENDITURES:
O'Neil reviewed the check requests for January with the Commission. O'Neil said he is holding
the final check for Airport Business Solutions until he receives the deliverables. O'Neil said the
payment to the Gazette was for an ad to advertise for the roof project for buildings B and C.
O'Neil said this would have to be advertised again because there were no bids. H.R. Green will
contact companies directly next time the bids are due to remind them that the project has been
advertised.
PUBLIC DISCUSSION—ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA:
Rick Mascari addressed the Commission. He said that he wanted to comment that the runways
were cleared in a timely manner after the last snowfall and looked very good. He said he wanted
to remind the Commission that in past years,the City Council had assured the Airport
Commission that Runway 18/36 could be kept open until a replacement instrument approach was
in place on another runway. He said he did not think that had been changed.
UNFINISHED ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION:
No items were presented.
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION:
a. Runway 07 project— O'Neil said he and Sue Dulek have reviewed the contract and
contacted Earth Tech with some suggested revisions. O'Neil said he has received an
independent cost estimate for consultant services for the project and it is substantially
different from the proposal from Earth Tech. He will have to review both cost proposals and
see why there is such a difference. He said he just received the second estimate on Tuesday.
O'Neil said it might require a special Commission meeting to approve the contract so Earth
Tech can be given a Notice to Proceed.
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b. Environmental Assessment project— O'Neil circulated a memo he received from Joe
Trnka,from H.R. Green, updating the Commission on the progress of the EA. He said the
next move is up to Mark Schenkelberg, from the FAA.
Dick Blum,from H.R.Green, said that he would like to address an item that was discussed
earlier. He said that when the bids went out for the roofing project on buildings B and C,
there were five companies that expressed interest. They contacted the companies after the
bids were due and they said they were still interested and just did not realize when the bids
were due. He said the next time the project is advertised, Green will contact the companies
and send them bidding materials.
Blum said that Joe Trnka discussed the EA with the FAA on Tuesday and they were positive
that the information was sufficient to move ahead with the program. Thrower asked O'Neil
if he had any contact with anyone willing to fund the restoration of the United hangar?
O'Neil said there is a tenant at the Airport that would like to have the hangar saved,but he
was not aware of any fund-raising campaign. O'Neil said to restore the hangar,it would cost
between$200,000-$ 600,000, in addition to what the FAA would pay for.
Blum said there were two sub-tasks in conjunction with the EA that the Commission wanted
H.R.Green to explore. One was to evaluate the options to rerouting Willow Creek or
constructing a culvert to take it out of the Obstacle Free Area(OFA). He said he was
surprised on how large of a culvert would be needed to meet the flow numbers. Thrower
asked if this was a hydrologic study? Blum said that was the main focus of their task.
O'Neil asked if there was any price comparison between the culvert design and rerouting the
creek around the OFA? Blum said either design would be in the$ 600,000 range. Blum said
there are pros and cons to each design. The rerouting would supply some fill needed for the
runway project. The Corps and DNR should be more receptive to the culvert design because
Willow Creek would not be rerouted. Blum said that it would probably be best to put the
entire creek in a culvert on Airport property,but that would be cost prohibitive.
The second sub-task was to develop the costs associated with rerouting Dane Road. Blum
said the agreement negotiated with the FAA was for them to contribute to the Mormon Trek
project an amount equal to what it would have cost to reroute a chip-seal road from the south
edge of the OFA to the Mormon Trek intersection. Mormon Trek is a substitute for
rerouting Dane Road. Blum said that engineering and environmental work had to be done
for the proposed rerouted road,even though it was evident the road would not be built.
O'Neil reminded the Commission that the Airport had already contributed about$ 184,000
to the Mormon Trek project. It was a FAA grant that purchased the property for the
intersection of Highway 1 and Mormon Trek.
c. Obstruction mitigation project-O'Neil said he was expecting a representative from
Stanley Consultants to be at the meeting to explain the construction schedule. He said he
had sent them an agenda and requested someone attend the meeting. Thrower said that since
no one was present from Stanley,they should be officially notified that the Commission is
concerned about their lack of progress on the project. O'Neil said he would contact the
project manager to start with. O'Neil said that one of the reasons the Commission selected
Stanley was that they are a local firm and said that because of their proximity to the Airport,
they would be able to provide excellent service.
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d. Aviation Commerce Park(ACP)—Tracy Overton and Kirk Hiland, from Iowa Realty,
were at the meeting. Overton said that as is typical over the holiday season,things were
slow and he did not have any new prospects to discuss with the Commission.
Overton said Iowa Realty sat down and reviewed several of their projects,the ACP being
one of them. He said Iowa Realty is strong on the project and still feels it is only a matter of
time before the lots sell. He said that sometime when a project is stagnant, it is best to bring
in new faces and ideas. Overton said he would like to propose that he turn the project over to
Kirk Hiland. He said Hiland is a more senior person in the firm and has more commercial
experience. He said their contract is coming up for renewal and this would be a good time to
make a switch.
Overton introduced Kirk Hiland. Hiland said he has been with Iowa Realty Commercial for
11 years and been in the real estate business since 1975. He said he represents clients from
Davenport to Des Moines. He said he has reviewed the project and he thought the
Commission should revisit the pricing and also what direction the property should go. He
said the competition is from all the surrounding area, including North Liberty and Cedar
Rapids. He said there has been an aviation park in Cedar Rapids for a number of years and it
is only about a third full.
He said that the ACP has good flexibility in it's zoning. He said he does not think marketing
to just aviation uses would ever develop. Hiland said the Commission should look at
something like the R.M.Boggs offices and shop in North Liberty.
Hiland thought the Commission may have to look at a significant reduction in the per square
foot price and be flexible in the uses allowed. There is a drawback in the fact that there is
not a signal light at either end of the entrance road. Thrower said that in light of the
development around this area,did Hiland see something missing in the area that could be
built on this property? Hiland said there are businesses on land that is underutilized and he
could see some of those businesses relocating on the airport property.
He said retail in this area is dying out. He thinks the Commission should try to encourage
light industrial uses. Hiland said he thought a new appraisal should be done. He said there
are a lot of things in the report that don't need to be changed, but new comparables should be
used.
Hiland said he would recommend that there be a system set up to speed up the review of an
offer. He said he realizes the Commission only meets once a month. Staley asked how
Hiland goes about finding customers? Hiland said they do some general advertising and
direct mailing. He said they have national contacts through some of the organizations they
are members of. O'Neil reminded Hiland that the Commission would expect a written report
on a monthly basis. Overton said it would be a seamless transition between him and Hiland.
O'Neil said the sales agreement with Iowa Realty expires in January. It is a three way
agreement between the Commission,the Council and Iowa Realty Commercial. Staley made
a motion to renew the contract with Iowa Realty. Hartwig seconded the motion and it passed
3-0.
e. Governance Structure for the Iowa City Airport Commission—Thrower said there has
been discussion on the notion of what it takes to build a strategic plan. He said he would like
to review a governance structure that relates to the Iowa City Senior Center. He said the
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Senior Center is not tied to the political whims of the community. It is a regional resource.
It has a charter that reflects it as a resource. He said this is comparable to the Airport. He
said the by-laws explain the Senior Center's role and the City's role toward the Center.
He said although the Airport Commission is created by State laws as an autonomous board,
the facilities are owned by the City and the role of the Commission is one of stewardship
rather than ownership. He said being autonomous but being financially dependent was
somewhat of a precarious position.
Thrower reviewed the Senior Center by-laws and compared them to the Commission's
organization. He said a major difference is the charter of the Senior Center. The Senior
Center Commission is advisory to the City Council. The main decisions are made at Council
level. He said there is a greater number of employers(the Commission)than employees
(staff). He said the Commission needs to ask itself if it makes sense to continue in this
current model?
Dulek said one of the Senior Center Commission's members is not a City resident. Thrower
said this was interesting because many of the tenants at the Airport do not live in Iowa City
and do not have a voting voice in the Airport management. This may be something to
consider if the governance is changed.
Thrower said he put this on the agenda because he wanted to get the Commission's opinion
on this issue. Hartwig said the Commission would need to weigh the factors on how this
would affect the operations of the Airport. Dulek said a change in the governance would
require a referendum. Hartwig asked how many airports in the State have commissions?
O'Neil said he didn't know an exact number, but he would try to find out from the State
Office of Aviation. There are also some airport authorities that have complete autonomy and
taxing authority. Cedar Rapids and Washington are two airports in this area that have
commissions.
Hartwig said he would like to have input from the public before he could make any decision
on changing. Staley said the biggest difference between the Commission and Senior Center
Commission is that it is the Airport Commission's job is to manage and control the Airport
and the Senior Center is only advisory. He said all of the pros and cons should be reviewed
for the long-term health of the Airport. Thrower said as Commission members,they have to
ask themselves what are they bringing to the table and how are they serving aviation?
Would that differ if they went to an advisory role? He said some people struggle with the
concept of what role the Commission plays in managing the airport and how this interacts
with the rest of the City.
Staley asked if Thrower was suggesting part of the Strategic Plan address changing the
governance of the Airport? Thrower said he thought about making a motion to change the
governance or at least lay out a timetable to discuss and act on the issue. Staley said he
would like more input. He said he would like to invite the Mayor and City Manager to the
next Commission meeting to discuss this. Thrower asked O'Neil to put this on the next
agenda and invite the Mayor and City Manager to the meeting.
O'Neil said he would suggest the Commission look at the length of the term for the
Commissioners. He said six years is a long term. The State law says the term can be
between three and six years. O'Neil said if the Commission wanted to discuss it,he would
recommend a term of three or four years.
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f. Strategic planning— Thrower said the Commission has the ABS report and it needs some
grammatical changes. O'Neil said he was contacted by ABS and they wanted their final
payment. O'Neil said he would send them a check as soon as the corrections were made and
he received the deliverables. ABS didn't like that answer and contacted Thrower. Thrower
and O'Neil made a conference call to Michael Hodges. Thrower explained that they
expected a report with correct English and that even if we didn't catch the mistakes the first
time, he expected a professional looking document. Hodges agreed to make the corrections.
Hodges then questioned the deliverables. He said his three-page contract didn't say anything
about providing ten copies and an electronic version. O'Neil reminded him that it was a
three-page contract, with a three-page attachment for the Scope of Services. The
deliverables were spelled out in the Scope of Services. O'Neil sent Hodges the corrections
that needed to be made and faxed him a copy of the contract. He said he has the check and
will release it when ABS has completed the contract.
When the report is completed, O'Neil said he would put this back of the agenda so the
Commission can accept the final product.
Thrower said he had raised a point of concern about sending the Council the ABS document
as a stand-alone report because it was not all inclusive of what the Commission was trying to
accomplish with the Strategic Plan. He asked if the Commission was comfortable enough
sending the report,along with a letter explaining the Commission's response to the report?
Thrower said the Council has funded the report and is expecting some type of closure. The
Commission agreed this should be done. Thrower said he would draft a letter and send it
around to the other Commission members for comment.
CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT:
Thrower said there were a lot of important issues discussed at the meeting tonight. He said as
soon as the EA can be completed, it will help them move forward of the Runway 07 project.
Thrower said there are some issues with Stanley Consultants that need to be cleared up so the
Commission can proceed with the Obstruction Mitigation project.
Thrower said he would like each of the Commission members to consider the discussion of the
governance of the Airport.
Thrower said O'Neil has been thorough in the preparation of documents to address capital needs
and the operating budget. He said he thinks there is a good relationship between the Airport
Manager and the City Manager. That relationship is not adequately characterized in the ABS
report. He said this should not be minimized and should be mentioned in their letter to the
Council concerning the ABS report.
COMMISSION MEMBERS'REPORTS:
Hartwig agreed that the Commission had covered a lot of important issues at the meeting. He
said he would also like to congratulate Thrower in recently getting his private pilot's license.
Staley said he had a good tour of the Airport last Friday with O'Neil and it was helpful in
understanding some of the ongoing and future projects.
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ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT:
Dulek said the reason the Senior Center has a non-City member on their Commission is because
the County makes a small contribution to the Center's budget.
O'Neil said there is a copy of the Mayor's Proclamation for declaring December 17 as Aviation
Day in Iowa City. Hartwig accepted the proclamation on behalf of the Commission.
In the packet,there was a copy of the Council's schedule for the next two months.
A copy of the Iowa Public Airports Associations 2004 legislative priorities was in the packet.
O'Neil said he would be going to Des Moines in March for Airports Day at the Capital to discuss
aviation issues and airport funding with local legislators.
There is a memo in the packet from the Transportation Security Administration.
There are three ground schools to start in January. Jet Air is teaching an instrument ground
school and Kim Brogan is teaching a private ground school and an instrument ground school.
The Council appointed Daniel Clay to the Airport Commission on January 6. There is still one
position open that the Council will re-advertise for.
SET NEXT MEETING:
The next regular Airport Commission meeting is scheduled for February 12,2004,at 5:45 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT:
The . ' was adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
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B. •O ower, 11,11erson
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