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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-11-2004 Airport Commission Meeting Minutes MINUTES S IOWA CITY AIRPORT COMMISSION THURSDAY,MARCH 11,2004—5:45 P.M. IOWA CITY AIRPORT TERMINAL MEMBERS PRESENT: Randy Hartwig,Daniel Clay,John Staley, Carl Williams STAFF PRESENT: Sue Dulek,Ron O'Neil CALL TO ORDER: Vice-chairperson Hartwig called the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the February 12 and February 20,2004,Commission meetings were approved with some minor changes. REVIEW OF EXPENDITURES: O'Neil reviewed the check requests for March with the Commission.Hartwig asked about the bill for the l OOLL tank. O'Neil said the main filters for the 12,000-gallon tank are normally changed annually. PUBLIC DISCUSSION—ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA: No items were presented. UNFINISHED ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION: No items were presented. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION: a. Bid opening,roof project,Bldgs.B&C—Darren Sellers,from H.R. Green,was present to review the bids and make a recommendation to the Commission. The Commission received one bid. The engineer's estimate was about$48,000 per building. O'Neil said the grant was for a maximum of$50,000, and required a local match of 30%. The total funds available for the project would be$72,500. O'Neil said that if the bid was too high to do both buildings, one building and some hard surfaced floors could be done with the grant and another grant would be applied for to renovate the other building. Sellers read the bid. For bid item#1,hangar building B,the bid was$74,425 and bid item #2,hangar building C,was $ 83,600. Clay asked why Sellers thought the bid was so high? Sellers said he wasn't sure. He said the contractor might have a lot of work already. He said with only one bid, it is difficult to tell. Sellers said he was surprised there was only one bid. He said two other contractors had expressed interest. Hartwig asked how soon something had to be done with the roofs? O'Neil said there were no major leaks. The reason they were doing the project was because the buildings were 35 1 years old, starting to need additional maintenance and a grant for 70% of the project was 110 available through the Iowa Department of Transportation. Sellers said they have been getting good bids on projects. He said he needs to call the contractor and see why the bid was so much higher than the estimate. Staley asked how many contractors there are in the area that can do the job? Sellers said most roofers would tell you they can do the job, but he would be hesitant to hire just anyone. Hartwig asked what the timeframe was for going out to bid again? O'Neil said he could advertise again and have bids for the April or May meeting. Sellers said he needs to find out why his estimate is so low. Staley asked if there were any elements that could be listed as alternates to reduce the bid price? Sellers said he had done that by listing each building separately. Sellers recommended giving him an opportunity to contact the contractors to see if he needs to revise his estimate. O'Neil said he did not think the Commission could afford to accept the bid. He said if lower bids were not received when the Commission bid the project again, they would have to return the$50,000 grant. Clay made a motion to reject the bid. Williams seconded the motion and it passed 4—0. Sellers will discuss the project with O'Neil after he has talked to the contractor. He said if it is bid again,he will try to get more contractors to bid. Clay asked O'Neil about a leaky roof on another building. O'Neil said since that was not on the agenda,he would talk to Clay after the meeting. . 0 b. Environmental Assessment project— O'Neil said he had circulated a memo to the Commission updating them on the project. The draft report is at the FAA in Kansas City. There are some public notice timeframes that needed to be followed and those time periods for comments from various state and federal agencies are running now. c. Aviation Commerce Park(ACP)— (Because of a possible conflict of interest,Williams said he would not take part in the discussion.) Scott Byers, from Iowa Realty,requested to address the Commission. Byers said Iowa Realty has represented the Aviation Commerce Park for over a year. He said a past Commission agreed to extend the leasing part of the agreement. But there are three parties that have to enter into the agreement,Iowa Realty,the Commission and the City Council. He said the listing would be a high priority for his firm. He said they would like to transition new people into the assignment. He said he would like to suggest a 90-day agreement. If the Council and Commission were comfortable with the direction things were going,a longer agreement could be signed. Clay asked if the agreement was for leasing or selling? Byers said it was for both,but the lease option did not seem very feasible. Byers said he likes the project and thinks it is a good location. He thinks it would be a good area for warehousing,general contractors and light distribution. Clay asked if there was a change in marketing strategy? Byers said having new people would offer additional ideas. He said they would see if there are any contractors or local developers that would be interested in the property. There may have to be some creative flexibility in marketing the property. • O'Neil said he would recommend the Commission come to a consensus on what they wanted to do and forward that as a recommendation to the Council. There is not a current agreement 2 with anyone to market the property. O'Neil said the Commission could sign another agreement with Iowa Realty or readvertise for another realtor. Staley made a motion to send a recommendation to the Council for a 90-day agreement with Iowa Realty to market the Aviation Commerce Park. After 60 days,the Commission will review the progress to see if a recommendation for a longer agreement should be negotiated. Clay seconded the motion. During discussion, Clay asked Byers if he thought 90 days was enough time to show the Commission they should have a longer agreement? Byers said he thought it was and they would be very aggressive in their marketing during those three months. Clay asked Byers if he could produce an executive summary of a marketing plan to help Clay understand what Iowa Realty planned to accomplish. Byers said he would provide that. Hartwig call for the vote and the motion passed 3—0,with Williams abstaining. O'Neil said that on the chance the Commission wanted to go out for proposals,he contacted the Library to see if they had developed an RFP for their new commercial space. They did not put together an RFP. They sent letters to realtors that they thought would be interested in their project and selected from the responses which companies they wanted to interview. O'Neil said he would work with Cook Appraisals to update the appraisal on the property. d. Runway 07 project—Earth Tech O'Neil said he left that on the agenda,in case there was some last minute action for the Commission to take. The FAA recommended not signing a contact until the EA is completed. e. Obstruction mitigation project-O'Neil said Stanley Consultants had sent a summary of the project for the Commission. O'Neil reminded the Commission this was a State grant and there will not be enough money to reduce all of the obstructions. Hartwig asked if there has been an obstruction mitigation project in the past? O'Neil said there has not been a project that addressed all of the obstructions. O'Neil said the Building Department is more aware of what is required for air space studies than in the past and there is less likelihood than in the past that a building permit would be issued without an airspace study being conducted first. f. Strategic planning— Hartwig said this is on the agenda as a reminder that the Commission needs to continue to move ahead to develop a plan. He said he personally believes it is important for the Airport to have a plan. He thinks a subcommittee should meet before the next meeting to narrow the list of items for the Commission to discuss. Dennis Gordon, from Gordon Aircraft, said he would be willing to help as a representative of tenants on the Airport. He said other tenants and volunteers should be involved. Staley said the information O'Neil gave the Commission at the last meeting would be a good guide for moving forward with the project. He said it points out the advantages of having a facilitator to help get things started. Gordon said he thinks there are facilitators available.He said there are some pilots on the Airport that could facilitate the project. Staley asked O'Neil if there was any money for a facilitator? O'Neil said the Commission did not have any money budgeted. Clay said there would be some merit in having someone that is not connected with the Airport moderate the discussion. Clay said he thinks the plan will be the most important thing the Commission does over the next couple of years. It will be used for planning and public relations with the Council and • the people of Iowa City. Clay said he likes of idea of starting with a task force and subcommittee. He questioned who the other participants should be. 3 O'Neil said the most difficult and time-consuming part of the project is the initial information gathering meetings. He said you need to start with a group of about 20 people and a list of basic ideas. The main group breaks into smaller groups, a subject is discussed and then the facilitator is responsible for combining the ideas of each group. You then move on to the next subject. This takes a lot of time. O'Neil said it is important to invite a list of all the community"players"that have an interest in making the Airport successful. The airport is much larger than the tenants of the Airport. After something is drafted, it is taken out for public comment. After that,you have another refinement period. This all takes time. O'Neil suggested constructing a timeline with a target date for the project. O'Neil said that not only should the Commission have a timeline for the Strategic Plan,but also for the recommendations from the ABS report. He said it has been unfairly reported that the Commission hasn't and isn't going to do anything with the report. He said that is simply not true. The Commission went through the entire report, addressed all of the recommendations and commented on what the intentions were for the actionable suggestions. He said the actionable items should be prioritized. O'Neil said he would review the Commission's comments and have a schedule for them at the next meeting. Staley said the Commission should be thinking about who the stakeholders are in this project. Clay said there should be involvement from someone with marketing experience and someone with experience in media relations. He said it is obvious that the media is presenting a limited view and it does not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission. Staley said it is important to contact the City Manager and ask him what City staff he thinks it would be helpful to include on the task force. Clay said that in the next couple of weeks,the Commission members could send O'Neil a list of whom they think should be included in the list of stakeholders. This would help the Commission decide how they would want to break down the tasks of constructing the plan. O'Neil said Thrower compiled a list of people ABS was supposed to contact for their report. O'Neil said he doesn't know how many they contacted,but it would be a good list to start with. O'Neil said he would suggest having the initial meeting with the facilitator before the summer months because it is more difficult to get people to participate during the summer. Clay asked it the Commission should meet again before their next regular meeting to expedite the process? Staley said that by the next meeting,the Commission should have an idea of the makeup of the group they would like to have participate. At the April meeting, the Commission should decide when they want have their initial meeting with the facilitated group. O'Neil said he is meeting with Atkins tomorrow and O'Neil will discuss the idea of a facilitator with him. He reminded the Commission that the City Manager advocated having a facilitated group instead of hiring ABS. O'Neil said he thought Atkins would still be in favor of having a facilitator. Clay and Staley said the Commission should be looking a facilitator. O'Neil said the initial meeting should be scheduled for about 4 hours. He said he thought the facilitator would be important for the first two or three meetings. After the raw data is collected, it will be up to the Commission to take the lead in completing the project. Gordon said there should be one person responsible for moving the group forward with the project. That could be the Commission chairperson or the Airport Manager. Hartwig suggested that the Airport Manager direct the project. Clay said he would like to see the Commission • members develop their list of task force members and list of potential facilitators to discuss at the next meeting. 4 Staley asked if the recommendations from ABS were prioritized? O'Neil said the list was in the Commission's packet and he suggested looking through the list and prioritizing the suggestions. He said if the Commission members would send their prioritized list to him,he will have it for the Commission at their next meeting. g. State AM and Vertical Infrastructure grant applications—O'Neil said there was a list of grant eligible projects in the Commission packet. O'Neil said he met with some State legislators on March 9 and they did not seem optimistic that funds would be appropriated for the State ATP fund. The application is for projects if money is appropriated. O'Neil said there are three projects he would suggest applying for. One is to move the ASOS equipment from the south part of the field to a more central location. This equipment will have to be moved before Mormon Trek is completed across the south border of the Airport. If a grant can not be secured,it will have to be included as part of the Public Works project. Another project is to move the VASI lights from Runway 18 to Runway 30. O'Neil said the VASI lights and the ASOS are FAA facilities and even if a grant is offered,the FAA will need to approve moving the equipment. The third project is to replace some of the signs on the airside of the Airport. In the Vertical Infrastructure grant,O'Neil suggested applying for funds to rehab another hangar building roof. O'Neil said the bid just received for Building B was too high to accept,but H.R.Green will see if there is some way to change the specifications to fit within the budgeted amount. Clay asked if there were any plans to replace the asphalt around the north t-hangars? O'Neil said that area and the tie down ramp were the worst surface areas on the Airport. He said replacing the asphalt around the hangars is not eligible for a grant. It would be a local cost. Clay made a motion for a resolution to support the ATP grant application. Hartwig seconded the motion and at roll call vote,the motion passed 4—0. Staley made a motion for a resolution to support the Vertical Infrastructure application. Williams seconded the motion and at roll call vote,the motion passed 4—0. h. FY 2005 budget revision -Hartwig said he would suggest O'Neil identify some items for the Commission to discuss. O'Neil said he would review what he understood had happened to the budget. The City Council held their public hearing for the City budget. After the hearing,a motion was made by a Council member to reduce the budget by$ 10,000. The motion passed. O'Neil said the Commission worked as hard on this budget as any that he could remember,knowing that the City budget in general was going to be difficult to balance. Even though there are increases beyond the Commission's control, such as electricity, sewer,water,etc.,the Commission still reduced the budget by 8%. O'Neil said it would be difficult to reduce the budget by$ 10,000. There is no projects to eliminate. Small amounts will have to be taken from several line items. Clay asked if,other than the comment they wanted to send a message, did the Council object to something in the budget or think the Commission was spending money frivolously? O'Neil said he was not at the budget hearing,but it was his understanding that a statement was made that the action was taken to"send a massage". Clay asked if the Council could cut 5 the budget without notifying them they were going to take that action? Dulek said they were dealing with the budget in general and could discuss any department's budget. O'Neil explained the budget process to the Commission. He said the Commission receives a proposed budget from Finance in October. They review and revise the budget and it is returned to Finance. O'Neil said he meets with the Finance Director and City Manager to review the submitted budget. They may recommend some changes before it is sent to the Council. In January,the Council holds a budget meeting for boards and commissions. O'Neil said he attended the meeting and there was no suggestion that the Council wanted additional reductions. O'Neil said it is unusual that a Council would change the budget after the boards and Commissions meeting,without any additional discussion with the Commission. Jack Young said he was at the meeting and the motion was made to reduce the budget to send the message that the Council was unhappy that none of the recommendations from the ABS report had been acted on yet. The Council member that made the motion wanted to give the money to Parks and Recreation. They decided this would take another motion. It was a unanimous vote to reduce the Airport budget by$10,000. Clay said they might have been unhappy that they perceived the Commission was not doing anything with the report, although the Commission has started action on some of the recommendations. Williams asked if the Commission would want to meet with the Council to discuss the budget with them? O'Neil said he would review the budget again to see where the budget can be reduced. He said it would more than likely have to come from several line items, such as reducing the amount budgeted for natural gas and hope we have a mild winter. He said there is a small capital project,but it is not enough to cover the entire amount. It is a project that has been in the budget for the last several years and removed every year. The asphalt sealing has been deferred every year and the asphalt is now near a point where it needs to be replaced. Clay said one of the things in the ABS report was a recommendation to improve direct communications between the Council and the Commission. Cutting the budget to send a message is not improving direct communications. This is a new Commission and there is an opportunity to establish a more positive working relationship. He said he is disappointed the Council chose this way to communicate instead of more positive communication. He said it leaves him with some confusion on how the Council wants to communicate. Williams said that for the Council to arbitrarily cut $10,000 without knowing how that will affect the budget makes it difficult for the Commission. Clay said there was no direction from the Council that the budget was high. Staley asked for the budget to be sent to the Commission before the next meeting so they could review it and make suggestions. O'Neil said he has not received notification that there was to be a cut,but that he has already started to look for ways to reduce the budget or increase the revenues. O'Neil said that when the Commission hired ABS,one of the main objectives was for ABS to use their nation-wide experience to suggest additional revenue sources for the Airport. There is nothing in the report that the Commission had not discussed before they hired ABS. Clay asked about renegotiating the FBO lease?O'Neil said he discussed reopening the lease with Jet Air and they were not interested. O'Neil said he is somewhat puzzled why ABS would even suggest that. From a practical standpoint,why would a company reopen lease negotiations,knowing that the Commission's intention was to try to increase the rent? 6 if Clay asked if there was any way to work with the FBO to raise their revenues? This would `'44 benefit the Airport in the long run. O'Neil said he would welcome any new ideas. He said this is basically a new Commission and there could be ideas out there that have not been tried. Clay asked if there was some way to spend$10,000 less? O'Neil said that is what has been done the last few years. He has tried to tighten things up even more with the current budget. Staley said the Commission needs to try to grow the business at the Airport. O'Neil said he had a discussion with a supporter of the Airport that suggested having some type of trust fund. Dulek said the Senior Center has a fund like that. A suggestion was made to see if someone would be interested in having a building at the Airport named after him or her. O'Neil said those are all ideas to incorporate in the Strategic Plan. O'Neil said there is a wealth of history at he Airport because of it's age. The down side of that is that the facility is aging. The runways were poured in 1940 and 1941 and are due for an overlay. These are projects in the Master Plan. Clay said that in the spirit of the ABS report recommendation,he thought there should be more open and direct communication with the Council. O'Neil said that if the Commission wanted him to,he would draft a summary explaining some of the things the Commission discussed, including how they intended to move forward with the Strategic Plan,what they intended to do with the ABS report recommendations, and that they intended to revisit the FY2005 budget. The Commission could also request time on a Council work session or attend Council meetings and present updates at the time allotted for public discussion. • O'Neil said that is has been incorrectly reported that he does not have a good working relationship with the City Manager. O'Neil said that he meets with the City Manager on a regular basis at staff meetings and any other time that there is Airport issue that the City Manager can assist with. Clay said he would like to be able to get back to the City Council and say the Commission got their message,they are working to resolve this issue,and the Commission is looking forward and not backward. Staley said it is fair to say this is a new Commission. The members are new and the leadership is new. The Commission is ready to take up the challenge and work with it. Gordon suggested documenting every meeting with the City Manager. O'Neil said it would show a lack of trust to have to record every meeting and phone conversation he had with the City Manager. Staley said if there is something noteworthy,the simplest way is to mention it at a Commission meeting and it will be part of the minutes. ELECTION OF OFFICERS: Williams made a motion to appoint O'Neil as temporary chairperson to chair the election of officers. Clay seconded the motion and it passed 4—0. O'Neil called for nominations for chairperson. O'Neil said that in the past,the Commission has voted by voice vote instead of written ballots. The consensus of the Commission was to use voice vote. Staley nominated Hartwig for chairperson. Williams seconded the nomination. Clay voted to close the nominations. Hartwig seconded the motion. At voice vote,the motion to close nominations passed 4—0. The motion to elect Hartwig as chairperson passed 3—0,with Hartwig abstaining. • 7 Hartwig made a motion to elect Staley as vice-chairperson. Clay seconded the motion. Clay moved to close nominations. Williams seconded the motion and it was passed 4—0. At voice vote, Staley was elected vice-chairperson 3—0,with Staley abstaining. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT: Hartwig thanked the Commission for electing him as the chairperson. COMMISSION MEMBERS'REPORTS: Clay said this would be an important time for the Commission,both in creation of the Strategic Plan and in reviewing the budget. He said a more positive and cooperative working relationship with the Council would be developed. Staley said he agreed with Clay and it was promising that there are volunteers that are willing to help with the Strategic Plan. Williams said he wanted to congratulate Hartwig on being selected as chairperson. He wanted to thank the Mayor and City Manager for giving him the opportunity to be on the Commission. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT: O'Neil reminded the Commission to review the Open Meetings memo that Dulek provided in their information packet. 1140 O'Neil said he had a meeting in Ames as part of the State Aviation Advisory Committee. He said the committee is a two-year appointment and he is glad he is on the committee to represent general aviation. On March 9,2004,O'Neil participated in Aviation Day at the Capital in Des Moines and discussed aviation issues with several local legislators. Although aviation contributes between $8.2 to$8.4 million dollars directly to the State general fund,it will be difficult to get any of that money returned to the airports for capital projects. O'Neil provided the Commission with a memo outlining the days he would be out of the office for vacation and at meetings. Someone has contacted O'Neil about renting the office of the United hangar. O'Neil will bring a lease to the Commission if the inquiry gets that far. A FAA program is schedule at the Airport for the weekend of August 14 and 15. There is very little the Commission will need to do to prepare for the program. O'Neil will work with Jet Air on the details. It is part of the FAA"Wings"program. O'Neil said he has been contacted by a group that would like to use a hangar as a fundraiser for the U.S.A.R.returning home from Iraq. He said the only hangars large enough for what they want to do are leased by Gordon Aircraft and Jet Air. He referred the group to Ron Duffe and Dennis Gordon. The fifth Airport Commission member will be appointed by Council at their March 16's meeting. 8 The Finance Department is installing a new accounting system and O'Neil will attend training on how to access the various reports through the City's Intranet system. SET NEXT MEETING: The next regular Airport Commission meeting is scheduled for April 8,2004,at 5:45 p.m. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 7:58 p.m. Randy Hartwig,Chairperson 9