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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-04-06 Minutes4 • • • 4 e ' , MINUTES OF THE AIRPORT BOARD MEETING April 6, 2000 RICK McKINNEY,.FRANK BURGGRAF, CHARLES WALLACE DON LYALL, TRUMAN SMITH DALE FREDERICK, BRENDA MOSS, TONYA POSEY, LOUISE POWERS MEMBERS ATTENDING: MEMBERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT: McKINNEY: CHUCK CHADWICK, PERRIN BLOUNT & GARY COOK- FAYETTEVILLE AIR SERVICE; JIM BELL; JOHN KALAGIOS- ARKANSAS AIR MUSEUM; ZINA STARR-ARKANSAS CARN MAZES; TERRY COLLIER -TENANT; LAURA KELLAMS-ARK. DEMOCRAT GAZETTE; CHARLIE ALISON-THE MORNING NEWS; DEAN A. SCHANZ-ARKANSAS AVIATION TECH. CENTER; LaNITA McKINNEY-TENANT; K. R. SCHOSSOW- WINGS AVIONICS; BARRY WEST -TENANT; MATT WAGNOR- NW ARKANSAS TIMES; RON DIXON-DRAKE AVIATION ACADEMY ITEM #1: Call to order ITEM #2: Minutes of the special called meeting February 24, 2000 A motion to approve the minutes as written was made by Mr. Wallace and seconded by Mr. Burggraf. The motion carried. ITEM #3: Minutes of the March 2, 2000 meeting A motion to approve the minutes as written was made by Mr. Burggraf and seconded by Mr. Wallace. The motion carried. FREDERICK: Introduced Mr. Dean Schanz, the new Marketing Director for the NW Arkansas Technology Center. SCHANZ: Stated he had moved here from Florida. Reported the school has 73 full-time students, and 17 students through the high school program where they attend one-half day sessions. The next step will be to be certified by the FAA to increase the number of students to 250. Answering Mr. Wallace, their students are well qualified to enter the work force in jobs other than the A & P field, as they would be trained in electrical, hydraulics and 42 different areas of technology. The students could find work in various aviation related -1- • • • • • • McKINNEY: FREDERICK: L. McKINNEY: CHADWICK: McKINNEY: jobs, working for national airlines, regional airlines, corporate aviation, and businesses like Ozark Aviation Services. Their first class will graduate in September. ITEM # 4: Old Business a. Update: The Airport Board Position Paper Although no formal action was taken by the City Council they were supportive of the Position Paper. b. LaNita McKinney, report on the Arkansas National Guard visit Reported the military were extremely interested in using the Drake Field in some way. They are rather crowded at Camp Robinson, which is a VFR field only, and they are somewhat envious of all of the facilities here, and would take Drake Field into consideration when planning in the future. Said she had offered to give them a tour of the Airport, and offered to give anyone procedure information if they should want to visit Camp Robinson. c. Fayetteville Air Service - FBO move to the terminal Referenced the last Airport Board Meeting where he had been charged to get an estimated cost for locating in the terminal and said the drawing presented was not set in stone. There are several areas that would not be needed now, such as the conference room. They would like the waiting area for the FBO to be restricted and not spread all over the terminal. They would need a nice glassed -in reception area, offices for the manager and supporting staff, area for line service, shower area, lockers, and a sleeping area for corporate pilots. They would not want the move to the terminal to be a lateral move, but a step up. Phase One is about 2,182 sq. ft. The price estimates for that is about $45.00 sq. ft. and that totals out to around $98,190. The second phase is about 3,060 sq. ft. and that comes in between $40 and $45 per sq. ft. The area for the flight school could have its own separate entrance. Said they were not asking for any action from the Airport Board today as they needed to visit with Alett Little about what they think the City should do and what the City thinks they should do. Answering Mr. Wallace, said the construction and move wouldn't take long, especially if the City were to do the destruction of the existing walls. They could possibly be in place for the fall football games. Said if their company was going to make the investment to make this work they would want adjust the length of the lease according to the investment. Suggested they could have the information on the cost-sharing by the next meeting. Mentioned the current lease would have to be modified vacating the • • • • • FREDERICK: WALLACE: McI INNEY: old building and moving into the new area. ITEM #5: New Business a. Lease with Northwest Arkansas Technology Center Said this lease is for the hangar located just to the north of the Technology Center's existing building. The training facility already has possession of the facility on a temporary basis, subject to approval of the lease They have moved all of their sheet metal operations to this facility, leaving more room in the first building for classrooms. There maybe some renovations, and believed the State of Arkansas Department of Aeronautics might help. The original lease, was negotiated with the Acting Director who is no longer there, was to have been for one year and that had a lot of bearing on the rent. They have recently hired the Marketing Director, he and their new leadership have reviewed the lease and they asked for some changes after the lease was sent out in the agenda. The rent proposed is $750.00 per month and they have requested Item #4 to be changed to make the lease run concurrently with their existing lease. That would make the term of the lease a little over four years. Item 16 was also changed, moving the lawn care to Item 6. Answering Mr. Wallace, staff at City Hall have not reviewed the lease and it could stop there, but said he supported what he believed would benefit the Airport versus the revenues it would provide. He said he recommended approving the lease, in the spirit of cooperation, trying to "grow" the Airport, and what this school can do for the Airport in the way we are going to market the Airport. Said it is 50% less than was charged for rent in times past. Tenants that were in that building in the past had an opportunity to work on aircraft that is no longer flying here. The level of activity dictates what you can get for a facility. We had one building that was appraised at S2,500 per month, but in the real marketplace it did not prove to be feasible. Said he hoped the Airport was being prudent with our assets, and would be happier to do what was needed to help the school grow, but as they grow then we should have increased revenues. The following motion was made to approve the new lease in principal for the school for that facility and that we have docketed the lease for the next meeting, subject to review by the City's finance staff, with the Airport Board's intent to reach parity with both the City and the school and encourage the school's growth. The motion was made by Mr. Wallace. BURGGRAF: Wondered if it was really the Board's function to worry about the rates and -3- • • WALLACE: McKINNEY: FREDERICK: McKINNEY: MOSS: the specifics of that. That is something that has to be resolved between the (Airport) Administration and the office downtown (City Administration staff). Said he had no problem with going forward with the notion that it ought to be done and then let them work out the details, and that he had no problem approving it right now. Said that all of a sudden there is a lot of interest and his concern was not to have any precedence setting deals out there that we are going to have to live with for five years. Saying he just wants the Airport Board to be fair and not be locked into what would be a very different situation in five years. Mr. Wallace has amended his motion to let the Airport Staff and the City's financial staff work out the details for the rent. The motion was seconded by Mr. McKinney. Answering Mr. Chadwick, the lease does not go through City Council because of the amount of rent, but would go through the City Staff Review process and then to the Mayor. The motion carried. b. Revised Minimum Standards for the Airport This is a good time to revise the Minimum Standards as they have not been changed since 1983. There are three major changes in the Draft document: Basically all the references to "aeronautical" have been changed to "commercial". Rewording items that referenced the commercial airlines and activities on the ramp relating to airlines. Chairman McKinney has asked the rate of insurance to be changed where it would be set case-by-case, according to their level of exposure. The Minimum Standards were approved by the City Council in the form of a Resolution, and any amendment will go through the Staff Review process then on to City Council for approval. We placed an Notice in the Northwest Arkansas Times, as is required, that changes were being proposed and the document was available at the Airport Administration Office for review. FREDERICK: Said this is a "draft" document and we are open for suggestions by the users of the airport. • • • • McKINNEY: Explained the limits of liability were set for bigger operations versus what we have now, and said he had visited with Mr. Frederick to try to determine what the limits should be for small or medium businesses. What was decided was to tie it into the lease or contact with the City and let the levels of liability be set depending on the size of the business, or exposure. A motion to approve the Minimum Standards was made by Mr. Burggraf. CHADWICK: Asked that the item be tabled until the next meeting as two members of the Board are missing and it would give the audience time to review the document. Said there are certain insurance requirements their business has to maintain. ROSS: McKINNEY: Asked what kind of exposure were the limits being set for, personal exposure, corporate expose, or a combination of exposure for what he does? Said it has got to be the same for same aeronautical activities. Said it would be fair and equitable to each business, saying that if another flight school came in that it wouldn't be different because Mr. Ross had one less plane or if the other school had two more instructors. Explained what we were trying to do was to not make it unaffordable for a business to come onto the field. Announced that the Minimum Standards would be tabled until the next meeting and suggested those wanting copies could drop by the Airport Administration Office. FREDERICK: c. One year test program for hay harvesting from Airport lands previously maintained by Airport maintenance staff. Commented this was an effort to further reduce the Airport's 0 & M expenses. It is a test program which would delete approximately 100 acres from what staff has been maintaining to lawn standards.. We still have control of the big mowing equipment, as it was built into our budget for this year. If it is not successful, then we will be able to add it back into our budget for next year. Public response may be that the City will want to go back to maintaining the Airport property in the manner we have before, or they may not want hayfields in areas that had been kept mowed regularly. The people who have the farm lease will be mowing the areas for hay. They are retired firemen and know how to operate on the airfield. If it is successful, then next year we will work out a lease for revenue to the Airport. It would reduce the cost of equipment by $11,000 and reduce the man hours. • • • • Previously we hired a part-time person to help with the mowing for the months of May through September. The airfield, 250 ft. of the centerline of the runway and taxiways will be kept mowed. d. Proposal for the development of a maze on Airport property located west of U. S Highway 71. FREDERICK: Introduced Ms. Zina Starr and explained that he and Ms. Little had visited with Ms Starr and they thought the program had merit. A lease has not been developed, but it is under some time constraints. STARR: Commented that she was a Fayetteville business woman and had toured a similar project and thought it would do well here. The concept is popular throughout the country and it is a wholesome activity. They would encourage youth and church groups to come. A fee would be charged. The maze would be a 12 acre Razorback with a lot of paths inside it, one way in and one way out. There would be bridges built across the small ravine from the parking to the maze and a bridge within the maze where people could be up above the maze and look down. The maze would be redesigned each year, and the bridges would be removed each season and be replaced the next year. It would be fenced, have personnel on duty, and would be lighted at night. On weekends they would take the last ticket at 10:00 p.m and close the attraction at 12:30 a.m., so they would have some temporary lights. They anticipate an attendance of 25,000 to 50,000 the first year and 50,000 to 75,000 the second year Thought it would be a great attraction and would bring in tours, which would spill over to tours of the Air Museum, and those people would probably spend money eating in Fayetteville. It has advantages of a well-known location, and easy access. They have talked a lot to the University and their agriculture department is looking for a tool to help recruit. This is a way to get some of their information in front of some of' these kids that would be attending. There are scholarships at the University that go unfilled because not enough people to know about them. This would provide lots of ways to provide education on corn and agriculture for school programs. Possibly it could be arranged with the train rides to stop at the maze for tours. After the growing season, the plants would be removed and plant cover planted so erosion would not occur. Said they would need a lease from May through December for three years Most of the other mazes she knew about where operated by the owner of the property and were located out from towns in the country. There is a problem with some pipes sticking up out of the ground where there were houses standing before, and is afraid of damage to tractors On the proposal there are some of these things mentioned. They have to be working -6- BURGGRAF: KALAGIOS: FREDERICK: McKINNEY: BURGGRAF: McKINNEY: FREDERICK: on the field in May, corn would have to be planted the last week of May or the first week of June. They can plant this late as the variety of corn is used for growing stalks, not for producing corn. The stalks would be about 10 ft. to 12 ft. high with a low yield of corn, so there wouldn't be a bird problem. It would have to be irrigated. A tent would be put up for ticketing and the concession area. The parking area would be across the street (Baily Drive) from the maze. They think there would be 500 to 1,000 cars coming through in the evening. The last day of the maze would be Halloween night. After that they would cut down the corn and flatten out the field. They are going to build it somewhere and would like to build it here. There are a lot of things they need to be done to the property before planting. Said it was a wonderful idea, as he had wanted to build a maze way back when. The corn maze would be much quicker and much less expensive to create. The ones he had heard about are very successful. Said if this comes about, then he is thinking of keeping the Museum open in the evenings. Said if the concept is acceptable then a lease could a lease drafted and have it in front of the FAA and have it back before the Airport Board at the May 4'h meeting for their recommendation and then on to the City Council at their May 16th meeting. It is in the 3 tol approach so the FAA won't want anything permanent above the ground. Greenland had talked about possibly a ballpark in that area and the FAA went along with that. Said we couldn't tolerate any increase in the minimums, but thought this would fit into their criteria. Said it would probably be the fourth week in April before schedules would allow a visit with Don Harris in Fort Worth and this could be discussed with the FAA then and it has to do with the Localizer 16 approach. Asked that Ms Star work up the height requirements and number of people at any one given time that would be in that area, and they be given to Mr. Frederick. Said if it was successful, then there may be a problem with parking, and people might have to be bussed in, you can only put about 150 cars to an acre of land. A motion to approve in principal with the caution that we leave ourselves the opportunity to explore the compatibility was made by Mr. Wallace and seconded by Mr. Burggraf. Said if he understood the Board, we can move ahead with this time frame • • • • • 1 without being back in front of the Board at the next meeting. WALLACE: Agreed, he was right. McKINNEY: The motion carried. e. Lease: Jim Bell for aircraft maintenance in hangar located at 4230 S. School Mr. Bell is proposing to operate an aircraft maintenance facility. FREDERICK: Rent would be $1,000 per month with the tenant paying all the utilities Mr. Bell is wanting some relief on the utilities. Said he was not a supporter on that and told the Lessee that he could approach the subject by requesting somewhat less as rental to the City, if that is what the Airport Board wants to propose, reducing the rent for a year. Brenda has pointed out there is no vehicle in our budget that would accommodate such a request to pay for utilities. BELL: CHADWICK: BELL: McKINNEY: Handed page to the Airport Board with the proposed prices for aircraft maintenance (attached as part of the minutes). Shop rate is $40 per hour, and will continue to supervise maintenance that the owner/operator wants to preform himself and will charge a space/working area charge. Suggested that as maintenance grows, that some of the students at the school could be utilized under his supervision. The utilities for Tyson's averaged about $600 per month. Said he would like to propose the rental of $400 per month, with him paying the utilities. If the business goes well then at the end of the first year he would then start paying $1,000 per month and the utilities, and would like to have five one-year options. Said he would work with Fayetteville Air on availability of space, using their mechanic. Explained he wanted to move in tomorrow and wants the lease to start on June 1s`, and was prepared to start the insurance immediately. Commented $400 was not enough rent for the corporate hangar. Said that the City didn't offer that amount, he had offered that amount. The hangar has been vacant several months and have advertised, and had no response for corporate tenant. We have in the budget this year for building a corporate hangar. Said he had talked to Mr. Bell, and he has been agreeable that if he has the space at the time that there is a need for corporate operator -8- • • • • to go in there, he would be open to temporarily subleasing part of the space on availability basis. • • BELL: Said if Fayetteville Air wants to put in maintenance facility, then go ahead, because a maintenance facility is needed on the airport. CHADWICK: If the offer is out there at those costs, its much more attractive than we have ever heard before. WALLACE: Commented that they wanted to provide incentives, but their concern was to be fair, and wished there was some way of panty. BURGGRAF: Said they needed to think positive, the airport would benefit from fuel sales because of the increase of aircraft to the maintenance facility. CHADWICK: Asked the Board to give Fayetteville Air the same consideration when they come before the Board with a request, to have parity, saying that if Jim Bell could get that hangar for $400, and the aviation school can get that hangar for $750, then he was looking for some great deals down the road. McKINNEY: Said they need to find a way to move the project forward without a vote as he could vote because of a conflict of interest. BOARD CONSENSUS: The general consensus of the Airport Board is to move forward with the lease as Mr. Bell has proposed. McKININEY: f. Wings Avionics - Ken Schossow/Business Plan presentation to expand business SCHOSSOW: Explained he would like to expand his business to a third company. His next step would be to bring British Petroleum on the field as ajoint venture for an additional fuel service, a self-service fueling that would use credit cards He said he was working with the City departments to meet their requirements, and had worked last year with the AAOA and the State Fire Marshall. The second stage would be to have 100 low lead truck that would travel across the field. Said he would like a land lease for the fuel tanks and a lease for the terminal for a small office, and in time would like to expand it to a full service FBO. Said he noticed in todays' Morning News newspaper that the military has a fuel agreement with XNA, and he would be after that also. He would be operating the same hours as Fayetteville Air, 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. -9- • • • • • WALLACE: BURGGRAF: McKINNEY: Said there had been numerous requests for self-service fueling. Commented the project looked attractive, that Mr. Schossow was putting up all the cost. Said he would not be able to vote because of a conflict of interest. BOARD CONSENSUS: For staff to work out the lease details so the project could move forward. FREDERICK: McKINNEY: FREDERICK: CHADWICK: McKINNEY: BURGGRAF: Said that would give staff time to come back to the Board at the May meeting, and we would need to notify like businesses. Item 6, Other Business: a. Marketing Report Showed the cover of Trade a Plane, which had a picture of Miss Pearl, Frank Sperandeo's aircraft. Explained the airport had advertised in Trade a Plane this month, and plans are to advertise in the Wall Street Journal. There were 16 responses to the mail out survey and another survey has been sent out. There are 78 aircraft based on the airport and room for 2 more. Said he and Ms Little had visited with several aviation businesses in the area and he had plans to call on every aviation business within 50 miles of Drake Field. The Marketing Committee had met last month, and it is a working committee with assignments. Expressed his appreciation of Jim Benton who understands networking and marketing. Announcement he would be cooking at the next Pilots Association Meeting on Saturday at the Pilots Briefing Room. b. Chairman's Remarks Stated there had been a lot of comments about the Airport Board having more authority and would like to open the topic and propose a motion at the next meeting to be discussed by the full Board, if it goes that far. This would give the Airport Board authority and move away from an advisory board. Suggested asking the City Attorney when the Airport could have executive sessions. CHADWICK: Gave examples of other airports in the area: XNA has an airport authority, -10- • • • • • • • Springdale Airport an authority and Fayetteville is the only one in the region that does not.. He explained that executive sessions are closed sessions and have to do with personnel matters. McKINNEY: Said this could be an agenda item for the next meeting, and he would speak with Jerry Rose. Meeting adjourned at 4:05 p.m. Don Lyall, Secretary -11- Date • • JAMES T BELL DBA BELL-AIRE LOCATION ADDRESS• 4230 SOUTH SCHOOL FAYETTEVILLE AR 72701 (DRAKE FIELD) MAILING ADDRESS: P O BOX 302 PRAIRIE GROVE AR 72753 PRICES FOR AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE SHOP RATE: $40.00 PER HOUR PLUS 10% OF LABOR FOR CONSUMABLES. (ONE HOUR MINIMUM) (NO CALL OUT CHARGE FOR AFTER HOURS) SHOP SPACE CHARGE FOR OWNER/OPERATORWORKING ON THEIR OWN AIRCRAFT: Single Engine: $25.00 per clay $100.00 per week $200.00 per month (Plus $25.00 per day for supervised maintenance) Twin Engine: $37.50 per day $150.00 per week $300.00 per month (Plus $25.00 per day supervised maintenance) Cabin Twin Recip: $50.00 per day $200.00 per week $400.00 per month (Plus $25.00 per day supervised maintenance) Turbine Powered Aircraft: (To be negotiated individually) ANNUAL INSPECTION FOR OWNER/OPERATOR PERFORMING THEIR OWN MAINTENANCE: $15.00 per seat for airframe $15.00 per cylinder for engine $50.00 for landing gear retraction $60.00 for researching AD notes $2.00 per plug for cleaning, gaping & testing spark plugs $2.00 per injector for cleaning