HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-08-01 Minutes•
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MINUTES OF THE AIRPORT BOARD MEETING
August 1, 2001
MEMBERS PRESENT: Charles Wallace, Rick McKinney, Frank Burggraf, Mike Andrews, Frank
Sperandeo
MEMBERS ABSENT: Dave Bowman, Otto Loewer
STAFF PRESENT: Gary Dumas, Dale Frederick, James Nicholson, Louise Powers
OTHERS PRESENT: John Maguire and Tonya Posey -City Administration; John Quinn and Wayne
Jones -McClelland Engineers; K. R. Schossow-Wings Avionics; Dave and
Margie McCoy; Sharia Bardin-Morning News; Terry Collier -Tenant; Greg
McCoy -Aviation Tech. Center; Donald Owens -Drake Tower (RVA); John
Kalagias-Ark. Air Museum; Roger Luck and Beverly Nethery-FAA Razorback
Approach; Rick Delahoussaye-Channel 3 Government Channel
WALLACE: ITEM #1: Call to Order
COODY:
Press Conference with Dan Coody, mayor, City of Fayetteville
Stated there has been a change at the Airport with the FBO. Fayetteville Air Service
has left the field and the City of Fayetteville has stepped in to take over the fueling
operation. Fayetteville Air was charging $2.77 a gallon for AV -Gas, the second
highest in the state, beat only by XNA. The cheapest fuel in the state was $1.96 a
gallon at a small grass strip. The City thought in order to Jump-start the (FBO)
business here at Drake Field and to help bring in more airfield operations that would
help off -set the cost of the tower, we would sell the fuel for basically what we have in
it. We began selling Jet fuel at 6:00 a.m. this morning and will begin selling AV -Gas
very shortly this afternoon. Our cash price for Jet -A fuel is $1.59 and $1.89 for AV -
Gas. There is a four cent surcharge per gallon for credit cards use, as State Law won't
allow the City is absorb that cost. This will really help bring the operations up at
Drake Field. The FAA are in a cost-sharing mode to finance maiming the tower. The
City will pick up 72% and the FAA will pick up 28% until the next numbers are
calculated. We hope by that time we will have boosted the landing numbers. So even
if we don't make any money, we will be saving money by not having to fund so much
of the cost of manning the tower. We will put the news of the fuel price on the web
sites. Drake Field is an important engine in our local economy and we want to do
everything we can to help get it back on its feet. We are making positive steps in that
direction. Stated he was very proud of Gary Dumas, and James, and the whole crew
out here, and Dale, and everyone else that has been helpful in this transition period.
We thought Fayetteville Air would be fulfilling their contract until August 31st and we
were surprised to find out last Tuesday that yesterday would be their last day. We had
one week to do a lot of work and the crew pulled it off very well. We had to expedite
the insurance, contracts for the trucks and fuel deliveries. We had a special City
Council meeting last night to approve seven contracts at one time for the FBO. He
apologized to the Airport Board for not being better in touch with them. Between this
WALLACE:
BURGGRAF:
WALLACE:
DUMAS:
WALLACE:
McKINNEY:
WALLACE:
DUMAS:
QUINN:
and the Boys and Girls Club we have been working very hard to resolve a lot of
problems. He expressed his appreciation of all their voluntary efforts the Airport
Board is doing.
Thanked Mayor Coody for coming to the meeting, for the effort he had put into this,
for the transition that has happened with the staff. Gary and the staff were handed a
handful to accomplish in eight days.
ITEM #2: Minutes of the June 7, 2001 meeting
A motion to accept the minutes was made by Mr. Anderson and seconded by Mr.
McKinney.
Commented this was one of the best and most accurate set of minutes in a while on
some confusing issues with very little editorial.
There were two minor corrections that already been corrected on the hard copy.
The motion carried.
ITEM #3: Old Business a.
Update: Control Tower, City's response to FAA and support letters
The City did respond and asked for an extension. We gave them background
information on the increase in landings as opposed to the same time last year. We told
them we would be interested in a cost-sharing agreement, but hoped the cost sharing
agreement would be more beneficial to the City than 72%. Based on some
congressional action that was occurring in July, we asked our congressional delegation
to assist us in any way they might as they are going through some budget reviews.
The date we will start the cost sharing is the first of the year.
Coming back home a couple of weeks ago he had found the runway/taxiway lights had
gone off. Carl Brooks in the tower found a way to by-pass the problem and got lights
on for him and he didn't have to land somewhere else. He complimented the tower
personnel and referenced the tower's willingness to assist as another reason for the
Airport to keep the tower.
b. Update: Airport Signs on I-540
The Board member to report on this was unable to attend this meeting.
c. Update: Drainage Project for T -hangars
That project has been approved and they anticipate advertising in two weeks.
We will put trench or french drains around the south, east and west side of each of the
new hangars. After we met onsite with the City Council and James, we discovered
from James that problems had been reported around t -hangar E on the east side and
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DUMAS:
WALLACE:
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DUMAS:
that has tentatively been added to project. That adds about 17% of the length. Another
change is where the french drain will have to be continued further to meet with a drain
that goes under the extended Ernest Lancaster Drive. We will include three separate
options to bid for constructing the project. There is a State Law that says that we can't
bid an alternative, so we will have to put instructions in the bid to submit on one
option only. They are all gravity flow. Realistically, he thought construction should
start about the last half of September with about sixty days of construction.
d. Discussion and action regarding design and construction of sunscreens
There is a report in the Board's packet which shows research on what the actual
construction costs might be of sunscreens and what the potential rental fees would be.
Based on comparing those two factors we think that sunscreens are probably not a
financially prudent idea. The payback would be around eighteen to twenty years at a
rate we could justify, given the t -hangar rates. The t -hangar rates are very attractive.
We would probably have to replace them before we would get them paid for. There
might be some sunscreens at the FBO for transient parking. If the FBO is as
successful as we think it might be, then it could be a slight revenue source for itinerant
parking as just another amenity for the FBO. Answering Mr. Wallace, the FBO would
probably charge for the sunscreens.
One reason we have continued to talk about these is a belief that we think the
sunscreens would be feeders for the hangars. Said he thought there was a history of
success of that at other airports.
In the report they were all more elaborate than what he thought they had been talking
about, a canvas type thing.
The type of thing he had thought of for the FBO was some type of canvas structure.
Some of the canvas structures may look relatively simple and less expensive, but they
really are more involved and more costly than appear If we build it on the west side
we won't have to install a pad. Also you would pay more for overnight parking than
you would for monthly parking. He would like to see our traffic increase here first.
McKINNEY: Stated they run from $20 to $50 a night and at Spirit of St. Louis Airport you can't find
one for less than $50. Also suggested getting perspective tenants signed up, then you
could go to the State Aeronautics for help.
WALLACE.
DUMAS:
Said hoped they were open to people who own airplanes and who are not ready to
move into a hangar, and hoped they were not operating under the perspective that
those kind of people might keep their hangars in a mess. That kind of thing can be
handled with management.
Stated our perspective was financial. Answering Mr. Sperandeo, said he didn't think
the sunscreens were a dead issue. Stated the Board didn't have to agree with the staff's
recommendation, if you want to build the four sunscreens, the Board can propose this
to the City Council.
SPERANDEO: Would like to make a motion to research it more, to get a contractor to look at a more
equitable open t -hangar, these are nice, but awfully expensive.
WALLACE:
Offered a suggestion, for Mr. Dumas, in his study, to give serious consideration of
municipal airports where this does work, where they are basically general aviation
airports, in communities of at least 50,000 and airports where they have at least 200
based aircraft. Find out if they have a history of moving up from sunscreens to t -
hangars.
SPERANDEO: Harrison is a good example. Answering Mr. Dumas, he said didn't know their rates.
WALLACE:
DUMAS:
QUINN:
A motion to continue studying sunscreens with additional facts, including
information of other airports, such as Harrison and Monett was made by Mr.
Sperandeo and seconded by Mr. Burggraf. The motion carried.
Stated we have the most engineered hangars he had ever seen. We have hangars that
are built according to the Southern Building Code which is the uniform building code
for hangars, yet you see hangars at other airports that are built for considerable less
cost. He expressed his frustration that this has been discussed for a year and no one
has checked it out. He asked Mr. Dumas to check it out.
Stated he had already checked with the City's building official on the Superior hangar.
The building official sets whatever the occupancy rating is for whatever type of
structure. That's one of their fobs. We looked to see if it had been engineered in
excess of the Minimum Standards of the Code. The finding was it was not
excessively. There are certain things you flat have to meet. The engineer is here
today. We met with the Building Official talking about these very same things before
the bid package was put together, and verified that after -the -fact a few weeks ago.
Stated that if you met that occupancy class, and he was not saying the occupancy class
is appropriate or inappropnate, but the one that was decided upon for those types of
structures was dictated by that type of engineering design. Stated Mr. Quinn had done
some research on this, and asked if he had anything to add.
We had a meeting to review the design and cost of the Superior hangar and it included
not only airport staff, but we had a member from City Engineering, and Bert Rakes
from the City's Building Inspection. The City has Ordinances that says you must
comply with this or that building code standard for a certain type of structure. We
went through it item by item on the Superior hangar. The bottom line is if they are
doing this or that in "X" city or not having to do this in "Y" city, we were being told
we are going to comply. A lot of it has to do with safety and fuel and flame proof
receptacles. There were comments about another airport, and he talked to a person on
their Airport Commission who knows about that hangar. His words were, yeah and
they got a stripped down hangar, there was no office on the inside and there was
minimal lighting. He commented he didn't know that the City was paying an
inordinately different price on Drake Field for this quality hangar than in any other city
in Northwest Arkansas. To sum it up, maybe you need to look for waivers to the
WALLACE:
QUINN:
WALLACE:
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SPERANDEO:
BURGGRAF:
McKINNEY:
WALLACE:
DUMAS:
JONES:
building code, if you want a design to a different standard, stating he would not
recommend that to the Board, because the building codes are there for a reason.
If the recovery cost of the hangars is such that it will eventually make us compete
poorly in the market place and we must compete with airports that build according to
a different standard. Could we explore our codes, because when we build a hangar
here, it appears we are building at or near the standard for an industrial building, in
which there will be workers and industry going on, when we are really talking about
a tin building for an airplane to live in.
That goes back to what Mr. Dumas was talking about, what are you going to classify
that occupancy? That is determined by someone other than an engineer. One other
thing that group looked at was if State Law says if it is not over "X" number of
thousand of dollars construction cost, and the sunscreens may not be, if you don't have
a professional engineer to do it. We talked about if the design could be done in house
and even if the City could be its own general contractor during construction. All that
was discussed in an effort to try to keep the cost down.
The Airport doesn't necessarily want to go to every meeting you have, but the Board
is outside the information loop, and then we don't necessarily have the whole story and
are picking away at the plan. It would be helpful to have an opportunity to understand
what went on in that meeting. What we need is education.
There are two options, to design a hangar that doesn't have all the electrical, insulation,
and all the things that the existing hangars have which would reduce the cost or build
with all the amenities that the current hangars have.
All we want are steel columns with a tin roof. The Board wants to get involved,
coming in here once a month isn't going to solve anything.
Stated his idea was the aircraft could park on the grass with a glorified umbrella.
Said maybe we need to address the ordinances, commenting he believed we were the
only Airport in Arkansas with fire walls in the t -hangars.
Stated he would take time and work with Gary to sit down and talk it through.
Suggested going to look at other hangars, go inside to evaluate the construction and
the electrical versus what is built here.
Said that some of the buildings were built ten or fifteen years ago, some are out in the
country and don't have to abide by the same codes. He suggested involving some of
your building officials in your meeting.
• WALLACE: c. Superior hangar. Staff's recommendation is to reject all construction bids.
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DUMAS:
This project went to bid and came back at $248,263. There was a $100,000 grant from
the Arkansas Aeronautics Commission to help offset the project. There had been prior
negotiations on the lease rate for $1,050 per month. We discussed this with Superior
Industries and now have them interested in renting the Tyson hangar. We have talked
to the FAA about extending the Tyson hangar ramp as part of the FAA project for
ramp work on the eastside of the Airport and the FAA has agreed. This appears to be
the best solution for everyone. We recommend the Board reject all bids and then it
would go on to City Council to reject all bids
WALLACE: A motion to reject all bids for the Superior Industries proposed hangar was made
by Mr. McKinney and seconded by Mr. Burggraf. The motion carried.
LUCK:
NETHERY:
LUCK:
ITEM #4: New Business
a. Presentation by Roger Luck, FAA Razorback Approach (Fort Smith)
This presentation involves a slide presentation in the next room. At that time we will
all need to move to the next room and make room for the TV camera to view the
presentation.
Said he was the Air Traffic Manager of Razorback Approach in Fort Smith and said
he wanted to share information about slot reservation for special events, in this case
Razorback ballgames. Team supports travel well and two years ago we had too many
airplanes than we needed at one time. Slot reservations help make it a safe situation.
It requires the pilot to give a time of arrival and help meter the aircraft in. Last year
we didn't get the information out very well and he apologized for that. We wanted to
correct that and said he had called Dale and asked if he could come and speak. This
will be for the Tennessee game and the Auburn game. There is a limit to the number
of airplanes we can handle safely.
Presented a slide show on how the system would work and a variety of charts showing
the number of aircraft they had worked last year at the Springdale and Drake Field
Airports with the slot reservation system. The slot system is not going to be in place
at XNA Airport as most of the aircraft traffic for the ball games arrive at Drake Field
and Springdale. Traffic at XNA is mostly airlines which already have slots
Explained that when you think about Razorback football game traffic you don't think
of all of the people involved. There are 100 controllers at Memphis Center that work
in conjunction with our controllers. We have already, for the Tennessee game, asked
the Springdale and Drake Tower stay open until at least midnight. The Tennessee
game is an 8:00 kickoff on national television. Said he and Bev were both controllers
here at the old tower when they worked non -radar. One phone call is all that is
required and they get the reservation and they are done. We have a list of the
reservations and if they are on the list they get to land. Not everyone stops for a
Razorback ball game. Pat Ross has his flight school, the parachute jumpers at Siloam
Springs continue to do their parachute jumping, Rogers, XNA and all their activities
still go on as well as the ball game traffic. The FAA wants to provide a safe
environment for everyone. Departure is not a problem, we can work a lot of
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departures. Last year we didn't have one plane that wanted to land that had to go
somewhere else.
ROSS: Thanked the FAA for keeping it safe because he does a lot of flight training.
COLLIER:
McKINNEY:
DUMAS:
FREDERICK:
McKINNEY:
DUMAS:
Thanked the local tower personnel and Razorback Approach, saying they are so
professional and courteous.
Suggested the FAA do flyers and to contact the Razorback Foundation so they can post
it on their website.
b. Status of the FBO.
You have already heard from the Mayor what the status of the FBO is. The report,
when we made up the agenda was going to be somewhat different. Our current
contracts with Phillips for fuel and equipment is for 90 days and we will be going out
for a 12 month contract for equipment and fuel and that contract would take effect at
the end of the 90 days.
We are working with Hertz to get a couple of cars down here. They brought one here
this morning for someone in about 15 minutes. One of the things we are adding is a
Business Center in this room and the other two offices that are now vacant. We will
provide this for a fee for attorneys that want to come in and do depositions or someone
that wants space for a small meeting. There is someone interested now in putting a
restaurant. Regarding the weather radar, DTN, we have contacted them to see what
their requirements are for a telephone line and that will be installed in the next few
days. We will be developing a couple of rooms for a pilots' room and pilots' briefing
room and they will be just off the first ticket area in the lobby.
We have met with someone three times in the last month that is interested in a
restaurant. They had hoped to have a business plan put together by now, but that
hasn't developed yet. We are working with Hertz to provide a courtesy car
Commented he and Alett had talked about developing a crew area, a lounge where
pilots could have a TV or maybe access to a line where pilots could plug in their own
computer, and possibly some sleeping rooms. Said he had seen them in a lot of
airports.
For computer access we will have two modem lines, one in the briefing room and in
the lobby area. The City is running the FBO as an enterprise. That means the FBO
activity should be paid for by FBO revenues. So we have minimized the cost. Most
revenue comes from fuel. At the rates we are charging now there is not a lot of
difference between cost and expenses. Stated he didn't think there was any profit there
now. There is a small margin if the fuel price fluctuates. If there is a profit to be
made, then the Airport should reap that profit. The Airport needs positive cash flow,
instead of negative cash flow. For the next 15 months, if we do a good job, satisfying
our customers and doing the kind of service we should, when the contract comes up
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for the fuel and equipment again we would want to continue the operation. If we are
not, then we will bid it out. If we are not doing a good job, then we should find out
why and make corrective actions during the 15 months. I think one of the reasons the
past operator left was because of profitability. It was a business decision.
BURGGRAF: Stated this seemed like a necessary move and would like to commend Mr. Dumas for
what has been accomplished in so few days. Said he wished our member from the
University was here. We need to coordinate the football games and really host those
coming in here. That is really our opportunity to show that we are a really first class
operation.
DUMAS:
Said it was a group effort, James and Dale down here and everybody, City Attorney,
Purchasing Agent and everybody at City Hall had to work really hard to make it
happen in seven days. Mentioning the TV for the pilots briefing room, at $1.89 there
may not be too many TV's in the budget. Said someone had mentioned getting one
donated and that is a really great idea, with a sign that it was donated by that company.
Responding to Mr. Wallace, yes for the next 15 months, unless, six months down the
road it has totally gone down hill then we will revisit it and see about getting out of
the contract. The FBO Service Counter is just inside the terminal and we have a big
sign on the ramp welcoming people to the FBO.
WALLACE: The old FBO telephone number is gone and the new number is 718-7641.
DUMAS: Responding to Mr. Collier, the FBO will provide fuel across the field to the hangar
tenants. Answering Mr. McKinney, there is a phone in the alcove. Hours of operation
are weekdays 6 am to 9 pm and weekends 6 am to 6 pm.
FREDERICK: The outside ramp doors will be open to the alcove, the inside doors will be closed after
hours. There is a way to go around the building to get to the street side and instructions
will be posted. The bulletin board is up.
WALLACE: Just an item of information for a future agenda, we have received, and Gary will
distribute a proposal from Wings, which is currently our avionics enterprise on the
field. This is a proposal to take on some of the services that have just been taken over
by the City, but at the same time we need to respond to Wings, and at least be open to
ideas.
ITEM #5: Other Business
a. Letter to Alett Little.
You have in your packet a copy of the letter in appreciation of her time with us.
b. Advertisements for Airport Manager position and update on applications.
We are advertising for a full-time Airport Manager.
• DUMAS: Said he had twenty-two letters and some of them look promising. Suggested the Board
form a committee of a couple of members and he would work with them to review the
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WALLACE:
resumes and decide whether to re -open or to proceed with the interviews. Said he
would get with the Administrative Services Director who set up the process for the fire
chief and see what he had done. He would like to know who would be on the sub-
committee as to send copies of the resumes to them.
Said he would like to hear the process on selection the fire chief. Commented he
appreciated the fact that they were actually beginning to be involved in what is going
on, and said he thought the day would come when the Airport Board would be actually
be helpful in processes in a way that is acceptable to all City Departments.
FREDERICK: c. Marketing Report.
Said he had spent some time last month in Oklahoma and Missouri visiting with some
industries. Staff has met three times with someone interested in opening a restaurant.
Said while he was in Oklahoma he had visited with a couple of the largest aviation
training schools, Sparton and Oklahoma State University, Just telling them about our
airport and that we could use a lot of touch -and -goes on our airport. Their response
was if you get the fuel price right, they will be there.
SPERANDEO: Stated he would notify the AOPA about the FBO fuel prices, saying he was a member
of the AOPA Airport Support Network. They have a computer listing on their website,
nationally, of fuel prices. Also he would have the FRO registered in their annual
directory of FBO's.
FREDERICK: John Maguire from the City had been at the meeting and had to leave He has been
helpful in working towards filling up some of our rental space and he has some
proposals he is working on.
COLLIER: Suggested notifying the local EAA chapter, they do a lot of flying.
WALLACE:
Addressing Mr. Dumas, he said they would all like to be helpful in productive ways
and like to be involved and recognized they couldn't call an Airport Board meeting
every time somebody has an idea, but if there are ways that we can involve the Board
then we would all like to be helpful.
WALLACE: d. Article from "Aviation maintenance" July issue on a proposed FAA ruling was
enclosed as an information item.
Thanked those from airport businesses that had attended the meeting, and hoped they
would continue attend the meetings as he felt it was important to the health and future
development of the airport and thanked those watching by television for attending.
Meeting
umed.
zorgBurggraf, Secret. ate