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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-02-13 Minutes• • MINUTES OF THE AIRPORT BOARD MEETING • February 13, 2003 • • BOARD PRESENT: Charles Wallace, Frank Burggraf, Frank Sperandeo, Mike Andrews, Dave Bowman BOARD ABSENT: Rick McKinney, Otto Loewer STAFF PRESENT: Ray Boudreaux, James Nicholson, Louise Powers OTHERS PRESENT: Terry Collier -Tenant; David Hollman-Flying Investments; Judy Hammond -Ark. Air Museum; Leonarad McCandless -Ozark Military Museum; Bob Nickle- Nickle-Hill Group; Robert Dean -Aviation Maintenance Prof.; Barry West -Tenant, Christina Crouse -Hair Salon; Kristal Dearing -Morning News; Wayne Jones -McClelland Engineers; Matt Wagner -NW Ark. Times; John P. Ross -Ross Executive Aviation, Inc.; Jim and Lora Bell -Bell - Aire, Amy Wolfe -Fayetteville Government Channel ITEM #1: Welcome, Chairman Charles Wallace. C. Wallace thanked all those attending the meeting in person and by television. A. Results of the City Council Nominating Committee. C. Wallace reported the City Council would meet next Tuesday night and vote on the nominations. Mike Andrews and Bob Nickle have been nominated for the Airport Board membership. Mr. Nickle will be a new member on our Board and the Board is looking forward to working with Mr. Nickle. B. Recognition of Frank Burggraf, departing Airport Board Member. C. Wallace said when he moved here he wanted to become part of the airport community and one of the first characters he met was Frank. At first he didn't know how to relate to Frank, but he quickly found that Frank had a low tolerance for nonsense and his comments would quickly get to the heart of an item and call attention back to what really is the issue. Frank's term on the Board has come to an end, and we don't want him to go. C. Wallace presented Frank a plaque in appreciation of his dedication and support of Fayetteville Municipal Airport -Drake Field and then introduced Frank as the Airport Board's Historian. ITEM #2: Minutes of the January 9, 2003 meeting. D. Bowman, new Board Secretary, said the minutes were in order. A motion to approve the minutes was made by Frank Sperandeo and seconded by Mike Andrews. The motion carried. ITEM #3: Receiving of Reports. A. Charles Wallace, Chairman. Said he was looking forward to the Airport Board's presentation to the City Council next Tuesday. He asked D. Bowman to report on an item discussed today at the Airport Board's Strategic Planning Meeting. D. Bowman told 1 • • of the Community College's Aviation Advisory Board. It is made up of an American Airline pilot, the Director of Wal-Mart Aviation, the Head of the Community College's Flight Department and the Director of NW Arkansas Regional Airport. Their Advisory Board has reported the shift they are seeing is: major airlines are going to have to change, there is significant growth at general aviation airports, there is growth in corporate aircraft traffic, and the Aviation Tech students (at Drake Field) are still finding jobs in aviation. He said the Wal-Mart Flight Department has been identified as the largest flight department in the United States. Drake Field is in the position to develop general aviation growth and bring some of the growth to Fayetteville. C. Wallace acknowledged D. Bowman participation and the way he represents this Airport. D. Bowman reported he had recently taken seven aviation students from the Community College to take part in the High Altitude Chamber in Tulsa and had enjoyed hearing their comments on the way back home. B. Ray Boudreaux, Director. 1) Monthly Report. Reported the engineering contract for McClelland Engineers will end on March 7`h. The City is in the process of advertising for Request for Qualifications (RFQs). A City Selection Committee will then make a recommendation to the City Council for a three year tern. We closed out the FAA's Certification Inspection, the Threshold lines have been re -painted. The Ozark Military Museum hangar is coming along and they are about ready to pour the floor. Staff has moved fence, installed a gate and gate controls so the feelers can get to the fuel farm without going outside the fence. The floor was poured in the FBO hangar on January 2 and they are hanging doors today. The fire suppression system is in. Flying Investments' representative reports their hangar is coming along about the same as the FBO hangar. R. Boudreaux said he had visited two foreign trade zones and will make the information available. 2) Air Show. We are working on the line-up and would like Board approval before going ahead with contracts the City Attorney's Office has prepared. Each contract will be forwarded to the Mayor for his approval. Leonard McCandless has agreed to jump, and Bobby Younkin is interested in performing. A jet -truck will race a P-51. The Airport will be closed for transient traffic during the Airshow portion of Airfest 2003. A motion to proceed with securing the acts was made by Frank Burggraf and seconded by Dave Bowman. The motion carried. C. James Nicholson, Finance Coordinator. J. Nicholson referred the Board to the charts in the agenda that shows the changes from last month and from a year ago. During the second half of 2002, aircraft operations increased. Bill Corley is looking into the trends and hope he will be able to provide some insight. J. Nicholson reported the FBO had sold over 30,000 gallons in January, mentioning the U. of A. now has two planes. Regarding the fuel, wholesale prices keep increasing, there has been a 25% increase since the first of the year C. Wallace asked that fuel pricing be placed on the March Airport Board Agenda, and commented it appeared that we are selling more fuel. J. Nicholson speaking of the Financial Report, said there may be some year end adjustments through the City's Accounting and auditors. C. Wallace commented the projected revenues are higher for year-end 2003. J. Nicholson said that the projected year-end 2003 expenses are higher because of the Tower cost in 2003, which didn't occur in 2002. He reported the projects listed at the bottom of the report are proposed projects, not approved projects. C. Wallace said if we spend our money on all of the projects, our surplus will be down to $836,940.00. R. Boudreaux said we need to choose our projects carefully. D. Louise Powers, Secretary. T -Hangar Report. L. Powers stated all T -hangars are rented. We did have one cancellation during the month and it was rented again that day. Part of the month we did have more tenants than spaces to lease, one tenant whose aircraft was in the shop, made his hangar available. There is a small waiting list for the hangars. E. Construction Report. W. Jones reported work on the hangar is moving along. The final payment request has been sent in on the Pavement Rehab Project and it is less than originally planned. The Airport saved about 5% of the project cost. Work is continuing on the utilities for the corporate ramp. They are close to finishing the grading for the taxiway. Completion date should be mid-March. The apron project should be completed about the same time, unless we get rainy weather. R. Boudreaux said we will have a ribbon cutting ceremony. The old parking lot booth is being re -built by the contractor to be used in Greenland as a school bus waiting facility. F. Maintenance Report. R. Boudreaux reported there had been problems with one of the fuel trucks, with the fuel farm, and the GPU quit this week. All were able to be fixed. The Beacon failed and was NOTAMed out for three or four days and it has been repaired. He commented that bushes had been planted by the East Gate and the maintenance crew had worked hard this last week. ITEM #4: Old Business. None. ITEM #5: New Business. A. Request for Qualifications (RFQs) for an engineering firm for the Airport. R. Boudreaux said McClelland Engineers contact term is about over and the Airport has to seek RFQ's for a new contract The paperwork is being prepared by the City's Purchasing Department. Advertising should take place by the end of the week and we should have the information back to the Board no later than March 15h. The term is for three years and McClelland Engineers will submit their qualifications. A City Selection Committee will make their recommendation. B. Airport Board Presentation for the City Council Meeting on February 18`h' C. Wallace stated the Airport Board makes an Annual Report to the City Council explaining Airport staff is tied to the City govemment and reports to the Mayor, the Airport Board reports to the City Council. Their next meeting is on February 18`h and all our Board members will be there. We have a strong upbeat, positive report that says: Here is who we are; Where we are; and Where we are going. C. Airport's 2003 Capital Program. R. Boudreaux said the Airport Board had approved the Airport's budget earlier, but this information is provided so a -project priority List can be developed. He said he would like to start with the small corporate hangars and the self-service fueler across the field, and would like approval of a Task Order for the Preliminary Design for the hangars. The "Time Line" shows the steps the 3 project must go through, and we need to begin now to build the first series of hangars and the self -fueling facility. A grant would be available from the State Aeronautics to help with the hangars. W. Jones said the Preliminary Design will be $14,000.00 and the Final Design will be $12,000, to which R. Boudreaux responded, there will be negotiations. W. Jones said once the hangar design is in place it can be re -used, with minor modifications for site. location. R. Boudreaux stated the reason we aren't going ahead with some of the other projects is that it wouldn't be prudent. C. Wallace said we can do some of the projects without jeopardizing our reserves, saying he would like to keep a million in reserve. C. Wallace stated we pay for the construction as we go along, then request our grant payments from the State Aeronautics for their share. There are requests for two of the three corporate hangars. R. Boudreaux said we have three planes to go in the FBO hangar when it is completed. A motion to construct three mini corporate hangars and construct a self -serve fueling facility on the east side of the airport was made by Frank Sperandeo and seconded by Frank Burggraf. The motion carried. D. Ground Lease for Flying Investments. R. Boudreaux explained it was the basic Ground Rent Lease, same as for their hangar under construction. Start date would be April 1st with construction to begin by October ls` , or the lease would be voided. D. Hollman said their business would be good for the airport and they were planning ahead, and would even like to build a third hangar. He said they will be doing aircraft upgrades and modifications that are mandated. Said he was working with the FAA to use this airport for the testing, although the FAA doesn't want the testing done at this airport. A motion to approve the Ground Lease was made by Frank Burggraf and seconded by Dave Bowman. The motion carried. E. Maintenance Hangar Lease for Aviation Maintenance Professionals. R. Boudreaux recognized Jim and Laura Bell, saying Bell -Aire has been the Maintenance Shop on the airport, and we could call on him day -or -night. Jim has made a decision to get out of the business and Bob Dean and Mike Sergeant have purchased the business from Mr. Bell. R. Boudreaux said the airport will help them out by not charging any rent until May rt to give them help on their utility deposits. The rent was raised 5% in accordance with our rent policy. They will be bringing some pretty good customers to the airport. B. Dean said he worked here on the field for several years then at Springdale Air He and Mike bring 32 years of experience to the business, saying they want to do a good job and they want this to be their last job. F. Sperandeo commented that B. Dean had helped him get his A & P Certification and Bob has the knowledge of FAR's and how to work with the FAA on aircraft modifications. B. Dean stated their business would be a partnership, they had seen the hazards of growing too fast. Eventually they would like to work with the A & P school. A motion to approve the Maintenance Lease was made by Frank Burggraf and seconded by Dave Bowman. The motion carried. dr • • • R. Boudreaux expressed his appreciation of Jim and the work he has done on the airport, and said Jim will still be here doing the maintenance on the hangar doors. J. Bell thanked everyone and Mr. Boudreaux for his corporation and promotion of their business. F. R. Boudreaux requested adding an item to the agenda. He reported yesterday someone had came in that wants to bring a restaurant to the airport. C. Wallace said a vote would be required to add this to the agenda. A motion to add the restaurant item to the agenda was made by F. Burggraf and seconded by Mike Andrews. The motion carried. R. Boudreaux explained the Lease Agreement would be for six months, leasing approximately 2,700 sq. ft. for $11.00 per sq. ft. per year for $2,500.00 per month, or five percent of the gross sales, whichever is the least amount. At the end of the six months we will re -negotiate a new lease. Also, in a future lease, if they have decided they would like to sell sundries, there might be a different percent for each item. The airport will provide the refrigerator, freezer, sinks, and electric. The day Mr. Ledbetter takes over, he would be responsible for his equipment, ovens, and such. We will clean the carpet before they move in. He also has catering. He is not interested in a liquor license during the first six months. We have talked about a restaurant patio in the future, where customers can watch the planes. A motion to approve the Restaurant Lease was made by Frank Burggraf and seconded by Frank Sperandeo. The motion carried. Mr. Ledbetter wants to open before 6:00 a.m. He says his breakfast is the best in town. ITEM #6: Other Business. A. Items from the Board. D. Bowman announced the Community College's College of Aviation is having its annual dinner at the Air Museum on March 8th and tickets will be $20.00 per person. R. Boudreaux stated that as well as his love for aviation, he has a love for music and has tickets for the Barbara Mashburn Foundation Concert on March 9`1' . B. Items from the Public. T. Collier asked about the Forest Service situation. R. Boudreaux responded the Forest Service is still paying their rent and McClelland Engineers is working on their Preliminary Design. Changing the subject, he reported the east gate is now chain -driven and he expected to have fewer problems Meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m. e�V D e Bowmatt6 Secretary 5 3-3-03 Date