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Home My WebLink About2013-04-11 MinutesFAYETTEVILLE EXECUTIVE AIRPORT BOARD MINUTES April 11, 2013 MEMBERS PRESENT: Bob Nickle, Mike Gibbs (attended via Skype), Joshua Mahony, Bill Corley, Rick Bailey, Marty Burggraf MEMBERS ABSENT: Ken Haxel OTHERS PRESENT: Greg Willoughby -South Delta Aviation; Wayne Jones - McClelland Engineers; Vince Lesh; Marion Smallwood -Aviation Life; Terry Gulley - Transportation Director; Darryl Riddell -South Delta Aviation; Rick McKinney -tenant; Joel Walsh -NWA Times; Tyrone Rogers -City's Government Channel; Ray Boudreaux - Airport Director; James Nicholson -Airport Financial Coordinator; Lauren Treat - Administrative Assistant. ITEM #1: Welcome. Chairman Nickle. Nickle thanked Gibbs for meeting with the Board via Skype, even though it was 2:30 AM his time in China. ITEM #2: Approval of the Airport Board Minutes of the March 14, 2013 meeting. A motion to approve the minutes was made by Bill Corley, and seconded Rick Bailey. The motion carried. ITEM #3: Receiving of Reports. A. Director Boudreaux, Aviation Director. Boudreaux said the most important topic on the agenda is the FAA's decision to withdraw all funding for Air Traffic Control towers due to the sequestration act. Drake Field's Tower was scheduled to close on April 7. There was enough funding from the City to potentially have the tower open from 8 AM to 8 PM (less than 3% of the traffic occurs before 8 AM/after 8 PM). Boudreaux said he received a proposal from Cl2 Aviation (contractor that provides service to the tower) at $20,500 per month. City Council approved this amount until the end of the calendar year, plus the insurance payment. The City also agreed to join Drake Field in the suit against the FAA. The FAA received too much heat from the suits, so they moved the tower closing date to June 15, 2013. Discussion of suits followed. Boudreaux thanked Terry Gulley and the City Administration for all their support if the tower were to close on April 8. Nickle emphasized how grateful the Board is for the City's patience and help in the emergency situation. Boudreaux then mentioned the City -run FBO and said new line supervisor Jacob Crutchfield withstood inspection from the DLA last Thursday. Crutchfield felt it was successful. Boudreaux reported on the first quarter of the year, which he said was very good in both activity and fuel sales. Discussion of the NFlight project and CenterPoint Contractors, Inc. followed. Boudreaux mentioned there is one hangar available, and he urged the Board to allow the airport to use that City for a storage unit since IT is taking over the sound -pit (which was the old airport storage area). B. Financial Coordinator James Nicholson, Budget Report. Nicholson reported that operations have continued to stay in positive territory — 22% ahead of last year and 13% ahead in volume of sales. Nicholson also pointed it that it may be necessary for him to revamp the reports to reflect the new configuration at the airport. Nicholson said no one who has rented/leased space in the FBO hangar has been billed yet. Discussion of line items and arrangement of the financial report followed. C. Administrative Assistant, Lauren Treat, T -Hangar Report. Reported that eight hangars are being rented for storage and one hangar (C-10) is currently available. Nickle asked if everyone was ok with that available empty hangar being temporarily converted into airport storage space? Agreement was reached. D. Wayne Jones, McClelland Engineers, Construction Report. Wayne discussed the hangar and said the lowest bidder was CenterPoint Contractors, Inc. at $289,675.00 which was a reduction in cost. Wayne mentioned the City has done several projects with Centerpoint but this will be McClelland's first time to work with them. Wayne then discussed the runway inspection that was done during the Iron Pig Festival. He said the rain helped him see how water collected in some of the cracks. Overall, Wayne reported the runway is in good condition but there are still some cracks that will need to be sealed. Wayne made a recommendation that the airport consider a runway improvement project in the next 8 to 10 years. He expected it would cost around $3 million but he hopes the FAA will be able to help out at that point. Boudreaux discussed the Capital Improvement Plan for the FAA. Boudreaux said the number one project on the list is to the repair the apron out front and the second item is to get all of the taxiways at 50 ft. wide (some are still at 40 ft.). A motion to approve the capital improvement plan for the next five years was made by Rick Bailey and seconded by Bill Corley. The motion carried. Nickle asked Wayne to discuss his New Business item, the May 9 cookout at the airport. Wayne said it will be held from 11:30 — 1:00 PM directly before the next scheduled Board meeting. All tenants, Board members, and staff are invited. E. Museum Executive Director Warren Jones, Museum Report. Warren said on April 29 the Fayetteville Education Foundation will meet at the Museum and all are invited to attend. He has also booked a University of Arkansas sorority dance in May. Warren reported that in the last 30 days, the Museum has had four or five school tours and he has three or four more booked thru May. He pointed out that the kids love touring the Tower and he thanked the Tower staff for being so great with the kids. Warren made a brief reminder about both the Air Race Classic coming up in June and BBBBQ&B! in September. F. Marketing Committee Chairman Bill Corley, Marketing Report. Corley introduced Scott Elkins and Jodi Clement of Elkins Design. Elkins Design presented their designs and reasoning behind them for the City -run FBO at Drake Field. The Board (and FBO line crew), agreed the Drake Flight Services logo was the best concept and decided to move forward with the idea. Corley said the next step is to present it to the City, and he recognized that this will be a multi -step process. Nickle thanked Elkins Design. ITEM #4: Old Business, A. Update: Tower Closing. Nickle said that topic has been covered. ITEM #5: New Business. A. SkyVenture Aviation new lease. Boudreaux said SkyVenture has made a request to keep the rent at the current rate for the next year. Mark Frankum addressed the Board. He said his heart is at this airport but he needs to control his costs in order to stay at Drake Field. He said the business is growing — there were 34 students this time last year and they now have over 50. Frankum said he would like to move to a cost-plus system of charging SkyVenture fuel. Boudreaux said he is trying to figure out the fuel situation and he said cost-plus is possible, but the airport is not familiar with it. Nicholson said he can do it but it might be complicated with taxes. Nickle said he does not want to enter an agreement that gives a tenant a set rate forever. Nickle pointed out the airport does not get to negotiate on fuel prices, so he would not feel comfortable giving a tenant an indefinite guarantee. A motion to approve SkyVenture's lease for the next year at the current rate was made by Rick Bailey and seconded by Marty Burggraf. The motion carried. ITEM #6: Other Business. A. Items from the Public. Boudreaux mentioned the opinion article included in the Board packet. He said the aviation community is small and it is very important to enlighten the general public that does not understand it. Rick McKinney said the aviation community pays specific taxes to support the system and they do not. Boudreaux encouraged Board members to help those outside the aviation community understand the importance of this airport. B. Items from the Airport Board. None