HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-08-08 MinutesFAYETTEVILLE EXECUTIVE AIRPORT BOARD MINUTES
August 8, 2013
MEMBERS PRESENT: Bob Nickle, Josh Mahony, Bill Corley, Mike Gibbs
MEMBERS ABSENT: Marty Burggraf, Rick Bailey, Ken Haxel
OTHERS PRESENT: Craig Young -tenant; Jeffry Gates -Arkansas A&M Museum,
Mauro Campos -Fayetteville Fire Department; Wayne Jones-MCE; Kate Ward -NWA
Times; Mike Bowman -Tower; Rick McKinney -Tenant; Warren Jones -Arkansas A&M
Museum; James Nicholson -Financial Coordinator; Lauren Treat -Administrative Assistant
ITEM #1: Welcome. Chairman Nickle.
ITEM #2: Approval of the Airport Board Minutes of the June 13, 2013 meeting.
A motion to approve the minutes was made by Josh Mahony, and seconded by Bill
Corley. The motion carried.
ITEM #3: Receiving of Reports.
A. Director Boudreaux, Aviation Director.
Overall, things were fairly slow this summer which is typical. Boudreaux
reported the airport is still ahead on the operations for the year, and credited in part the
Air Race Classic event. Boudreaux said he hopes football season will pick up fuel sales a
bit.
The FAA extended the contract tower program thru end of the fiscal year though
there is not a budget yet for 2014. The tower budget is no longer part of the FAA's
general fund so Boudreaux predicted that the money will be safe now that it is a separate
item.
Boudreaux briefly commented on both the NFlight hangar renovation and IT data
center projects. He also briefly mentioned the Air Race Classic was a huge success and
brought in a good amount of proceeds for the Museum.
The Wildlife Hazard report is still not approved. Boudreaux said he talked to
Loomacres' president and he said the changes have been made and resubmitted to the
FAA. Gibbs said if we don't get action soon, we might consider alternative options.
Boudreaux said we might be able to sue and get the money back but we have already paid
and a lawsuit would cost us more than we would make. Boudreaux said he thinks the
missing data is available; it just wasn't in the initial report. Boudreaux said regardless,
we are very effective at handling the geese and other wildlife at the airport.
Boudreaux said regarding the DLA, we received notice last Friday that the final
piece of paperwork has been finished. The Novation agreement is complete though it
doesn't mean we are getting money yet. Nicholson and Morgan Lomax (CSR) are
working to straighten out and submit the payments so we can start getting the money.
Boudreaux said the U of A charter season is approaching. The air stairs will be
delivered before the end of August and we already have our baggage loader. Boudreaux
pointed out that we recently hired former Million Air employee, Chris Kelsey. He also
mentioned the schedule change which has resulted in everyone being full-time employees
now (even the weekend guys). Boudreaux told the Board that we will need some help on
Game Days, especially someone to drive the shuttle van back and forth to Chik-Fil-A.
Boudreaux said Rick Bailey typically likes to do the driving but he is not here today so
we will wait and see what he says.
The AAOA conference (Boudreaux's last conference as chairman of board) is this
September 15 — 17 in Eureka Springs. Boudreaux said there is not enough money to pay
Board member's fees, but everyone who would like to attend is invited.
Gibbs asked a question regarding the acrobatic box. Boudreaux said it is done
and it is approved — it has been used one time and it did not interfere with anybody.
B. Financial Coordinator James Nicholson, Budget Report.
Nicholson said operations are down which is typical for July but we are still ahead
of last year about 9.5%. He predicted our year end to be ahead of operations in 2012.
Regarding fuel sales, Nicholson said we are 1.5% above last year on fuel sales.
Nicholson said the military traffic has been down in terms of fuel sales and he believes
the Sequester put a damper on things. However, he has heard word that the military is
starting to re-engage in back and forth flights.
Nicholson said we aren't quite meeting our average margin. This is mainly
because we have to keep our prices within the local marketplaces prices, and almost half
of our fuel sales are base customers who have negotiated pricing and fuel discounts.
Boudreaux and Nicholson talked with AvFuel regarding contract fuel prices to help boost
our average margin. Boudreaux said in March/April/May the average was about $0.88,
but then in July we changed it and our average turned out to be $1.03. Nicholson said
this means we will have to be very cost conscience in other areas pertaining to operating
the FBO. Gibbs asked if Nicholson and Boudreaux are feeling good about the FBO
transition at this point. Boudreaux said there have been a lot of bumps but it is going as
well as we could have hoped for it to be and the airport has not lost any routine
customers. Boudreaux said he is somewhat concerned about the amount of fuel traveling
aircraft is buying. Our facility fees are not as much as they used to be but that was a
strategy to try to attract people.
Boudreaux noted that Morgan Lomax (CSR) and Lauren Treat are trying to help
with airport promotions such as designing and mailing out flyers. All airports in NWA
are doing similar things.
Nickle said in the future, the board might consider reanalyzing the fee schedule to
see if it needs to be adjusted. Nickle said we need to at least break even and attempt to a
make enough money so we can replace equipment, etc in the future. Boudreaux said the
most recent report shows the FBO is in the black, and we can forecast it to be in the black
by the end of the year.
Boudreaux mentioned there is an AOPA Safety Summit meeting ("Weather
Challenges") on September 11, 7 — 9:00 PM at Museum.
Nicholson said everything is updated in the financial report thru the end of July.
He discussed why he has the report organized the way it is. Nicholson said he has the
FBO section separated so we can see how it is doing as a separate entity. More discussion
of financial line items followed. Nicholson said we have fallen slightly below our target
cash balance of $500,000 but we are always struggling to keep above that number; the
FBO start up costs just hit us pretty hard. Nickle said anytime you open a new business
you have to invest money into it. The airport will not have to go through this again next
year. It's not an operating cost; it's just an initial investment. We need to try to be in the
FBO business for more than just one year to see how we are actually doing.
C. Administrative Assistant, Lauren Treat, T -Hangar Report.
Reported there are two hangars available — both singles.
D. Wayne Jones, McClelland Engineers, Construction Report.
Wayne said the floor will go into the NFlight hangar on Monday. At that point
we will start moving the radiant heating system away from over in the new office area
and start the framing for the executive offices and conference room on the second floor.
Wayne received a few thank you letters regarding our tie downs donation to the
airport during the Air Race Classic.
Boudreaux said pretty soon we will be working with Wayne to determine what
kind of grant request we need to put in with the FAA. Wayne said the FAA suggested we
do a design grant for the apron.
E. Museum Executive Director Warren Jones, Museum Report.
Warren said the museum received $8,400 from the Air Race Classic but we gave
the civil air patrol a thousand of it for all of their help.
We are still trying to get a shuttle bus from Dickson Street to Baum Stadium
during Bikes, Blues, Barbeque and Bombers BBBQ. The museum will probably be able
to use a church bus but we need a CDL driver to operate the bus.
Regarding the B-17 event, for some reason our portion of the money was cut. We
made a total $800; however, we will only see $400 because the FAA gives us half. We
actually spent more money on the event than we made.
Warren said Russ from Flying Investments is gutting a Falcon 12. Warren said it's
a beautiful airplane and the museum will be able to make it appear as if all the pieces are
still there. He said he might place the aircraft in the green spot between the two museums.
Warren thanked both Russ and Gerald and pointed out that this is just another example of
the airport community continuously helping each other out.
Warren said much of the information about the Bikes, Blues, Barbeque &
Bombers! event will be promoted via websites. Almost every biker that attends the event
visits the website. The Museum's site will be linked to both the CAF and BBBBQ&B!
web pages. Nickle said he expects a lot of the bikers will ride down. Corley asked how
much parking availability will be provided for the motorcyclists; Warren said probably
about 300 spots out front but other spots could be created just in case.
F. Marketing Committee Chairman Bill Corley, Marketing Report.
No news — we have been on summer vacation! Corley said we will focus on
tactics and channels in future meetings instead of branding. Gibbs offered to help.
ITEM #4: Old Business. None
ITEM #5: New Business.
A. Airport Budget Submission
Nicholson started with a summary of the budgeting process up to this point. He
noted there is still some updating that the budget division has to do, so Nicholson used
"close enough" numbers for those particular missing costs. Nicholson said if the
economy improves then perhaps we will see some growth. The FAA's forecast predicts
piston operations to slightly decrease over the next 20 years, but they see a very small
amount of growth in corporate turbo props and jets. Other than that, our hangar and
terminal tenants are quite stable. Boudreaux mentioned the importance of raising rent
every two years or so, and said that probably needs to happen soon. Corley said it has
been a difficult past four years and Boudreaux said that is why we chose not to raise rent
in the past.
Nicholson discussed a few of the line items. Nicholson said he would be happy to
share copies of the expense budget with anyone who wants to look at it. The biggest
expenses are aviation fuel and personnel costs. Boudreaux said wants to try to get back
to where we were in operations in previous_ years, but it will have to be done
conservatively. Gibbs said it would be interesting to see a correlation between the
economy and the airport operations.
ITEM #6: Other Business.
A. Items from the Public.
Boudreaux noted the gentlemen who attend part of the board meeting but then left
early were from the VA Golden Olympics. It is a major event, with competitors coming
from all over the country. They will be doing the cycle event at Drake Field sometime
next year.
B. Items from the Airport Board.
Corley asked for an update on the flight school. Nickle said they signed a one
year lease which started in May 2013.
MEETING
AT 2:46 P.M.
2 , 2-aI3