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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-11-14 MinutesFAYETTEVILLE EXECUTIVE AIRPORT BOARD MINUTES November 14, 2013 MEMBERS PRESENT: Bob Nickle, Josh Mahony, Bill Corley, Mike Gibbs, Marty Burggraf MEMBERS ABSENT: Ken Haxel, Rick Bailey OTHERS PRESENT: Rick McKinney -tenant; Jeffry Gates -Arkansas A&M Museum, Wayne Jones-MCE; Mitch Rose-MCE; Joel Walsh -NWA Times; James Nicholson - Financial Coordinator; Lauren Treat -Administrative Assistant ITEM #1: Welcome. Chairman Nickle. ITEM #2: Approval of the Airport Board Minutes of the October 10, 2013 meeting. A motion to approve the minutes with the proposed change was made by Marty Burggraf, and seconded by Bill Corley. The motion carried. ITEM #3: Receiving of Reports. A. Director Boudreaux, Aviation Director. Boudreaux mentioned new CSR Janessa Hamm (former employee with Cutter Aviation); she is scheduled to work 11 AM — 7 PM weekdays. Former CSR Morgan Lomax had to resign due to the demands with her schooling. Operations were up year over year; most significant increase this month in military operations. We have had a lot of T -6s and 130s. We have also had four or five helicopters. Nicholson said the airport received a DFAS payment yesterday and regular payments should come in from now on. However, none of the back payments have been received yet. Boudreaux said the government shut down set things back somewhat, but he is still working with the DLA. Boudreaux reported that fuel sales and operations are good. He said he recently briefed the City Council because the airport needed a budget increase in order to purchase more AvGas. This is because fuel prices rose since the initial budget plan was created. The contract tower is good through the first of the year, though things are uncertain after that date. Boudreaux said both Congressman Womack and Senator Boozman are in support of the tower. "Tower Operations in FY2013", published by Quadrex ranked Drake Field as the third busiest airport in the state of Arkansas. Boudreaux briefly discussed his birthday party at the museum and said that Warren has five wedding receptions scheduled in Dec. — May. He mentioned the VA's Golden Age Games which will be held in part at Drake Field in 2014. Boudreaux said the annual meeting for the museum is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 8. Board members and officers will be elected as according to by-laws. Brief discussion of the FBO changeover followed. Nicholson said the airport can get reimbursement for excise tax. The application has been sent to the IRS. Boudreaux said Drake Field served the 757 for multiple away football games and everything went smoothly. He said he hopes Drake Field will continue to have the 757 operating out of Drake Field in future years. B. Financial Coordinator James Nicholson, Budget Report. September & October were good months in terms of fuel sales. Nicholson reported that operations are ahead and he hopes this will eventually translate into better fuel sales. Nicholson said about 10,000 gallons more AvGas was sold than initially anticipated. McKinney mentioned the correlation of the recent lower fuel prices to the higher AvGas sales this month. Nicholson said 80% of sales is Jet and 20% is AvGas (10% base tenant/10% itinerant). About half the Jet sales were contract fuel so they pay a little less, but this is offset by the retail sales. Nicholson reported that Drake Field currently has the highest fuel prices; however, these prices are not out of touch with surrounding airports. McKinney asked for explanation on flowage fee; Nicholson said it is a City Ordinance. Nicholson discussed the financial report and said the cash balance is over $500,000. This is primarily due to the high volume of fuel sales during football season. Nicholson said we need to remember this in preparation for next year. He suggested that the airport tries to attract as many planes as possible on each Game Day. Nickle mentioned that $30,000 of the cash balance has not yet been received from Million Air (due to the DLA situation). Boudreaux said we will get the money eventually. Boudreaux mentioned Dennis Singleton is out so personnel costs have gone down a bit, but he hopes Dennis will return early next year. Nickle also mentioned that Lou Powers retired this year so a big chunk of money was paid out (sick leave/vacation time/etc.) Gibbs asked about budgeting for Boudreaux's retirement and Nicholson said that is actually City Hall's responsibility. C. Administrative Assistant, Lauren Treat, T -Hangar Report. Reported all hangars are full with three rented for storage. D. Wayne Jones, McClelland Engineers, Construction Report. Wayne said he called the contractor because they have not been working as much expected. The project manager said he will give Wayne an updated work schedule which will be forwarded to Ray. Boudreaux said he hopes the finish date will be before Jan. 1, so the building inspection can be completed. NFlight will not be charged rent until they are able to move into the building. Boudreaux discussed the airport's five year plan and said the request needs to be put in for the design -only apron project fairly soon. Wayne said he is waiting on the federal government to send their letter so the grant can be offered. Wayne mentioned some work that needs to be done at the airport, including fixing the slightly crooked taxiway. Boudreaux said the airport has a waiver for it, but the work still needs to be done. Wayne pointed out that the FAA wants to eliminate the possibility of runway incursions — they do not want the use of a taxiway to be the only option going across the runway for vehicles. Corley said the second major point the tenants made is that fuel prices are higher at Drake Field, so they do not particularly want to pay more in rent, as well. Nickle said the tenants do not understand the uncontrolled costs the airport faces. McKinney said he disagrees — aircraft owners also have uncontrolled costs. McKinney said if some of the $10,000 would go towards maintenance work on the T hangars, the increase would be more bearable since the tenants would also benefit. Boudreaux said the only reason fuel prices have gone down recently is because the price that the airport pays has gone down. This was not the administration's decision. The airport's margin is still the same. Corley reiterated that he fears the suspicion is the rent is only being raised because it has not been done in a while. Nickle said that is not the case. Boudreaux said it is time to raise the rent and even with the proposed increase, we will still be behind inflation. Ten thousand dollars is not a lot, but it will help. Gibbs agreed that it is time to raise the rent. Boudreaux said he is willing to put the extra $10,000 towards T hangar repairs, but he explained the money will be used up quickly because supplies to fix hangar seals, etc. are very expensive. A motion to raise the smallest hangar rent by $10/month and the larger hangars by $15/month was made by Mike Gibbs, and seconded by Bill Corley. Motion passes. ITEM #5: New Business. There was a brief discussion of delinquent tenant fees, particularly regarding Donnie Sam's, GPS Autotracker Barry Gilbow, and Something Better Foods. Nickle mentioned it would be nice for the board to take a tour of the FBO and corporate hangars, the NFlight project, etc. on the next board meeting date. Boudreaux agreed this is a good idea. Boudreaux asked for new board member recommendations; the board needs someone to fill a business position. He mentioned that Darryl Riddell of South Delta Aviation might be a good candidate since he is a pilot, businessman, and tenant. McKinney discussed the Aviation Trust Fund. He requested that the Board does a resolution to send to congressional members and Mr. Grissel to use the ATF money to keep the towers open. Boudreaux said he will present a resolution at the next meeting. ITEM #6: Other Business. A. Items from the Public. None. B. Items from the Airport Board. None. AT 3:06 P.M. Pu. ti,nf f it s I Josj(ua Mahony, Secyet�ry/ Date Nickle suggested that the Board members review the five year plan before discussing it early next year. More discussion of grants and projects followed. E. Museum Executive Director Warren Jones, Museum Report. Warren was not present, so Boudreaux briefed the board on a couple points. Warren recently applied for a grant for GIF through David Whittaker. Each state representative and senator receives money from the general fund to pass out for special projects. The museum applied for a replacement sprinkler system. Boudreaux said it will be pricey, but we hope to get the money. The museum desperately needs a new sprinkler system. F. Marketing Committee Chairman Bill Corley, Marketing Report. Corley discussed the marketing committee's previous meeting. He said a lot of opinions were gathered and a marketing plan was suggested. The committee is looking into some more tactical ideas. Boudreaux said he spoke with Fayetteville's A&P director, Marilyn Hefner. Boudreaux said they are looking into publications/periodicals to advertise the City of Fayetteville, along with a mention of flying into FYV when they visit. Gibbs asked about what needs to be done to move this project forward and decide what we can afford to do. Corley said the big question is what kind of budget do we have — if any? Boudreaux said Lindsley Smith is working on the budget question. Corley said free reach and frequency would be great, and he pointed out that an ROI would be needed in the marketing plan. Nickle encouraged committee meet again as necessary, but he suggested the committee not spend too much time on it until we know where the money is coming from. ITEM #4: Old Business. A. T Hangar Rent Increase Boudreaux discussed the proposed new rent numbers: $205, $210, and $170. The smallest hangars would be raised by $10.00 and the bigger hangars by $15.00. This increase is below the CPI formula rate. Corley said a few things come thru loud and clear when speaking with the tenants. First of all, everyone wants to support the airport and tenants are aware that there hasn't been a rent increase in a while. But Corley said they want to know that the airport needs the money and the rate isn't being raised simply because it hasn't happened in a while. Nickle said the airport has deferred maintenance work because there isn't enough money to take care of everything. Nicholson said the airport needs a new boiler system but we simply cannot afford it with the current budget. A rent increase could help the airport afford to take care of some major projects like that. The overall effect of this increase would be $10,000. Nicholson and Boudreaux met with the City leaders to review the airport budget. The FBO was supposed to give added support to the overall budget. However, now that the results are in, it doesn't look like running the FBO makes a significant difference. Nicholson said the airport is actually doing pretty well, but we aren't quite making the anticipated margins/number of gallons/etc.