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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-12-12 MinutesFAYETTEVILLE EXECUTIVE AIRPORT BOARD MINUTES December 12, 2013 MEMBERS PRESENT: Bob Nickle, Josh Mahony, Bill Corley, Mike Gibbs, Marty Burggraf, Ken Haxel MEMBERS ABSENT: Rick Bailey OTHERS PRESENT: Wayne Jones-MCE; Warren Jones-AA&MM; Joel Walsh -NWA Times; James Nicholson -Financial Coordinator; Lauren Treat -Administrative Assistant; Neal Bilbe-City Government Channel; Terry Gulley -Transportation Department; Craig Young -tenant; Dan Wilkins -tenant; Mike Bowman -Tower; Terry Raskiewicz-City Internal Auditor ITEM #1: Welcome. Chairman Nickle. ITEM #2: Approval of the Airport Board Minutes of the November 14, 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. Reported that due to the inclement weather in December, there has been a setback in operations. Mike Bowman in the Tower said we need approximately 60 operations a day to be even but Boudreaux doubts we will get there. Reported fuel sales have been good, but the weather has certainly put a damper on our sales. Boudreaux said there is a new budget deal being discussed in the House of Representatives in Washington DC. It would give the government two years of operating funds and includes FAA funds for the towers, etc. If this agreement passes, there will no longer be an issue in funding the tower in 2014. Boudreaux said the annual meeting for the Arkansas Air and Military Museum is rescheduled to December 14`h. Board members and officers will be elected at that time. Boudreaux said DFAS payments for all of our current and upcoming activity are arriving properly. However, the older missing payments have not been resolved with Million Air yet. Boudreaux has faith that we will get the money, though the timeframe and process are inconvenient. Gibbs said he is officially uncomfortable with the situation the way that it is right now. Boudreaux said he is not happy with it either. Gibbs asked if Kit Williams knows anything about the situation and Boudreaux said no. Boudreaux said that working with the federal government is always a long, drawn out process and there are so many people involved. Mahony asked if we are expecting to get the money from Million Air or DFAS? Boudreaux said two things could happen — first, there could be a change of agreement and all the payments will be sent to us. The transactions will then be sorted out and we will pay Million Air what they are owed. The second possibility is that DFAS will pay Million Air, who will pay us what we are owed minus the .47 cent per gallon which was previously negotiated. Either way, this will not be an easy process. Terry Raskiewicz, the City's new internal auditor, said she is aware of the situation and learning more about it. She said this needs to be sorted out before the external auditors arrive. Boudreaux said as of now, we are holding the .47 cents per gallon owed to Million Air until the payments get squared aware. He also mentioned that the .25 cents per gallon owed to us by the IRS needs to be collected, as well. It will take 60-90 days until we can get permission from the IRS in order.to officially apply. Nickle said, if we are approved, will this be retroactive? Boudreaux said yes and we have 24 months to apply for that money. More discussion followed of payments. B. Financial Coordinator James Nicholson, Budget Report. Nicholson said even though the weather has been poor in so far, we should still end up very close to last year's number of operations. He said a similar situation is occurring with fuel sales; we should end up around 360,000 gallons sold which includes the sales from Million Air in the beginning of the year. Jet Sales make up 80% of overall sales; 20% is AvGas. Nicholson said this has been true for as long as he has been at the airport. He thanked our base customers for their continued support buying fuel. Jet A's average margin is less than typical for the month but this is mainly because of a recent large bulk fuel sale to Flying Investments. Nicholson said overall we are very close to the local market fuel prices, but we are a little higher on the Jet side. He pointed out that our self-service prices are lower than Springdale, Bentonville, and Fort Smith. Nicholson said we were lucky to purchase fuel right when prices were at their lowest, which has helped us keep our price low. Boudreaux reminded everyone that our fuel price is based on the average price of the fuel in the tank. Nicholson said that we are now recording our sales information from the FBO from the self -serve, DLA, etc. on a daily form. Janessa is handling this. Janessa introduced herself to the board. Nickle mentioned that our next bottom line will be improved since we will not have the large startup cost again. More discussion of financial report followed. Gibbs asked about data on the airport's average fuel price per month and number of gallons sold per month. Nickle said the info before the City took over might not be too valid -or verifiable. Gibbs said he would like to experiment with the data and see what it does/doesn't tell us. 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 sent a work schedule to Ray a while back but the contractors have not been able to meet their deadline due to the adverse weather. He discussed a few final tasks that will be completed in the upcoming days. Boudreaux said there might be some scarring on the grooving on the runway due to the blading operations that were performed during the ice storm. Wayne said the ice might have bonded to the grooves/joints and got pulled out when the ice clearing machine went over it. The board thanked Wayne for the tour of the NFlight hangar and for lunch. E. Museum Executive Director Warren Jones, Museum Report. Warren said there was a wedding at the museum last weekend and everything went great, even with the adverse weather. Warren talked about Patrick Carter's (NFlight) idea to give rides in the Stinson. Right before Christmas, he is going to give underprivileged kids a plane ride. The flight will go over the square to see the Christmas lights. The kids will get to open presents and there will be a Santa Claus. Carter is paying for all of the fuel. Warren also thanked Mike Bowman in the tower for his generosity in letting groups of kids check out the tower as part of their museum tour. F. Marketing Committee Chairman Bill Corley, Marketing Report. Corley said overall, the committee is in a holding pattern as we search for an answer to the budget dollars and measureable objectives questions. Corley said he is going to share a vision at a future meeting. Corley will come up with his best idea on what we should say and how we should say it. The board thanked Corley for volunteering to do this. Nickle suggested Corley and Daryl Riddell sit down and discuss his ideas. Riddell has great insight on pilots and he has been to many airports Gibbs mentioned that in the past, the board agreed to allow advertisements in the lobby. Corley said yes, it is a no brainer and he is going to talk to the folks at XNA and see what they do. Drake Field might be able to do a scale version of what is done at XNA. More discussion of signage/lighting continued. ITEM #4: Old Business. None. ITEM #5: New Business. A. Board Resolution Discussion: Contract Tower Boudreaux said last meeting, T Hangar tenant Rick McKinney requested a resolution regarding the Aviation Tax Fund to use its money to support the air traffic control towers. The ATF money will not be needed now that there are new agreements on the floor. However, Boudreaux still put together a resolution since it was requested by a tenant. Boudreaux apologized that he did not have the resolution ready to present to the board at this meeting; the document was not properly saved and the data was lost. ITEM #6: Other Business. A. Items from the Public. Lighted Sign in Lobby. Boudreaux introduced T Hangar tenant Dan Wilkins to the board and said he has expressed interest in placing a lighted sign in the lobby for his business. Wilkins is the assistant chief flight instructor for summit aviation. Wilkins said with the airport's permission, he will purchase all the hardware necessary. The proposed space would be about $50/mo. for a 2 x 3 or 3 x 4 lighted sign. Wilkins said Drake Field is kind of home for him and he said that we definitely have the best ATC in this part of the US. Boudreaux admitted that Wilkins' flying school is a competitor to two of the flying schools that are based at Drake Field. Gibbs said he can see the issues that this might cause with our tenants. Corley said the advertisements will have to be done in a tasteful way, and we will need to do a walkthrough of the possible spaces in the building. Boudreaux said he would love to see advertisements in the terminal, though he did not know there was actually a market for it. Now that he knows that there is, it is time to get a policy put together and a contract created so we can offer this service to Wilkins and others. Boudreaux pointed out that if we offer the space, we have to offer it fairly to everyone. Even competitors of our tenants and businesses on field. Nickle said a policy will need to be put together. Boudreaux said he will get an advertising policy from XNA and wordsmith it for use at Drake Field. B. Items from the Airport Board. Terry Gulley discussed Boudreaux's upcoming retirement and the airport director position that will soon be open. Gulley said he is more than happy to listen to the board's concerns, what type of experience is needed, etc. with who is hired. Gulley said he would definitely be looking for FBO experience since we are running the FBO now. Nickle said the board could help add information to the job description. Boudreaux said the candidates should be aware that because Drake Field is a Part 139 airport, the director is totally responsible if something goes wrong. It is important to maintain our Part 139 classification in order to serve the University of Arkansas. Gibbs suggested that at least one person from the board should sit in on the interview process. Gulley said he cannot give an answer to that right now. Boudreaux said he anticipates his last day will be March 31. Boudreaux presented a plaque to Chairman Bob Nickle. He served the City of Fayetteville and the airport board since Feb. 2003. Boudreaux thanked him for his service. Boudreaux also said that there has been an applicant for the open board position, but we still need to elect a new chairman. Boudreaux said Mr. Darryl Riddell of South Delta Aviation applied for the open board member position, as did a gentleman from KNWA. Boudreaux said Riddell has run an FBO, served on the State Aeronautics Board, and owns a big business on the airport selling airplanes. Nickle said he is happy that the airport had Boudreaux during the time when the airport converted over to a GA and the remodeling project was done. Nickle said Boudreaux knows the importance of this airport to the U of A and the community. Nickle said to remember Rick Bailey since his fall on the ice. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 2:56 P.M.