ASHLAND AIRPORT COMMISSION

May 3^rd, 2011

MINUTES

MEMBERS PRESENT: LINCOLN ZEVE, SUSAN MOEN, LARRY GRAVES, BOB SKINNER, DAVID WOLSKE, ALAN BENDER, RICHARD HENDRICKSON, JEFF NEILSEN

STAFF: SCOTT FLEURY, MIKE FAUGHT

MEMBERS ABSENT: DENNIS SLATTERY, LIZ TRIPP

Visitors:  Paul Mace, Trevor (Sky Research)

1.                  CALL TO ORDER: 9:30 AM

2.                  APPROVAL OF MINUTES: April 5^th, 2011, motion by Hendrickson for approval, second by Graves, unanimous vote, minutes approved.  

Additional Items:  

3.                  Public Forum: No public comment

4.      OLD BUSINESS:

A.                AIP Project Engineering Design/Connect III: AIP construction started Monday May 2^nd, and will last until approximately June 6^th with work on the runway, some additional work adjacent to the runway will most likely take place after the runway re-opens. Fleury informs Commission that grindings will be available to fill in dirt areas around existing hangars to keep FOD down to a minimum and that fill dirt will be placed to the east and west of the runway to flatten out existing areas and make them easier to mow. Paul Mace is on hand and would like to know who is responsible for notifying users of airport work including closure activities. Fleury informs Mace that the City has tried to notify users through the FBO billing and posting notice at the FBO office. Commission and Mace state that not all tenants receive a billing from the FBO due to the fact they sublease from another owner or pay a yearly lease fee and not a monthly fee. Fleury states that the City does not have a comprehensive contact list as the FBO is the focal point for billing and questions at the airport. Wolske would like to see the City develop a master contact list to use when their will be any impact to airport users. Wolske motions for the City to develop a comprehensive airport users contact list for future use on any and all airport projects, 2^nd by Graves. Skinner states that he can supply the City with all the contact information he has in order to develop the list. Fleury states that he can create a data base in his outlook software program and also create a mailing label list using said contact information. Commission approves motion by unanimous vote. Graves would also make the recommendation that other users notify people who sublease hangars regarding the runway work and closure period. Commission would like to see everyone contacted personally via a phone call to inform them again of pending closure and availability of tie down spaces in both Medford and Grants Pass during closure period. Skinner to have Cathy call all users directly over the next day and inform them directly. In addition, Fleury to work on development of master contact list for the City. Commission would like to be notified via email of the progress towards contacting all users and development of the master list. Fleury to email Commission of progress. Skinner states that he has issued a Notam that the runway is currently active with a new displaced threshold and landing length of 2500’. He will release another Notam of the closure at the appropriate time.

B.                 FBO Management –Skinner Lease: As time allows Fleury to draft Skinner lease addendum for review and approval.  

C.                 CAP Hangar lease: A majority of the Commission believes it is the best interest of the City to keep the hangar on site, own it and rent it out for direct monthly income. Zeve believes that the City should not own the hangar directly, but instead if the City obtains ownership of the hangar to hold a reserve auction for the hangar. Skinner believes it would be in the best interest of the City to own the hangar and rent it on a month to month basis similar to what has transpired with the Sandler hangar. Motion by Hendrickson; make a direct offer to the CAP to donate the hangar in lieu of removing from site, 2^nd by Skillman. Fleury states that the City is working on drafting a lease amendment to the current CAP lease that offers the City first right of refusal for the hangar and removes the clause of the previous lease requiring removal of the hangar from the site. Bender abstains from vote, approved by all others. Fleury to work with Faught regarding offer and lease amendment offering first right of refusal to the City.

5.      NEW BUSINESS:          

A.                Good Neighbor Policy: Zeve informs Commission that he was informed by Brim Aviation there will be another article in the Sneak Preview regarding the helicopter operations. Graves believes the Commission should formulate a position with regards to the daily operations of the Airport and respond to issues raised in the previous Sneak Preview article. Commission asks Skinner about current training session that is going on and he states that Brim has trained exclusively offsite during the current session. Skillman believes that the Commission has worked towards development of the good neighbor policy and have tried to follow it in order to minimize the impact to the surrounding properties by working with operators to train offsite if at all possible and by also raising the traffic pattern up to a 1000’ for the residents of Oak Knoll. In addition, the fly friendly brochure was developed to provide pilots with an understanding of areas they should not fly near if at all possible. Commission chooses to not respond to the Sneak Preview article. Commission believes it best to continue to work with operators in order to minimize impact to the surrounding area.

B.                 Rate Analysis: Fleury asks Commission if they have any questions or comments towards the rate sheet developed that shows an increase relative to the CPI-U of 2%. Commission felt comfortable with the rate increase after review and comparison to other similar airports. Zeve motions to accept rate increase and recommend to City Council for approval, 2^nd by Graves, all approved. Fleury asks Commission their view of the required non refundable hangar construction deposit as a developer wishes to build a hangar onsite and questions the deposit fee. Fleury states there is no time frame associated with how long the deposit is good for or when it has to be paid. Fleury also states the developer wished to have the fee withdrawn for his proposed development. Commission does not want the fee removed as others have paid it in the past and the money goes directly back into the airport account for maintenance costs. Commission does believe the deposit should have a time frame associated with it so people do not reserve a spot and never build on that site. Motion by Skillman for the deposit to be valid for a 2 year period which can be extended for 1 more year is the developer shows progress towards actual on site construction, 2^nd by Graves, Neilsen opposed all others approve.

C.                 New Commission Members: Fleury informs Commission that the Mayor has appointed two new members to take the place of DeBoer and Scott. The new members are Elizabeth Tripp and Jeff Neilsen. Commission asks if they have been notified directly. Fleury states that the recorders office sends out letters to the new members informing them of their appointment. Commission asks Fleury to verify that new members have indeed been notified. Commission also asks that contact information in the packet be updated to include new Commission members. Existing members welcome new members and give a hearty thanks for the work done by exiting members.

D.                SuperAwos. Fleury states that he was contacted by the FAA due to the fact that the SuperAwos has not been commissioned yet. There is a protocol to follow in order to commission the SuperAwos and Fleury to finalize paperwork and training related items for the FAA. Fleury also states that the FAA is working towards a remedy on their ability to accept the SuperAwos and add into their existing database for weather systems.

E.                 Sky Research. Fleury informs Commission that he had a preliminary meeting with Ben from Sky Research regarding the construction of another hangar on site to support their business operations. Sky currently has another hangar in Denver and is investigating relocating its personnel to Ashland. Trevor from Sky Research informs the Commission that they are indeed in the research phase with regards to hangar construction at Ashland. Trevor states that if Sky does move forward with hangar construction that it would be another year plus away from a start point with another year of construction. Trevor also states that himself or another representative from Sky will attend Commission meetings as time allows to stay abreast of airport business and also inform Commission of Sky’s future onsite plans.

6.      AIRPORT MANAGER REPORT/FBO REPORT/AIRPORT ASSOCIATION:

A.                Status of Airport, Financial Report, Review of Safety Reports: Skinner informs Commission that traffic has increased moderately with the better weather. No other information to report.

B.                 Maintenance Updates: Fleury informs Commission that grindings are available for dirt areas around hangar and he will work with the Street Department to place grindings as their schedule allows. Fleury also states that once the ground dries up enough he will have crews on site to chip existing tree debris and remove from site.

C.                 Brown Bag: No brown bag meeting

D.                Transportation Commission: Wolske has no update with regards to the Transportation Commission.

E.                 Medford Airport Update: Bender has not update with regards to the Medford Airport other then the Master Plan Update continues to move forward.

7.      OTHER:

The meeting of the JC airport commission is the third Monday of the month at 12:00 PM.

8.      NEXT MEETING DATE:  June 7^th, 9:30 AM

ADJOURN:  Meeting adjourned at 11:24