ASHLAND AIRPORT COMMISSION

June 7^th, 2011

MINUTES

MEMBERS PRESENT: LINCOLN ZEVE, SUSAN MOEN, LARRY GRAVES, BOB SKINNER, DAVID WOLSKE, RICHARD HENDRICKSON, JEFF NIELSEN, ELIZABETH TRIPP

STAFF: SCOTT FLEURY, MIKE FAUGHT

MEMBERS ABSENT: DENNIS SLATTERY, WILLIAM SKILLMAN, ALAN BENDER

Visitors:  Nicole Doran(Sky Research)

1.                  CALL TO ORDER: 9:30 AM

2.                  APPROVAL OF MINUTES: May 3^rd, 2011, motion by Wolske for approval, second by Hendrickson, unanimous vote, minutes approved.  

Additional Items:  

3.                  Public Forum: DeBoer states that the Ward property is now in possession of his siblings and that it might be in the best interest of the City to purchase the property and restore it to its original state as the house encroaches into the 7:1 transition slope requirements of FAR 77. The house construction was approved by Jackson County Planning, but the FAA and City of Ashland had issues with its height. DeBoer states that grants might be available from the FAA or ODA to assist in the purchase of the property. Commission would like the City to write a letter to the FAA and ODA regarding purchasing the property and asking for methods of assistance.

4.      OLD BUSINESS:

A.                AIP Project Engineering Design/Connect III: Fleury informs Commission that the planned original runway opening date has been postponed for additional days due to poor site conditions and rainfall that caused extra digouts through the length of the runway. The Contractor did their best to meet original target deadlines for the closure but they were unable to combat the site conditions and weather issues. Fleury asks Commission members if they received the first letter that was sent by the City regarding the runway work. This letter was a trial letter of the new contact data base put together by Fleury in order to contact users for this and future projects at the Airport. Commission members did receive the letter sent from the City. Fleury plans to send additional letters to inform users of exact runway opening date. Commission would like to have Fleury include an email request from any users who would like to be notified by email placed in a future letter.

B.                 FBO Management –Skinner Lease: No change in lease status at this time. Skinner states that he has made a formal request to the City for compensation. Skinner is asking for his monthly payment during the closure period to be waived to offset a small portion of the lost revenue. Skinner states that the City gets this project funded at a 100% while the users bear the weight of lost revenue and ability to use the airport. Wolske thinks the relief should be extended to all airport renters as well. Ridsdale states that the leases do have a section in them regarding the City’s ability to close the airport down for periods of time for construction and maintenance related items, but believes it unethical to not compensate users due to the length of the closure. Graves asks if there are grant line items for relief for users during closure periods. Fleury believes that the FAA does not compensate users during closure periods, but will check. Faught states that this project is similar to other street projects where roads are closed for construction activities and compensation is not provided. Construction projects would not take place if all users would need to be compensated during the projects as the budget would be to inflated to accommodate this item.

C.                 CAP Hangar lease: Faught states that the CAP lease addendum is scheduled to go before the City Council at the June 21^st meeting for approval. The lease addendum will give the City first right of refusal to purchase the hangar from the CAP and allow the hangar to remain onsite. Zeve asks for the process of events leading up to CAP selling the hangar? Faught states that the Legal Department is drafting the addendum which will go before council for review and approval. After approval the City will need to determine if it is in the best interest to purchase the hangar and repair or allow the CAP to sell the hangar outright. Commission would like to have the ability to make a recommendation to the Council on whether or not to purchase the hangar outright or let CAP sell it to a third party. Faught states that he will push the timeline back a bit and understands the Commission stance on the issue. Faught and Fleury will inform CAP that the process will take a while longer as the City determines its final course of action. DeBoer states that the City should verify with CAP that they do indeed have the right to sell the property outright since it was Air force Surplus equipment donated to the CAP. Fleury and Faught to discuss with the CAP. DeBoer states that the CAP should follow all rules associated with selling or donating the hangar and that the City should accept the hangar as a donation if offered, if it is not offered then the City should with the help of the Airport Commission determine the best course of action towards using the first right of refusal clause in the lease addendum. Commission agrees and would like to see more financial data at the next meeting relative to purchasing the hangar or allowing the hangar to be sold outright.

D.                Rate Analysis: Fleury states that the recommended rate sheet will go before the City Council for approval at the June 21^st meeting. Once the rate sheet is adopted by resolution the new rates will take effect July 1, 2011. Skinner asks to be supplied with the updated rate sheet once Council approves it.

E.                 Sky Research: Nicole Dorn at meeting to discuss future status of Sky Research. Sky Research is growing and has a backlog of business. They are continuing their analysis of building another hangar onsite to move people from their Denver operation to Ashland. They will be applying for a Connect Oregon 4 grant to assist them in development of the possible hangar onsite. Dorn also states that Sky will be installing an automated external defibrillator (AED) in their hangar and will have people trained to use it. Sky Research will keep the Commission abreast of their plans for the future development.

5.      NEW BUSINESS:          

A.                Good Neighbor Policy: Zeve states that Brim concluded another training regimen for Chinese police officers in the development of their search and rescue program and the majority of training occurred offsite. Skinner states that he was contacted by a couple individuals regarding the onsite helicopter operations that where occurring the previous week. Skinner stated that he informed these individuals that Brim was performing long line certification training onsite that would last approximately 1 to 1.5 hours a day for 4 days.

B.                 Pavement Maintenance Program: Fleury informs Commission that the Oregon Department of Aviation (ODA) pavement maintenance program for summer of 2011 is in full swing and the City will participate. There is a current consent agenda item for the City Council to approve an intergovernmental agreement with the ODA. This intergovernmental agreement allows the ODA to work directly with the FAA to recoup the City’s required 10% match on the project. The 10% match will come from the City’s yearly non-primary entitle monies. The expected project budget for taxiway crack sealing, patching and pavement overlay will be $40,000 with the City’s match at $4,000. Fleury has not been notified of a timeline for the construction activities yet, but assumes that they will take place later this summer. Once a schedule has been determined he will forward to all users. Fleury does not expect any significant closures due to the work that will be performed.

C.                 Airport Minutes: Commission members state they have received emails regarding the City’s website posting of minutes and how minutes are missing and not archived. Fleury states he has not received any information regarding this issue, but will speak with Barbara and Ann regarding the minutes and send an email out to Commission regarding status.

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

A.                Status of Airport, Financial Report, Review of Safety Reports: Skinner informs Commission that with the runway being closed there has been no activity other then helicopter operations.  

B.                 Maintenance Updates: Fleury states that he is trying to get the work crews onsite to chip cut down trees as soon as possible. In addition, the Parks will be onsite to mow the grass down to meet the June 15^th deadline to trim anything over 18” tall.

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 was not in attendance.

7.      OTHER:

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

8.      NEXT MEETING DATE:  July 5^th, 9:30 AM

ADJOURN:  Meeting adjourned at 11:15