ASHLAND AIRPORT COMMISSION

July 5^th, 2011

MINUTES

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

STAFF: SCOTT FLEURY,

MEMBERS ABSENT: DENNIS SLATTERY

Visitors:  Joseph Rice (Brim Aviation)

1.                  CALL TO ORDER: 9:30 AM

2.                  APPROVAL OF MINUTES: June 7^th, 2011, motion by Skillman for approval, second by Hendrickson, unanimous vote, minutes approved.  

Additional Items:  1: Graves-announcement, 2: Wolske-long term maintenance, 3: Nielsen-loss of use of airport.

3.                  Public Forum: No public comments

4.      OLD BUSINESS:

A.                AIP Project Engineering Design/Connect III: Discussion starts with the extended loss of use of airport due to the closure period extending approximately 2 weeks past what was originally expected. Zeve asks about the process of liquidated damages per the contract with Knife River Materials. Fleury informs Commission that liquidated damages are deducted from the contract total and not available to the City as a monetary source. Fleury states that Knife River did enter into the liquidated damage portion of the contract for failure to open the runway back up after the specified 30 day time limit, but they will make an official request for additional contact days due to poor weather and additional work. Fleury states that the City has yet to receive this formal request and will make a decision regarding liquidated damages after reviewing Knife Rivers request for additional days. Hendrickson believes the Commission should recommend to the City Council that business tenants be relieved by ½ month’s rent for the extended closure. Hendrickson understands what the leases state about the City having the right to close the airport for maintenance and improvements but states that is irrelevant and the City should do the right thing due to the hardships placed on the onsite businesses that rely on fly in traffic to operate. Moen would like the Commission and City to be careful and not set precedence for rent exemptions and that only the overage closure time should be discussed not the regular specified contract closure period. Graves confirms that the discussion should be about extended closure past allotted time and that it is a fairness issue, not a legal issue. Nielsen agrees that this is a good will issue for users. Tripp states that a gesture of good will would go a long way to mend fences with airport business users as it is very difficult for businesses to be closed for a six week time period. Moen asks about the options from the City for this good will effort. Fleury states that he believes a rent reduction on a future payment would be the only option as this would directly affect the airport budget itself. Moen believes that a reduced income into the airport budget is something that allows everyone to share in the burden for the construction. Zeve would like to see this rent reduction on a per business request made directly to the City and this reduction should only be applied to the two week contract time overage. Motion by Hendrickson: Commission recommend via appropriate channels that appropriate amount of relief be granted to effected business owners based on demonstrated hardships due to extended closure duration as a good faith effort by the City; 2^nd by Skillman, all approved. Fleury to discuss with Faught when he returns from vacation and determine best course of action on whether staff or Commission members attend a Council meeting and discuss.

B.                 CAP Hangar Lease: Fleury goes over CAP lease amendment drafted by our Legal Department that allows for first right of refusal by the City. The CAP currently has an offer for $40,000 for the hangar from a private party. The CAP lease amendment is set to go before the Council for approval at the July 19^th meeting. Fleury would also like a recommendation from the Commission to bring to the Council on whether to waive the first right or pursue it. Fleury states that he and Faught have looked through the budget and $40,000 is not available unless a loan is approved for funding. Fleury also states that there will be approximately an additional $20,000 required to bring the hangar up to a commercial standard before the City could rent it out on a per month basis. Zeve believes the hangar to be best suited in the hands of a private owner who could do all required improvements and use the hangar to operate a business out of. Commission believes that since CAP will not donate the hangar to the City that the City should waive its first right of refusal and allow a private party to purchase the hangar outright. The Commission would like to see the City then negotiate in good faith a new long term ground lease with the new owner of the building. Fleury to include that recommendation in the staff report that goes to Council with regards to the CAP lease amendment.

C.                 Airport Users Contact List: Fleury states that per the last letter sent out to users a request for email addresses was made and a few people responded with their emails. Fleury has added these emails into the contact database for future correspondence from the City to users.

D.                Pavement Maintenance Program: Fleury informs Commission that the intergovernmental agreement with the Oregon Department of Aviation for the pavement maintenance program was approved by the City Council at the June 21^st meeting. Fleury has sent all signed documentation back to the ODA and is waiting for a construction schedule with regards to the work that will be performed onsite. Fleury expects there to be minimal issues with closures due to the fact that there will be no work performed on the runway itself, only the taxiways and apron area.

E.                 Graves Announcement: Graves announces that he has accepted an offer the Josephine County to manage their Airports as Alex Grossi the previous manager has retired. Graves was asked by the County Commissioners to relinquish his position on the Ashland Airport Commission in order to focus on his new job duties. Graves states that this will be his last meeting and that he has enjoyed his time working on the Airport Commission over the past few years.

5.      NEW BUSINESS:          

A.                Good Neighbor Policy: No issues raised regarding regular airport operations. Rice from Brim Aviation states that they will be conducting another training session in the near future, but will strive to do a majority of the training offsite as they did with the previous one.

B.                 Zoning Ordinance: Fleury shows Commission the Bend Airport Zoning map and how he would like to develop a similar map to go along with the zoning code change. Fleury states that he has done some basic level work with regards to updating the zoning ordinance and would like assistance from the Commission to at least complete a draft version to send to planning for review and comment. Commission members ask to see all the zoning related work done to date and would like to create a sub-committee at a future meeting to help finish up the zoning update as the airport needs an airport appropriate development code. Fleury to email information to members and work towards development of the draft ordinance. Fleury also states that the parent zone for the Airport is the E-1 zone and that requirements for that zone should be superseded by the new code for airport appropriate development.

C.                 Brim Aviation-original lease: Fleury states that he has been contacted by Brim Aviation regarding a previous discussion with the Commission and City regarding an extension to his current hangar lease for improvements made to the hangar. Fleury would like to know the past history with regards to this issue as it was handled by previous staff. Fleury also states that previous minutes regarding Brims proposed development and lease extension are vague and do not help much. Commission remembers considering the lease extension to accommodate Brim on hangar improvements, but is unaware of any recommendations made with regards to extending the lease past its current expiration date. Fleury also asks Commission about history of Brims proposed development of a parking lot and adjacent hangar because an individual is looking to build a 50x50 hangar and currently the only sites available are held by Brim. Fleury states that Brim has paid a deposit and gone through the planning process to build a hangar and parking lot, but are unsure if the deposit is for one space or two. Commission would like Fleury to determine if the deposit paid was enough for one space or two. Fleury also asks how long should the deposit be valid for as the new approved rate sheet establishes a time limit for the how long the deposit will hold a space for an individual. Zeve asks if Brim has a legal right to the land based on his deposit. Fleury states that he believes Brim has a right to the land currently based on the planning approval to build onsite, but that the planning approval will expire. DeBoer states that he believes the parking lot lease was to be only a temporary solution for Brim and that the spot would be given to an individual willing to  build a hangar. Fleury to investigate Brims planning approvals for the adjacent sites and determine when they expire.

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

A.                Status of Airport, Financial Report, Review of Safety Reports: Skinner informs Commission that operations are pretty much back to normal now that the runway is back open. Skinner also states that the open shade hangars are now being rented. Commission would like to offer future shade hangar renters the ability to enclose the hangar and receive a predetermined amount of rent relief as previously done with the Steve Green hangar.

B.                 Maintenance Updates: Fleury informs Commission that he will be working on the drainage issue for Stan Bartells hangar along with chipping of the downed trees and striping on the taxiways.

C.                 Brown Bag: Moen informs Commission that she attended Brown Bag, but there was no relevant issues regarding the Airport itself.

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

E.                 Medford Airport Update:

7.      OTHER:

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

8.      NEXT MEETING DATE:  August 2^nd, 9:30 AM

ADJOURN:  Meeting adjourned at 11:15