Agendas and Minutes

Airport Committee (View All)

Airport Commission Regular Meeting Minutes

Agenda
Tuesday, February 03, 2015

 
ASHLAND AIRPORT COMMISSION
February 3, 2015
 
MINUTES
 
 
 
 
Members Present: Elizabeth Tripp, David Wolske, Alan DeBoer, Lincoln Zeve, Bill Skillman, Burl Brim, William Butler,  Susan Moen, Nicole Doran, Stefani Seffinger and Michael Morris
Staff: Scott Fleury and Dave Lohman (City Attorney)
Members Absent: Bob Skinner
Visitors: Joyce Woods, John Prochniak and Alan Bender
 
CALL TO ORDER: 9:30AM
 
1.APPROVAL OF MINUTES: January 6, 2015 motion by DeBoer for approval, second by Skillman minutes approved as written.  
 
2.Agenda Item Addition: Mike Morris introduces Stefani Seffinger as the new Council Liaison to the Airport Commission. Commission welcomes Stefani and states if she has any questions don’t hesitate to ask.
 
3.Public Forum: No public discussion.
 
4.OLD BUSINESS:
 
A.FBO Lease: Skinner is not present at meeting. Staff informs Commission the fully edited document was forwarded to Skinner for review. The Legal Department is going to contact Skinners aviation insurer to discuss appropriate insurance requirements for FBO’s including pollution insurance. There were a couple questions generated by Legal in the lease that Skinner will need to respond to.
 
B.AIP Project: Staff informs Commission the project is in the closeout phase as the engineer is putting together all project documentation. A first payment of $321,476 was made to Knife River Materials for the project. A final payment will be made when the engineer verifies all the quantities based on survey data. Staff will then need to make a grant reimbursement request to the FAA through the Delphi invoicing system. Staff is also updating the current six year CIP with the FAA to include the rehabilitation of the parallel taxiway. This project will be slated for engineering in 2018 and construction in 2019.
 
C.Airport Zoning: Staff states the draft code language created by Severson and Molnar is in the packet. Staff has reviewed the language and has a couple comments that will be sent to Severson. The comments include the parking ratio appears to be high for general aviation hangars and there should be more explanation regarding this. There does not appear to be anything in the updated code that reflects landscaping requirements/issues. Staff would also like a breakdown of how Commercial hangars will be treated during site review is this is not currently addressed in the overlay language. Wolske would like to see a definition of terms added for clarity. Staff to discuss with Planning. Staff believes Planning will take the item before the Planning Commission as a study session agenda item in February. Staff to update Commission in March on progress.
 
D.Self Fueling Permit: Commission discusses status of self fueling permit. Brim states he has a potential conflict of interest on this agenda item and would like to present information but not participate in any discussion or vote on any potential motions. Commission agrees on this procedure.
 
John Prochniak from Brim Aviation reviewed the example permits sent over by staff and generated a couple questions for clarification. Prochniak asked about the process itself and how it came about. Commission clarifies they requested a self fueling standard that would apply to all operators onsite. Appropriate flowage fees and safety standards are critical items for the Commission. They asked Brim to weigh in on the issue as currently he is the only commercial operator onsite that dispenses fuel into his own equipment. Prochniak states a couple issues with the current language, one being the requirement to state certify the meters as the fuel is not for sale commercially. The other is the proof of ownership documentation requirement as they sometimes fuel up people directly associated with Brim operations. Commission does not want to see a permit that is more restrictive than the current regulations for fueling imposed on the FBO. Brim proposes a monthly inventory of fuel flowage and payments quarterly. Brim pays tax on the fuel that gets delivered and states a majority of the fuel is not dispensed onsite. Commission states a primary concern is the income potential of the FBO and their primary service of fuel sales if another operator habitually fuels non-owned aircraft. Prochniak and Brim understand and they believe as part of a commercial operation they should be able to fuel up people who are considered agents, officers and partners they are working with. Commission expects staff and Brim to continue to work together on development of the self fueling regulations. A final draft permit will come before the Commission prior to being sent back to Legal for approval.
 
E.Enclosure of Hangars: Staff informs Commission that Mockeridge Engineering does not have the required insurance levels to enter into a contract with the City for the design work and does not plan to increase his insurance levels. Staff to discuss with Skinner the possibility of contracting directly with Mockeridge for the engineering design. 
 
5.NEW BUSINESS:
 
A.Airport Good Neighbor Items: Commission discussed the email from Mrs. Voget regarding the zoning code changes and asks staff to clarify the process in general to her directly. Staff to draft email response to Mrs. Voget. Staff states the City Administrator is drafting a response to Council regarding Mrs. Lewis’s email about the disbanding of the Airport Commission. Commission does not discuss items further. 
 
B.Commission Vacancy/Applications: Staff informs Commission that letters of reappointment should be sent out from the Recorders office shortly if they have not been already. Nicole sent in a letter of resignation and will not reapply. Staff states there was one candidate from the previous go round that is still interested in becoming a member. Staff encourages Commissioners to discuss with any interested parties the future opening. New appointments typically occur in April. Re-appointments will be notified at the same time as new appointments.
 
C.Future Agenda Items: Staff asks Commission if they have any agenda items they would like to discuss at future meetings. Butler states he has a presentation regarding instrument approaches that he can bring in and show the Commission. Staff to add this to the next agenda. Commission interested in the airport budget breakdown for the next biennium. Staff to bring budget materials to the next meeting as well.
 
D.Ethics Training: Dave Lohman the City Attorney is in attendance to discuss Commission ethics and operating policies. Lohman explains the Commissions role is to advise the Council on the function and management of the Airport and to search for public and private funding for improvements to the facility. The Chair is to give a report to Council once a year on Airport projects and issues. Lohman explains the Commission appointment process and how the code is written to appoint individuals who have a vested interest in aviation and the successful operation of the Airport. Each Commissioner serves a three year term and can serve two consecutive terms. After two consecutive terms the Council can appointment someone new to the Commission if they believe it is in the best interest of the City. Commissioners need to attend 75% of the meetings in a given year and the number of total meetings held by the Commission is up to the Commission itself. Advance warning should be given to the Chair or staff if a member will miss a meeting. The operating rules allow a member to participate by phone or internet. Commission attendance is to be reported to the Recorder every six months.
 
Each Commission has an assigned Council Liaison. Council liaisons can express personal views if they make it known they are not part of the Council opinion or direction. Liaisons are not here to influence the Commission.
 
Commission cannot discuss Commission business at a gathering if a quorum exists as it would be a violation of public meeting law. Public notice must be given 36 hours in advance of a meeting.
 
Five Commissioners make a quorum. If a quorum does not exist the remaining members can listen to items but not deliberate. Staff must take notes not minutes of what transpired.
 
Email can constitute a serial meeting if Commissioners respond to each other as a discussion. Staff states all emails are sent out using bcc in order to remove the option of reply all and developing a discussion via email.
 
Each Commission is free to make up its own operating rules and the Council has adopted a striped down version of Roberts Rules of Order. Commissioners can bring individual research and information to the Commission for discussion. Commissioners are to be impartial and represent the public interest as their primary concern. The Commission cannot be used to obtain anything of value that would otherwise not be available. In addition, Commissioners cannot solicit gifts or information for a financial gain. A gift is defined as something of value that is given to a Commission or family member that is not extended to the general public and the gift is given by a source with an economic interest in Commission business. Oregon law allows a maximum valuation to gifts of $50.00 per year. Lohman clarifies that airport publications related to airport affairs would not constitute a gift.
 
Lohman discusses conflicts of interest and states questions you should ask yourself as a Commissioner; is there a financial impact either positive or negative with a for profit business either public or private; is the Commission going to make a decision about an item that generates a financial impact?
 
There are options regarding conflicts of interest. Commission members must declare all potential or actual conflicts of interest each time they exist as part of a discussion item on the agenda. Commissioners can either state their potential conflict, recuse themselves from the discussion or leave the room. If Commissioners state a potential conflict of interest they can participate but need to act impartially and with the best interest of the public in mind. If an actual conflict of interest exists with monetary gain/loss Commissioners need to recuse themselves.
 
Lohman discusses public records requirements. All emails that discuss Commission business should go to staff directly. If a Commissioner does Commission business on a personal computer, those documents could be part of a public records request. Lohman states as a rule in general all emails with Commission business should be sent to staff so only staff’s computer emails/documents will be required in a public records request.
 
Lohman states his role is to help navigate rules and procedures and give the Commission his best thinking opinion. He is however not a shield against the State with respect to ethics violations. If the Commission or staff have any operating/procedural questions they can discuss directly with Lohman. Lohman can also attend specific meetings in general were the Commission would have specific financially related items to discuss, one of these being the rental rate discussion meeting.
 
6.AIRPORT MANAGER REPORT/FBO REPORT/AIRPORT ASSOCIATION:
 
A.Status of Airport, Financial Report, Review of Safety Reports: Skinner absent from meeting to give status update.
 
B.Maintenance Updates: No updates.
 
C.Brown Bag: Wolske stated he attended and believes this meeting is an important venue for commissioners to openly discuss issues. The Mayor discussed his state of the City vision at the previous brown bag.
 
D.Transportation Commission: No update.  
 
E.Medford Airport: Alan Bender gives brief update regarding Medford Airport operations. 2014 was a record year for commercial traffic and this was partly due to Klamath Falls not having scheduled commercial traffic anymore. Allegiant will start their Medford to Mesa flight soon. General Aviation is also improving as fuel prices drop.
 
F.Action Item List: Task list updated.
 
G.Airport Day/Marketing: Airport Appreciation Day subcommittee meeting scheduled for right after regular meeting.
 
H.Airport Users Group: No update.
 
OTHER:
The meeting of the JC airport commission is the third Monday of the month at 12:00 PM.
  
NEXT MEETING DATE:  March 3, 2015 beginning at 9:30 AM
 
ADJOURN:  Meeting adjourned at 11:13 AM

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