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Airport Commission Regular Meeting Minutes 7-6-2010

Agenda
Tuesday, July 06, 2010

 

ASHLAND AIRPORT COMMISSION

July 6, 2010

 

MINUTES

 

 

 

MEMBERS PRESENT: ALAN DEBOER, DAVID WOLSKE, LINCOLN ZEVE, BILL SKILLMAN,  SUSAN MOEN ALAN BENDER, RICHARD HENDRICKSON, LARRY GRAVES

STAFF: SCOTT FLEURY, MIKE FAUGHT

MEMBERS ABSENT: TREG SCOTT, BOB SKINNER, RUSS SILBIGER

Visitors:  Joseph Rice, Burl Brim

CALL TO ORDER:                   9:32 AM

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: May 4, motion by Skillman for approval, second by Moen, unanimous vote, minutes approved as written.

 

Additional Items:  

 

Public Forum: No discussion

 

OLD BUSINESS:

A.     AIP Project Engineering Design: Fleury informs Commission that two bids were received by the July 2nd date. The two bidders were Knife River Materials and Johhny Cat Inc. Knife River Materials had the low bid of $1,285,969. A letter of recommendation to award was sent to the FAA along with the bidding documents for review. Based on the availability of FAA funding there is a hold period associated with the bidding documents of 120 days. Within 120 days the City of Ashland should receive word from the FAA on whether funding for the project will be this calendar year. If there is no funding then the project will be canceled and re-bid next year with the same conditions. The Connect III grants for rural airports will be determined soon and the City of Ashland will hopefully receive a grant for the 5% match of the design portion for the AIP. The second Connect III grant for the construction 5% match will rely on the award of the construction grant from the FAA. If the City does not receive a grant award for the construction portion of the project this year then it will not receive the Connect III grant money.

B.      Educational Curriculum: No new updates regarding the development of an educational curriculum with Science Works. Fleury to move this item to the task list, Graves and Scott to update Commission as more information becomes available.

C.    Neil Creek Riparian Restoration: Wolske has called the Environmental Studies Department of SOU and left messages regarding a possible riparian project for an upper level or grad. Student. He has not heard back from the school, possibly because it is summer. Bender believes that other Institutions might be interested if SOU does not show an interest in the project. Wolske would like to see the two creeks on Airport property returned to their natural habitat. Wolske to keep working towards goal. Concept of camping on site comes up again, but Commission agrees that due to the cost of improvements and current lack of funds for improvement that the camping idea should be shelved for the time being.

 

 

NEW BUSINESS:        

A.     Good Neighbor Policy: Fleury asks the Commission what exactly is their concept of the Good Neighbor Policy and how do we promote it? Fleury also mentions that he has spoken with a few property owners regarding the safety and noise of on-site helicopter operations. Brim also informs commission that he has met with some property owners to discuss his operations. Brim states that they have the preliminary sound study in hand and will have a final soon that they can share with the Commission. Moen states that even after we review the independent sound study Brim paid for, the City should also have an independent study done to validate or dispute Brim Aviations study. Fleury states that he has been working with the FAA about adding a sound study to next years AIP project list.  Graves reiterates the fact that the study was done by an independent sound engineer from Portland. Brim states that the engineer was recommended by ODOT and has performed studies for them in the past. The main issue with the helicopter operation as discussed is the noise signature and duration that is why Brim tries to train off site as much as possible. Bad weather days require them to train on site and certain training requirements, but the rest of the time they fly off site. DeBoer states that when some aircraft training is done during the day on site, for example touch and go’s, the FBO receives noise complaints. The helicopter operation will continue to receive complaints it will just be a matter of trying to minimize the impact to the surrounding community and informing citizens of airport operations. Wolske believes that the Airport Commission should not make a direct policy if they do not have to. The Commission should try and head things off before they enter a formal process. Hendrickson would like to meet with a group from the community to discuss noise issues. Rice mentions that at his previous workplace they setup a noise complaint hotline. It was a message phone that the employees would review daily for complaints and process them. Commission believes that Brim Aviation should try and develop an email contact point that would allow people to register to be kept up to date on operations along with Brim posting information regarding training schedules on his website. Commission would also like to see positive stories come from Brim Aviation regarding the benefits of search and rescue training, how it affects people locally and worldwide. DeBoer comments that the City and Airport Commission should make sure that all revenue that is required by leases and flowage is being paid by all and that the Commission should be able to see the payment status of these items that are not shown on the FBO report. DeBoer also states that Brim should be following the rules for hovering at an airport, that hovering should take place in a safe centralized location and that Brim Aviation should fly off site as much as possible to avoid complaints. The FBO should address any safety concerns on site as soon as possible. Brim states that he is flying with FAA regulations and that he plans to train off site as much as possible.

B.      Airport Users Group: Hendrickson informs Commission that a users group notice was sent out in the monthly billing so they are waiting to hear back from people regarding memberships. Hendrickson thanks Skinner for putting information in the billing. DeBoer has equipment that he can donate to Skinner for sale with the proceeds going to the users group. Wolske states that they will be starting from scratch and is not sure if they will have to become a 501c3. Their will need to be significant interest by Ashland aviation community to move forward with re-development of the users group. Hendrickson will discuss the Airport Users Group with the AOPA to determine if they are required to be a 510c3. Updates to follow at the next meeting.

 

 

C.    Airport Reliever: Bender states that the motivation for pursuit of the reliever designation is for additional funding for improvements at the Airport. Bender states that the rules for becoming a reliever do not account for variables such as weather limitations from fog during the winter months and that limitation has the possibility to increase due to the fact that Medford will no longer be seeding in winter. Is Ashland Airports case special enough to push forward with more inquires regarding the reliever designation? Majority of Commission members believe that we should move on and let issue be.  

D.     Transportation Commission: Wolske informs Commission that he was introduced at the last meeting as an ex-officio member. The main topic of discussion at the previous meeting was bicycles as part of the transportation system. Wolske will keep attending meetings and update the Airport Commission. Hendrickson offers to attend in place of Wolske if he is unable to make a meeting. 

 

 

AIRPORT MANAGER REPORT/FBO REPORT/AIRPORT ASSOCIATION:

A.                 Status of Airport, Financial Report, Review of Safety Reports: Skinner absent from meeting.  

 

B.                  Maintenance Updates – Fleury informs Commission that new budget year has started and he will begin with improvement projects as time and budget allow. Fleury to have the street department fabric signs that state Airport is under video surveillance along with working towards purchasing and installing video cameras on site.  

 

C.                Brown Bag:

 

 

OTHER:

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

 

NEXT MEETING DATE:  August 3rd, 9:30 AM

 

ADJOURN:  Meeting adjourned at 11:17

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