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Agendas and Minutes

Airport Committee (View All)

Airport Commission Regular Meeting

Agenda
Tuesday, December 07, 2021

ASHLAND AIRPORT COMMISSION
FINAL MINUTES
December 7^th, 2021

CALL TO ORDER: @ 9:30am

Roll Call: Meeting Recorded
Members Present: Andrew Vandenberg, Jeff Dahle, Jerry Campbell, Patricia Herdklotz, Bernard Spera, David Wolske, Daniel Palomino
FBO Present: Bob Skinner
Members Absent: George Schoen
Council Member Present: Shaun Moran
Staff Present: Chance Metcalf, Kaylea Kathol
Guests: None

1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - 09/07/21
Spera moves to approve minutes as written, Campbell seconds, All ayes, motion carries.

2. Commissioner Announcements – Dahle reminds committee about agreement to meet twice annually. Will need to discuss when those days will be. Dahle announces he wants to discuss annual goals of the committee after the new year. Herdklotz wishes to discuss airplane crash near Medford Airport on 12/6/21. Relays details about the crash that are known to date. Two people in the plane died. It is too soon to know what went wrong. Skinner acknowledges that there are various rumors going around, but what is known is that the plane had just fueled up and that it was foggy, and that the air traffic tower was warning them that their altitude was too low.

3. Public Forum – None

4. Unfinished Business:

Airport Security – working group update. Wolske spoke that he met with Skinner on 12/2/21. They determined increased signage at main driveway and upper driveway should be improved. Existing signage is too small, too infrequent, and should be more “eye catching”. Discussed better surveillance cameras to monitor issues, like hydrants where water theft occurs, and better resolution to pick up license plates. Discussed motion-detection lighting. Discussed asking the City for more police presence at night. Discussed fencing and gating but felt like it was a less attractive option at this point. There are four access points, and some of those points are extremely difficult to secure, requires special permits and authorizations. Nor has fencing ever been prioritized in the budget. Determined that it would be most effective to pursue the affordable, easier solutions first. Metcalf spoke that the Master Plan does include a long-term provision for fencing. Current priorities include taxiway rehab, then north apron expansion, then other side of apron expansion and fuel tank relocation, then fencing. Fencing is about 10 years down the road and qualifies to be funded by FAA dollars. It is an expensive project. Metcalf discourages trying to do this with our own budget when the FAA is willing to fund it in the future.

Metcalf explains that any camera install needs to be approved by Council.Cameras of the caliber the Commission desires are extremely expensive, up to $15,000 if installed in-house.Wolske believes the cameras should cost $300 and they don’t need to be high-resolution, just visible to the public.Dahle agrees that even low-resolution cameras would be helpful.Dahle will leave this on the agenda to discuss again in Jan 2022.

Metcalf said the City can accommodate signage and will wait for the Commission to provide feedback on how the new signs should look.Metcalf explained that the police have a strong presence at the airport and document all their trips.

Airport Solar Project Update – Metcalf showed Ashland Solar Co-op Proposal to City (attached to agenda). Next steps include numerous reviews amongst City departments, ending with Council review and approval. About 7 reviews/approvals are needed. Questions followed about future limitations and maintenance responsibilities. Wolske wanted to know more about the value of what Co-op is offering the City: $6k per year lease payment, or electricity offset of 17kw. Believes having 17kw backup power would be better than cash in the event of an emergency. Chance explained that the 17kw would only provide backup power if we had a battery system (roughly $75k-80k). Suggested the $6k payment would be more useful, and that we could buy in later to the 17kw if that became a better option. Discussion followed regarding the airport’s minimal load to keep operating in the event of emergency. Commission discussed preference of battery backup vs. emergency generator. Commission did not feel there was enough information at this early stage (specifically cost comparisons) to determine whether a lease fee of a power buy in were better options.

Wolske Moves to approve Solar proposal move forward in the review process by various City departments, to be brought back to commission at later date with lease and electrical cost comparisons. Herdklotz Seconds. Pass unanimous 10:14.

D. Action Item List-

a. Commission Member Vacancies – Two very qualified candidates. One was selected and is on the consent agenda for the 12/7/21 Council Meeting for placement on commission. Metcalf asked whether anyone has heard from George Schoen, who has missed four or five meetings now. Dahle will follow up with George to see how he is doing.

b. Airport Maintenance Plan – No Action.

c. Flight Path Trees - Kathol stated contract is moving forward as scheduled.

d. Airport Emergency Preparedness – Police and Fire Chief and Public Works Director have made their comments. Campbell and Pat will complete edits and will bring back to Commission in January.

5. New Business:

Out of Service Aircrafts – Skinner explains that one of the aircraft has been abandoned. Is no longer registered, owner is deceased, estate is unresponsive. Skinner thinks City may need to take ownership of the aircraft in order to dispose of it. Skinner and Chance will do more research to determine what to do with the aircraft. The second out-of-service aircraft is Skinners. The third is a customer who is current on their month-by-month tie-down payments but hasn’t left the ground in about 10 years and the plane is derelict. Commission discussed if a policy could be created that would prevent the apron from becoming a long-term storage area. Keep on unfinished business.

Capital Budget Update – Metcalf presented a snapshot of the capital budget. Outlay is projected to have an overage of about $22k. That will be coming out of the next year in the biennium, leaving us with about $38k next fiscal year. Capital Projects – Projection is that we will be $1671 under budget at the end of the FY. More expenses coming next fiscal year in the biennium. We will have little extra money in either budget. We are fully committed for current fiscal year. Skinner questioned how often tree trimming would occur so we can better plan for it. City is unsure of how frequently this will need to happen – City is unable to accurately predict tree growth. The City has done as much as possible to ensure this is something we will not need to do too frequently. Moran wants to know why the City isn’t doing this work because there is a full time FTE in public works whose job is tree trimming. Metcalf explains that City cannot work on private property. Spera wants to know if anyone from the City has approached the property owners and asked to remove trees. Kathol explained that many owners have already voice opposition to removing trees and staff will not further pursue this. However, the commission is welcome to serve as an ambassador for tree removal if they wish to reach out to owners. Owner’s contact information is publicly available on the Jackson County Property Data website.

Airport: Good Neighbor Items – Skinner reports no issues.

6. FBO REPORTS - Skinner has nothing to add to reports.

7.    Next Meeting Agenda Items – Mission Statement & Goals, Airport Security, In person meeting dates

8.    Next Meeting Date - 1/04/22

   ADJOURNMENT: @ 10:40am
Respectfully submitted,
Chance Metcalf
Project Manager (Recording Available by Request)