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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-16-2003MINUTES OF THE DECEMBER AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD MEETING 12-16-03 The meeting was called to order by the Bill Peloza Chairman of the Auburn Airport Advisory Board. The board members present were Bud Buchanan, Rodger Campbell, Don Rottle, and Ron Wanttaja Staff present: Planning Director Paul Krauss; Finance Director Shelley Coleman; Safety Manager Mark Ellingson; Carolyn Brown, Planning Department Secretary. Visitors are Ray Richcreek, Lorelei Mesic of W&H Pacific, Jamelle Garcia with Auburn Flight Service, John Gallo, Jan Bouchard Motion by Rodger Campbell and second by Bud Buchanan to approve the minutes of the November 18, 2003 meeting as read. First item of old business is updates on the FAA//GPS / Remote Transmitter. Planning Director Krauss heard there has been action and the requests seem to be moving forward. Lorelei Mesic with W&H Pacific met with Jamelle Garcia, of Auburn Flight Services and Lorelei reported that the Seattle office came up with a slightly revised approach and submitted that new information to the office in Oklahoma City. It is a possibility that a remote transmitter may not be needed as they may use one of the frequencies on the hill that Seattle can already access. Planning Director Krauss talked to Paul Nelson at the FAA. He said the board was ordered to repair reels at the end of the runway. Jamelle went over some of the past conversations with the FAA. A "Com check" is scheduled for sometime in January. At this time the FAA is noncommittal. Jamelle indicated the request would be a high priority. Item 2 is an update on the contract for the Airport Management/Operations. The City Council approved the contract December 15. Planning Director Krauss said the term of the contract is through December of 2008. Rodger asked Jamelle if was satisfied with the contract and Jamelle answered yes. Planning Director Krauss said the Airport Advisory Board (AAB) will still work the same way, except Jamelle is now the "go to" person. Jamelle said he wants to continued to use the board in the same capacity as in the past. The board would still make recommendations and would act as an intermediary between tenants and management. Since Chairman Peloza is now a City Council person he is no longer on the board and will go to Muni Services committee and work with them. Item 3 is the delinquent tenant account status One of the tenants is six months behind. Safety Manager Ellingson has not had a chance to make calls and there is one tenant who is six months behind with hangar fees. Planning Director Krauss has talked to Finance Director Shelley Coleman about charging a delinquency fee. Finance is still working on the software that will calculate a fee. Planning Director Krauss reminded the board that any evictions are regulated by the state RCW. Safety Manager Ellingson will check with airport staff before they go forward. It would be possible for the City to auction off any of the planes said Planning Director Krauss. On item 4 regarding the airport security reports. Safety Manager Ellingson said the only comment is on the problems with the two swinging gates on the east side. Staff will shut down the gates after 5:00 pm. Also, the City has information on bids to fix the gates. 5 is information on the December 10 meeting on Auburn Good Old Days (2004). Chairman Peloza said he assigned action items to attendees and there appears to be a lot of interest again this year. Discussed previous years connection. There will another meeting in January. Groups expressing interest are the Young Eagles, Civil Air Patrol, experimental aircraft, Museum of Flight, Boeing Flying Club, The Olympia Flight Museum, Air National Guard, remote control flying lawn mower, classic helicopter and airlift and others. The south parking area is the best area for the display. Chairman Peloza also mentioned the possibility of a hot air balloon glow at the airport. Item 6 is the issue of hangar vacancies and Ray Richcreek asked if the City could possibly forgo the increase until next year. The Board then discussed the rent increase by the City. It seemed to be that a rent increase = hangar vacancies. Chairman Peloza said it is a discussion among airport communities that some airports reduce rates during business downturn. Planning Director Krauss stated that is why the City decided to go with private management because they can be more creative with incentives, advertising, etc. At this time the business environment is the possible problem. There was a question as Page 1 MINUTES OF THE DECEMBER AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD MEETING 12-16-03 to how many hangar vacancies there are and Safety Manager Ellingson answered about a dozen. The outside tie-down area has the highest percentage of vacancies. Planning Director Krauss added that at this time nobody wants a tie-down. Privately built hangars seem to be filled quickly, however. Ray Richcreek said that he would like to know the percentage of planes moved from tie-down to leased hangars. Airport Development is item 7. Jamelle said he will make recommendations to the AAB about possible development. Planning Director Krauss discussed the easement past Reynolds/ Ingrus properties and the disputed easement through their storage area. Hangars Unlimited has had their rent doubled because they have not finished the project. Discussed the current private ownership of hangars. Item 8 is the aerial view of the Airport (showing hangar space, tie-down space, undeveloped property). A photo was made available the meeting. Safety Manager Ellingson discussed item 9, which is the faulty airport entrance gate mechanism and whether to fix or replace. Staff to review and Safety Manager Ellingson said the City received 1 bid about the gate from Tegco Fence. The gate clutch is non-functional at this time. Also, it has been suggested to replace the mechanism of the middle gate by hangar row 8. 10. Staff to respond to the Gary Coon letter regarding damage during the heavy rains in October. Planning Director Krauss said the city did get an estimate on the repair of the canvas doors. Jamelle added that he will respond to the inquiry. Item 11 is the helicopter concerns and Chairman Peloza would like to see this issue continue on the agenda. John Gallo discussed the midway and close to the south end areas as a good location for the landing pad. NEW BUSINESS Item 1 is the revised phasing for runway overlay presented by Lorelei Mesic with W&H Pacific. She provided a hand out of the phasing plans. They added edge drains per the FAA requirement. The FAA is funding the whole project now. The new authorization bill the FAA has will now fund 95% in the future so the City matching funds will be 5%. Lorelei said the authorization has to pass through Congress. Planning Director Krauss added that FAA can't commit until the bill is signed. Lorelei conceded that the construction of edge drains added some time to the project construction. They are trying to limit runway closure. Phase one closes the south half of runway (1600 ft) for 16 days. The construction will fix the dip at this time. Pilots will be made aware of the project by Notums, the crews will turn off the run way lights, have a big fabric yellow X, there will be temporary threshold lights and will have 1600 useable feet. Ron Wanttaja said also there will be a notation on the Super Unicom. Jamelle will be in charge of the notices for pilots. At this time W&H Pacific won't know what 100% of the schedule will be until they get the contract on board and will bid with overrun charges. Chairman Peloza said he is worried about the quality of work if the time period is shortened. Lorelei said there is an Incentive to get it done, but not an incentive to rush the job. Jamelle asked about working at night. Planning Director Krauss said the standard time by the City is until 10:00 pm but in this neighborhood it won't be an issue if they work later, as there is no residential. Jan asked what is the time frame. Lorelei answered 40 days total. Jan wanted to know if the taxiways are involved. Lorelei answered that only the first five to fifteen feet in order to taper off. Chairman Peloza asked if W&H Pacific could pursue the option of a double shift. Shelley Coleman asked about the bidding process if there were longer work hour options. Jamelle asked Lorelei to go over the timing. Lorelei said they will go to bid in February and work will start in July. Ron Wanttaja noted that the dates are very close to Good Old days which is scheduled for August 7. They will need an entire runway for the aircraft. Lorelei will put in the contract that the runway will be needed that day. Page 2 MINUTES OF THE DECEMBER AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD MEETING 12-16-03 Planning Director Krauss said non-weekend days would work better. Lorelei said ideally they will have a good day with the contractor and can adjust the timing as they go. Night work would be an extra cost and it would be better to pave at daytime. Jamelle asked about rain outs. Lorelei answered that weather days are included in the contract. Chairman Peloza asked Lorelei to come back to the January meeting. Jamelle said he will talk later to Lorelei about the new information the Board would like to see. Lorelei said they could ask for the first 16 days to be at night with the rest of project throughout the day. Ron asked if a notice to be sent to the airport in April. Lorelei answered that W&H Pacific will have someone on site during work and will also put out the notices. Lorelei discussed the inspection process and said they will try to get things resolved before the next meeting. 2. Chairman Peloza will no longer be on the Board as he has been elected a City Council Member. The Mayor will appoint a new board member and then that person will be confirmed at council. Would like to have candidates apply to the mayor's office. Also, there will need to be a new chair elected for the AAB. Chairman Peloza nominated Ron Wanttaja for chair. Rodger Campbell made the motion and Bud Buchanan seconded. The rest of the Board concurred. Ron was approved as the new chair. Ray Richcreek added information from WASDOT regarding a study group for aviation search and rescue. Legislature wants to put money allocated for search and rescue into the general fund. Jamelle will look into this issue. He will meet with Planning Director Krauss and see if anything can be done. Jamelle asked if any thing is happening with Iouri's planes. Planning Director Krauss said the meeting was to bring account into current status. Jamelle will meet with Iouri. Adjourn at 9:15 am Next Meeting January 20, 2004 @ 8:00 am in Room 1 of Auburn City Hall Page 3