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Aviation Advisory Board Minutes - 09/21/2006MINUTES AVIATION ADVISORY BOARD September 21, 2006 CITY CLERK'S OFFICE Date __ U 1 _of. L-- � PRESENT: Vernon Nesmith, Chairman Board Members Sid Gills Maj. Elizabeth O'Malley Dana Mills Monica Morris City Staff John Burrus Benny Hilburn FAA Liaison to AETC I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairman Nesmith at 5:35pm. II. ROLL CALL Members were asked to make sure they signed in for the meeting. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Time 3 The minutes from the June 20, 2006 minutes were not approved as the meeting did not have a quorum. They will be placed on the agenda for approval at the November meeting. IV. REGULAR AGENDA 1. Municipal Airport Update • Military Airports Program grant application update — Board members had previously been informed by email that the city did not receive funding under the MAP program. Ms. Morris provided the board members with a copy of the press release of the airports which were awarded funding. While staff believed the short remaining term of the lease with Sheppard AFB may have been the reason for our denial, it also appeared that the projects funded were items not typically AIP eligible (such as terminal and hangar projects) and in dollar amounts much lower than our application. City staff plans to meet with Mike Nicely and Guillermo Villalobos with the AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD APRIL 13, 2006 Page 1 of 5 +� FAA to discuss alternate sources of funding for the projects identified, specifically the Taxiway C repairs. Mr. Gills expressed concern over the possibility of the city acquiring Runway 17/35 under the new lease agreement in its poor condition and what the city's responsibilities would be to repair the runway if no funding source could be obtained from FAA for the repairs. Maj. O'Malley said that this is something that should be considered in the lease negotiations and the city's decision to accept the runway in the new lease agreement or not. DHA/TSA Threat Condition Level Orange — Ms. Morris reported that the effects of moving to Level Orange on the 10th of August were relatively minor and affected primarily the passenger screening, but did not cause the delays seen in the larger airports. She also reported that she requested additional patrols from WFPD and DPS. The airport remains under Level Orange and staff is expecting some revisions to the security directive from the TSA on the airport's responsibilities under this condition. Part 139 Inspection — The City underwent its first Part 139 inspection on August 11th since the airport was re- certified in May 2005. The inspector commented that because of our arrangement with Sheppard AFB, we are an unusual airport for inspection purposes. The inspection went well but the city was tasked with re- writing parts of our Airport Certification Manual to correct some items and better reflect certain items at the airport. City staff is currently working on that re- write. • Enplanement report — Ms. Morris provided the board with a summary of passenger enplanements for the past two years. While total enplanements for 2005 -2006 will remain almost the same as 2004 -2005, there was a 2% increase in American Eagle passenger enplanements despite the loss of one flight in November 2005. This growth was offset by the decrease in casino charter flights, although Ms. Morris did report that there are two charter flights on the schedule. Mr. Burrus commented that the consultant for the transportation study suggested the city offer to advertise American Eagle flights on one of the city buses, and this is being taken into consideration to demonstrate our support for our air carrier to other prospective air carriers. Air conditioning repairs to the FBO /FAA building — Ms. Morris reported additional HVAC problems are being experienced in the FBO /FAA building which could result in another larger expenditure at the end of the fiscal year. Staff is working with the purchasing department on this new system. 2. Kickapoo Downtown Airport Status of upcoming construction projects — Ms. Morris reported on the following three projects: AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD APRIL 13, 2006 Page 2 of 5 a) Vaisala is still waiting on FCC frequencies before they can begin the installation project for the AWOS. Two of the four frequencies have been received. The city will issue the Notice to Proceed after all licenses have been obtained and approved and Vaisala has the equipment available for installation. The 90 days of the project will begin at that point. b) A preconstruction meeting was held Wednesday, September 20th for the Hangar Area Improvement projects with all involved parties including the engineers, contractors and inspectors. The city issued a Notice the Proceed dated October 2, 2006. This is a 275 day project which should be complete by July 4, 2007. The city will be receiving a project schedule from the Project Manager which should set out the timeline for each phase of construction. Once this has been received, staff will hold a tenant's meeting to brief tenants on the schedule and how they may be affected. Ms. Morris also reported that the superintendent on the project just helped complete the control tower project at Sheppard AFB and received much praise from Maj. O'Malley and Peggy Anderson, the airfield manager. c) Ms. Morris and Tex Schmidt met with TxDOT officials in August concerning the T- hangar development projects. TxDOT officials reported that due to the significantly fast rising costs of hangars, airports need to accumulate more funding. Kickapoo currently has two years of Non - Primary Entitlement (NPE) funds accumulated with TxDOT in the amount of $300,000 plus the city's portion of $100,000. TxDOT officials suggested another year of funding would need to be accumulated to fund the project. Given the timeline for the hangar area improvement project and the fact that the two projects would not be able to be done simultaneously, that may not be a problem. • Discussion of Minimum Standards Project — At the meeting with TxDOT, TxDOT staff mentioned that in order to receive the NPE funding, the airport had to have rates and charges and minimum standards in place. The rates and charges study was completed and is in the process of being implemented, but city staff understood that while the advisory board had worked on the minimum standards several years ago, that they were never adopted. Mr. Mills worked on that committee and both he and Mr. Nesmith thought they had completed that project. Both suggested that staff visit with Curtis Harrelson for his recollection of the board's actions on minimum standards. Based on Mr. Harrelson's recollection, staff will attempt to locate the last version of minimum standards and determine where the project should go from there. AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD APRIL 13, 2006 Page 3 of 5 3. Other Aviation Items • Year to date financial update for Municipal and Kickapoo Airports — Ms. Morris provided members of the board with statements of revenues and expenditures for both airports for the eleven months ended August 31, 2006 for their review. Both airports should finish the year as well or better than budgeted. • Adopted budgets for Municipal and Kickapoo Airports — Ms. Morris also provided members of the board with copies of the 2006 -2007 budgets for both airports as approved by the city council the previous Tuesday. The budgets are similar to the prior year with the exception of Kickapoo's budget which was changed to better account for fuel sales and purchases as suggested by the city's auditors. V. ITEMS OF CONCERN FOR BOARD MEMBERS — • Mr. Gills commented that he flew out of Wichita Falls Municipal Airport recently and praised the ease and comfort of the new screening room. He expressed that with the ease of parking and security screening at the airport, that the experience is well worth the value of the slight additional cost (if the entire trip is on American Airlines) than driving to Dallas considering parking costs and the longer waits at security in Dallas. This would be a good way to promote flying out of Wichita Falls. Mr. Gills also inquired as to the volume of enplanements that are military personnel — either leaving or just going home for the holidays. He has heard anywhere from 60 -70% and believes this is a good point to make that the airport provides an important service to Sheppard just as much as Sheppard provides an important service by allowing the community to share the airfield facilities. Maj. O'Malley also suggested that the TM & O (Travel Management Office) may be able to assist the airport in determining this percentage as they make most of the travel plans for departing service members. • Mr. Hilburn thanked the members of the board for allowing him to sit in on the board meeting and explained that he is an FAA Liasion to AETC (Air Education Training Command) and is part of the Inspection Team currently visiting Sheppard AFB. He expressed the positive impression from the lunch meeting on Tuesday at the Aviation Safety meeting and praised everyone for their efforts in having an active local aviation community and the positive relationship between the civilian flying community and Sheppard. • Chairman Nesmith reminded members of the next meeting on Thursday, November 16th at 5:30pm at the Central Services Complex. AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD APRIL 13, 2006 Page 4 of 5 VI. ADJOURN The meeting was adjourned at 6:30pm. L4, 1 /Zl J � W--74't- Dr. Vernon Nesmith, Chairman ATTEST: John A. Mgrus, Director of Aviation, Traffic and Transportation I(r /1ov D(" Date t\ ► ( Date AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD APRIL 13, 2006 Page 5 of 5