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HomeMy WebLinkAbout122123 Airport Advisory Commission Minutes TO: Airport Advisory Commission Members FROM: Michael Doi, Director of Public Works DATE: December 22, 2023 SUBJECT: MINUTES - Airport Advisory Commission Meeting on December 21, 2023 Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 3:07pm Roll Call: Present Aaron Repp David Christensen David Carlton Phillip Wolford (FBO Rep) Ken Springer (KCAP Rep) Council Liaison Bradley Hix Absent Don Miles (Parks Superintendent) Ex-Officio Michael Doi (Public Works Director) Public Members in Attendance No public attendance Minutes Approval: The Minutes of the November 16, 2023 meeting were amended to correct spelling of Christensen (under General Discussion), Scott Delawder (under General Discussion), and amend the statement from David Carlton (last statement before adjournment) to read: people going westbound on W. Main Street are passing vehicles leaving Cactus Country which can be dangerous and vehicles leaving the airport turning right onto W. Main have to be cautious. Motion to approve by Christensen, seconded by Springer. Motion approved by unanimous consent. Citizen Comments: No citizens were present. Updates and Reports: • Engineering Consultant Update (Jeff Olson) Jeff Olson had problems connecting virtually, item moved to end of Updates and Reports. • FBO Update (Phillip Wolford) o Phillip thanked Don Miles and his crew for filling in the holes on the grass runway. He would still like to have it rolled before the spring. There are additional holes at the south end of the runway, possibly caused by animals digging. • Airport Manager (Michael Doi) Update o Informed committee that the based aircraft report has been updated. o Informed committee that the aviation fuel tax reimbursement has been submitted. o Informed committee that Michael Doi met with Jarrod Fennern on 12/21/2023 and inspected the AWOS system, which has reached the end of its useful life [parts for some components are out of production and unavailable]. The FAA funds the maintenance of the AWOS system, but the city is responsible for an Act of God or human error. The replacement cost for the system is approximately $125,000.00. Mike Doi will find out if this is a 90% (federal) / 5% (IDOT) / 5% (city) funding mechanism or if its 100% funded by either the FAA or IDOT. Jeff Olson said that John O’Brien is the IDOT contact for the AWOS system. Mike Doi also said that Jarrod Fennern requested to move the AWOS computer system downstairs due to dust potentially affecting components. o Informed committee that an Operations and Maintenance Manual agreement is required as part of the AWOS system and will be submitted shortly. o Provided update on IDOT inspection remediation status. • Airport Maintenance Update (Mike Doi provided the update in the absence of Don Miles who was in union negotiations) o The holes in the grass runway were repaired. o Various lights along the runways were repaired or replaced. o Tree removal will begin after the ground freezes to allow for equipment access. Old/Tabled Business: • Relocate fence to allow for RV parking during Stearman event. • Status – IDOT inspection from September 2023. New Business • Discussion – status and plans of former terminal building. Mike Doi informed the committee that he is expecting a bid for rehabilitating the terminal building next week so Springer made a motion to table the item and Christensen seconded. The motion passed unanimously. General Discussion of Other Airport Related Topics: Aaron Repp asked to check for an updated NOTAM – issued in October [2023], expires January [2024]. The temperature dewpoint data is unreliable, per NOTAM. Mike Doi said that in his meeting with Jarrod Fennern, the issue is with lightning detection. Jeff Olson said he will reach out about who is in the state maintenance program and inform Mike Doi. Jeff Olson questioned whether trees on all sides need work? Yes, per Mike Doi Aaron Repp said for the tree removal identified for runway 2-1, he is not sure of the State of Illinois law, but other states prohibit private property from creating a hazard. Navigation easements may help with tree removal. Jeff Olson said, regarding the fuel farm, a site visit is needed with the fire marshal & electrical inspector. Councilperson Hix provided the contact information for Fire Chief Randy Hovind: 309-337-6322 and said he will send a text message to Chief Hovind to contact Jeff Olson. Jeff Olson said there are several red-line versions of the ALP (Airport Layout Plan) awaiting approval from IDOT for location and environment approval. He also said the fuel island plans are awaiting reviews from three sections, the goal is a March/April letting. Phillip Wolford asked about site self-serve 100LL fuel island and its applicability to be placed on the ramp, north of the center taxiway into the ramp? Jeff Olson indicated that location was an option. Phillip Wolford asked about JetA and whether a specific spot has been determined? What about the location of the maintenance building? Jeff Olson believes we can be as far away as 50 feet without amending the ALP. Phillip said Don [Miles] wants the maintenance building on the ramp side. Phillip believes a 60-foot x 60-foot maintenance building is very small and not adequate for the number of vehicles/equipment and other storage needed by the airport maintenance staff. Jet Air would be willing to rent the existing maintenance building. Phillip would like to see the fuel tank put on the far southwest side. Jeff Olson said the previous director kept flip-flopping on the location of different parts of the airport which made it hard to get anything done. Phillip asked if the budget for the 60 feet by 60 feet maintenance building had been set? Yes, per Jeff Olson. Jeff Olson believes $20,000.00 has been set aside for the removal of the existing building. Councilperson Hix said he just received a call from the Fire Chief – wants Jeff to call him to meet. Phillip asked if there is anything else to do on the fuel farm? Per Jeff Olson: no, it’s currently in the permitting process. Engineering Update Jeff Olson said regarding the pre-design for the entrance road and parking lot that Wayne wanted to wait so Jeff didn’t call for pre-design approval from the state. Either Jeff or Mike Doi can make the call. IDOT review time is normally about 36 weeks. The ALP (Airport Layout Plan) takes about three years to approve – the fastest approval time he’s ever seen is six months and the longest is 10 years, but the average is three years. The project has already been kicked off and is awaiting approval by Christy Broder – it’s already scheduled for early 2024. The last ALP was approved in 2004. Jeff is trying to keep on track with the runway project. Last year, he put in a request to rehab the runway but was told it’s too old and cannot justify the length or width, so he requested a mini-plan, and the paperwork was submitted. In January [2024], he should receive the program letter to justify runway rehabilitation. The city has about a 5,800-foot-long runway: the length and the width of the runway is more than what FAA will pay for rehabilitation. When they push back, we will have to go to IDOT, like what Whiteside County, north of the Quad Cities did. We may have more and bigger jets. Our runway is very strong, Jeff can’t think of any airport with thicker pavement. Aircraft operating 500 times is needed to be a design aircraft to control federal funding. There should be funding available for a project for new lights, we should have justification for new lights, since they have a 20-year life cycle. The city was thinking about removing the terminal building. A parking lot expansion behind Stearman including removal & replacement of the terminal with a box hangar was approved on a red-lined version. Phillip said “if everything’s been approved, let’s get moving”. Jeff Olson said we’re ready to go. To go faster, we need to send a letter requesting local letting of the project. Mike Doi asked Jeff to forward a draft letter with a note to whom it should be addressed. Phillip said we applied for three BIL projects and received two: the fuel island and the parking lot. Jeff Olson said the money for the project to overlay the northern half of the runway went to taxiway B because the bids came in too high and there wasn’t enough money in the project to cover the costs. He will continue to request funding for the project to overlay the northern half. There is no current program letter or entitlement funding for the project. On the question of the airport becoming a regional airport – Jeff said it’s not a windfall for the city but there would be some additional funding available. We are the same classification as the Kewanee and Monmouth airports. We have five years to spend the BIL funds. Jeff Olson said the NPIA report (done every two years) will determine the status. The airport must meet two of the following three criteria: 1. Have a minimum of one jet based at the airport. 2. Have a minimum of 1,000 instrument operations (all of the committee members believe we have more but they’re not being credited). 3. Have at least 100 based aircraft. Important: we are currently at about 900 instrument operations. The group discussed that we probably have about double that amount, but we need to let the pilots and flight instructors know to increase their usage of the system. We should talk to the FAA and let them know we have more than 1,000. We should also send notices to ours and other airports to assist in breaking the 1,000 instrument operations criteria. Jeff Olson and Mike Doi need to reach out to Kim Porter (new at the FAA) and bring the situation to light. Jeff Olson said the maintenance building is an awkwardly sized building on prime real estate. Phillip Wolford said the 60 feet by 60 feet building is not big enough. Mike Doi said the airport needs new runway lights. Aaron Repp suggested exploring discarded runway lights from the Kewanee light replacement project. Jeff said he would check into it. Jeff Olson said he just did a couple of bid openings for new runway lights; the low bid was $1.8 million at one airport and the low bid at another was $2.3 million. Jeff Olson said 25 feet is the limit for moving a structure or facility without having to revise the red-line plan. The FAA looks at the airport from an operational perspective. The Stearman building construction did not get approval from the FAA, could still come back to haunt the city. In regard to the request to move the fence, Jeff Olson said the fence movement shouldn’t depend on one event and the airport layout should separate the land activities from the air activities. Jeff also said that state programmers hate campgrounds. Campgrounds require DNR permits, a 404 permit and are a huge issue {at airports]. We could receive blowback that we don’t want. Phillip Wolford wants power supplied to the area. David Christensen said it’s nonsense to remove the width/length of our runway. Jeff Olson said the feds will only pay for a certain length and width and eventually want to take out the cross runways. Phillip asked if the state is participating in keeping the length/width in other Illinois airports? Jeff Olson said yes. Phillip Wolford asked when was the last time the airport was resurfaced? Jeff Olson said the last overlay was done in 2004. Aaron Repp said runway 2-1 REILs are functioning. A NOTAM manager has detailed access to the website and can make changes. I should find out if I am listed as the airport NOTAM manager and become listed if I am not already listed. Jeff Olson requested a copy of the new Operations & Maintenance Manual. Adjournment: A motion was made by Christensen and seconded by Springer to adjourn the meeting at 5:02 p.m. which passed unanimously.