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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-27-2024 Fairhope Airport Authority Meeting MinutesMinutes of the Fairhope Airport Authority February 27, 2024 The Fairhope Airport authority met February 27, 2024 at 5:00PM in the City Hall Council Chambers at 161 N Section Street. Present: Pel Henry, Chairman, Chip Groner, Don Ward, Will Bruce and Amy Pearson. Jack Burrell and Len Strickland were absent. Also present was Josh My rick, Attorney, and Dave Friedel, Airport Manager. Cy nthia A Boothe took the Minutes. The Minutes of the January 9, 2024 regular meeting were considered and approved with a motion by Don Ward, second by Chip Groner and unanimously passed. Before the Agenda Items, Pel Henry asked Coley Boone of Thames-Batre Insurance to give a presentation of the Airport Insurance Proposal for the renewal in March. Coley Boone went ov er the insurance proposal as follows, Property-For named storms the deductible went from $50,000.00 to $100,000.00 per occurrence and for all other wind the deductible went from $25,000.00 to $50,000.00 per occurrence with no change in cost. General Liability-No change in coverage or cost. Pollution-A slight change in cost with the same coverage. Public Officials-No change in coverage or cost. She also brought information about the possible coverage for flood damage for the South T-Hangar which would be a $1,250.00 deductible for $500,000.00 coverage at $964.00 if the Authority chooses to get it. After a brief group discussion, a motion was made by Chip Groner to accept the insurance proposal, but without the flood coverage for the South Hangar, second by Don Ward and unanimously passed. Air port Manager's Oper ations Report: Dave Freidel stated that the McNeil's will be hosting an L39 fly-in this weekend and April 2 nd through the 7 th there will be an Eclipse Jet Owner's Conference at the Grand Hotel so thirty or more Eclipse Jets will be flying in for that conference. Dave reported that the President of the Air Race Classic has reached out to him, and he will be meeting with her soon to start planning the Air Race Classic for 2025. The Airport will be the host for the beginning of the race and Dave will also meet with Pam Caudill to get information about her experience in planning the event and find out what the Authority needs to start working on. The Junior ROTC tam flights and drone operations event that was scheduled for February got postponed due to weather so it has been rescheduled for March 9 th. Dave stated that he had the City sweepers out to sweep all the taxiways and ramps and also had the FOD Boss go over everything after construction on a couple of hangars was completed. Runway washing has been changed to March 4t h and 5th and Dave will post a NOTAM for those dates. Dave also reported that the traffic count for January was 4,563. Continental Aerospace Report: Paula Hembree reported that for the month of January 2024 that the Airport sold 4,639 gallons of AV Gas and 18,990 gallons of Jet-A, compared to 8,036 gallons of AV Gas and 25,097 gallons of Jet-A in January 2023. Paula stated that the fuel truck is broken down and she is having trouble getting parts and getting it repaired. Rebel Services was supposed to send out a loaner truck, but it was also down for repairs. She has been told they should be able to fix the Airport's truck by Thursday or Friday. The Classic Jet Association was supposed to fly-in this weekend but may have to be cancelled if the fuel truck is not fixed by then. Treasure's Report: No Report. Legal Report: Josh stated that he, Pel Henry and Don Ward met with officials from Continental Aerospace on February 22 nd concerning the lease and it will be discussed further during the Executive Session and if agreed to, there should be an agreement in effect on October 1, 2024. Josh reported that he had received a request from GOLO Adventures to waive the requirement for the Performance Bond on their lease and a sufficient funds letter was provided by Valinteen Partners. After a brief group discussion, Josh was asked to respond to the request to ask the Contractor to follow the lease. Other Business: Don Lagarde presented the plan for Lot P-20 on behalf of Zack Bell who could not be present. The lot has been redesigned to include four more spaces than originally planned and will now have 1 O Box Hangar spaces. Don stated that five of the original six spaces are already spoken for and Mr Bell is ready to go. Mr Bell is also interested in building more hangars at the Airport for larger aircraft. After a brief question and answer period a motion was made by Don Ward to approve the plan for Lot P-20 as presented, second by Chip Groner and unanimously passed. Shane Ferguson of Crucible Construction presented the proposed site plan for Lot P-19 on behalf of 68 Ventures. It will be a single hangar for private use. After a brief question and answer period a motion was made by Don Ward to approve the site plan for Lot P-19 as presented, second by Will Bruce and unanimously passed. Pel Henry presented the proposed site plan for Lot P-18 on behalf of Vince Boothe. It will be six Quonset hut style hangars that can hold twin engine aircraft. After a brief question and answer period a motion was made by Will Bruce to approve Lot P-18 as presented, second by Chip Groner and unanimously passed. Engineer's Report: Jordan Stringfellow reported that the Terminal Building construction is going great and is a little bit ahead of schedule. Jordan is waiting to hear back from Lisa Hanks about the AIG grant for the parking lot. Jordan stated that she has the FY24 AIP Grant Application for Land Reimbursement ready to submit to ALDOT and Josh Myrick stated that he will send the Authority a copy of the Resolution to review, and it will be ready to sign at the next meeting. The grant is for $150,000.00. Jordan presented the new East Side Layout Plan to include the site plans for Lots P-19 & P-20. She suggests that the Authority approve the plan as presented and next month she will have an updated plan to include the site plan for Lot P-18. A motion was made by Don Ward to approve the new East Side Lay-out plan, second by Chip Groner and unanimously passed. Comments from Advisory Council Members: No Report Board Discussion/Approv al Requests: Don Ward stated that they have been working on a multi-month project to update the Minimum Standards and create Rules and Regulations. He also stated that he had sent the Authority Members a copy of the revised Minimum Standards and the new Rules and Regulations for the Airport for their review and that he was now seeking approval of these documents. A motion was made by Chip Groner to approve the Minimum Standards and Rules and Regulations as presented, second by Don Ward and unanimously passed. Dave Friedel stated that they are still working on the new website, and he will not be able to post the Minimum Standards and the Rules and Regulations to it at this time, but if anyone would like a copy of these documents, he will be glad to email them to you. He will post them to the new website as soon as it is up and running. Comments from the General Public: Erik Cortinas, Building Official for the City of Fairhope commented that any time the Airport makes changes to the Lay-out Plan to get them to the Building Department as soon as possible so that they can get the information to 91 1-Addressing. It has been causing delays in getting addresses for the lots which also delays permitting. Zac McNeil stated that now the ROI Hangar is completed he would like any of the Authority Members that would like to see it to come by and he would be glad to show them around. Zac also stated that the Fly-in scheduled for this weekend for about twenty­ one jets will probably have to be cancelled because of bad weather. Zac said that they are working with Josh on some of the lots for more hangars, but it will take a while as the road has to be built and a lot of details to figure out. Executive Session: Josh Myrick stated that the Authority needs a motion to move to Executive session to discuss the consideration the Authority is willi ng to take for the lease on the North Hangar and he would estimate the session will take approximately twenty to thirty minutes and the Authority will adjourn the meeting when it returns from Executive Session. The Airport Manager should also be asked to join the session. Don Ward made a motion that the Authority moves to Executive Session to discuss the Continental Aerospace Lease Agreement and asked Dave Friedel to join the session and stated that when they return from the session no further business will be transacted and the meeting will adjourn. A second was made by Chip Groner and it was unanimously passed . The Authority moved to Executive Session at 5:58PM. Adjournment: The Authority returned from the Executive Session at 6:39PM and a motion was made by Don Ward to adjourn t n by Will Bruce and unanimously passed.