Airport Board Minutes

JANUARY 2007

AUBURN-LEWISTON MUNICIPAL AIRPORT

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

AUBURN, MAINE 

A meeting of the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport Board of Directors was held on Thursday, January 4, 2007 at 5:30 p.m. at the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport, 80 Airport Drive, Auburn, Maine. 

Present: Chairman Plourde

Board Members:  Metivier, Lunt, Jean, Finnigan and Sargent.

 Also Present:  Airport Manager, Rick Cloutier; HTA Representative, David Guadalupe.

 Chairman Plourde called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m.

 ON MOTION BY MR. JEAN SECONDED BY MR. LUNT IT WAS

VOTED (1) TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES OF DECEMBER 6, 2006 AND PLACE THEM ON FILE.

 VOTE: 5:0

 TREASURER’S REPORT

Mr. Metivier reviewed the treasurer’s report with the board.  The airport revenues are 57% collected and the expenditures are 55% spent.  An addition to the budget, due to an accident the 1988 dodge pickup truck was totaled a replacement with a 2006 pickup truck was purchased under the CIP account.  Mr. Metivier requested the Airport Manager to report how and where $32,000 will be expended from the budget.

ON MOTION BY MR. LUNT SECONDED BY MS. FINNIGAN IT WAS

VOTED (2) TO ACCEPT THE TREASURER’S REPORT AS PRESENTED.

 VOTE:  5:0

HANGAR PROPOSAL

Airport Manager stated Mr. Swan, MTM Helicopters, is away on business and is interested in building a hangar on the airport.  He has received quotes on 80 x 80 building and needs access to ramp space.  Mr. Swan is looking to start construction this summer and will meet to discuss lease rates.  The Airport Master Plan shows multi locations for hangars.  He would like to locate on the east side.  Auburn Hangar Condo Association representative Keith Oliver stated he is concerned and would like to see the playing field kept level pertaining to land lease and taxiway lane accessibility.  The board stated the lease would be negotiated with current market rates, as our grant assurances requires. 

ACCEPTANCE OF CHAMBER RECOMMENDATION

A vacancy on the board is an alternate resident position and this term being a resident from the City of Auburn (3-year term), nominated from the Chamber of Commerce was Mr. Albert Sargent.  Mr. Sargent is very interested in serving on the board of directors due to his interest in aviation and being a pilot.  He is serving on the LDC board and stated the development of the airport is important for the twin cities. 

 ON MOTION BY MR. LUNT SECONDED BY MR. METIVIER IT WAS

VOTED (3) TO ACCEPT THE RECOMMENDATION FROM THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND APPOINT AL SARGENT TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 

VOTE:  5:0

Chairman Plourde and the board welcomed Mr. Sargent.

 PARALLEL TAXIWAY

Hoyle Tanner & Associates, David Guadalupe, presented an update to the board on the taxiway project.  MDEP has received the permit applications and will review them over the next several weeks and accept or request more documentation, once the permits are accepted; parts of the permits are distributed to various departments for review.  There is a 4-month timeframe for a final decision.  The grant application will be completed and submitted to FAA by 1 May.  The preliminary design will be forward to the FAA with a 30-day timeframe for questions and feedback at which time HTA will complete the final design and send out to bids.  Still on track with estimated numbers of 5.6 million, from that 1.5 million is earmarked to expand the apron.  The FAA is using discretionary funds for this project and pending on availability the apron may or may not be completed. 

 CODE VIOLATIONS

Life Flight hangar is just about completed, waiting for some electrical work to be completed by the city.  Twin Cities Air Service has presented their plan and is on schedule.  A burn wall in hangar #3 (TCAS) needs to be installed and engineering plans need to be drafted before we can move forward. 

FEE COLLECTION INFORMATION

Materials received from Vector-US, Inc. were submitted to the board regarding collections of landing fees for the airport.  Currently the FBO’s collect these unscheduled itinerant fees and submit to the airport.  The airport also tracks these aircrafts and bills directly for landings that were uncollected.  This company will collect these fees instead of our FBO’s and the scheduled flights, which are billed directly from the airport office.  There seems to be a lot of drop and goes and with a collection agency no plane will be missed due to surveillance cameras are set up on the field and pictures are taken of the tail numbers for billing purposes.  They supply all equipment to the airport and receive a percentage rate of collections with a 98% collection rate for airports.  The board thought the numbers projected in this proposal were high.  Vector has included an adjusted fee structure for the jets to pay per weight.  They had included all single aircrafts, which currently are not charged and will be adjusted with updated numbers.  The board is open to receiving more information and documentation from other airports regarding Vector and requested the airport manager to research.

 JOINT CITY COUNCIL MEETING

A joint city council meeting has been set up for February 13, 2007 for presentation of the master plan update and an overview of the taxiway project.  Chairman Plourde requested for board members show their support at this presentation and the public is welcome to attend.  Notice will be emailed to all currently on the airport e-list. 

 PROPOSED DAYCARE

There is a daycare proposal in front of the city planning board to be located on Fletcher Road.  This location is directly in the flight path and 5,000 feet away from Runway 22.  Planes will be flying over the building to land and to take off from the airport.  The FAA has received and is reviewing the proposed construction and will make a determination.  The Airport Manager will attend the meeting, explain the specifics, and inform them of the airport in the neighborhood.  Chairman Plourde suggested the Airport Manager contact AOPA.

 FY 2007-2008 PROPOSED BUDGET

The board reviewed the proposed budget with the airport manager.  The operational and revenue are overall reasonable.  All city departments are looking for 0 % increase.  The CIP has a substantially increase of 35%.  Projects include Taxiway Matching Federal Grant, Expansion of East Ramp for Hangar Development, Hangar #3 code compliance, Security Fence, Signage for East Ramp, Expansion of Maintenance Garage totaling $283,500.  The board requested prioritizing the list.  Mr. Jean stated the councils would probably be looking at the bottom line.  The airport manager cut the CIP the top three projects and being phased in several years totaling $172,000.  Chairman Plourde also requested the removal of dollar signs in the budget.  The board will review these numbers and discuss at the next board meeting.

 ON MOTION BY MR. LUNT SECONDED BY MR. JEAN IT WAS

VOTED (4) TO GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION TO DISCUSS PERSONNEL ISSUES.

 VOTE:  6:0

 ON MOTION BY MR. LUNT SECONDED BY MR. METIVIER IT WAS

VOTED (5) TO COME OUT OF EXECUTIVE SESSION AND ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 8:30 P.M.

 VOTE:  6:0

 Respectfully Submitted,

  Richard Cloutier

        Airport Manager