February 9, 2006

A meeting of the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport Board of Directors was held on Thursday, February 9, 2006, at 5:30 p.m. at the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport, 80 Airport Drive, Auburn, Maine.

Present:  Messrs. Metivier, Wolf, Jean, Lunt, Ms. Finnigan and Ms. Rowell.

Absent:  Chairman Plourde.

Also Present:  Airport Manager, John McGonagill; Attorney Ms. Meader, and Ms. Gould.

The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m.   

ON MOTION BY MR. WOLF SECONDED BY MS. ROWELL IT WAS VOTED (1) TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES OF JANUARY 5, 2006 AND PLACE THEM ON FILE.

 VOTE: 6:0

TREASURER’S REPORT

Mr. Metivier reviewed the treasurer’s report with the board.   

ON MOTION BY MR. WOLF SECONDED BY MS. FINNIGAN IT WAS VOTED (2) TO ACCEPT THE TREASURER’S REPORT AS PRESENTED.

VOTE:  6:0

Mr. Lunt welcomed our newest board member, Ronald Jean, Lewiston City Council Representative, to the airport.  A presentation will be made in the near future to Mr. Paradis, out going representative from Lewiston City Council, for his dedication to the airport board.

BOARD MEMBER ELECTIONS

ON MOTION BY MR. WOLF SECONDED BY MS. ROWELL IT WAS VOTED (3) TO NOMINATE ED PLOURDE AS CHAIR, STEVE LUNT AS VICE CHAIR, AND DICK METIVIER AS TREASURER. 

VOTE:  6:0

OLD BUSINESS

AIRPORT BUDGET SUBMISSION APPROVAL

The Airport Manager’s budget recommendation to the board in January had an 8% overall increase.  A meeting was held with city representatives and two board members and the budget was trimmed to present a flat line funding.  The airport has a continuing deferred maintenance list and for several years, the budget has been or nearly been flat keeping maintenance projects uncompleted to be a continuing problem.  The airport has been inclined to ask for less than we should trying to maintain a very large capital structure.  Mr. Lunt requested the Airport Manager to list the deferred maintenance items.  When the airport falls behind on maintenance projects it usually costs more to complete in the future because of the delay.  After some discussion on presenting the budget with the manager’s request, or the adjusted flat line budget with zero increase to the cities, the Airport Manager suggested to present the budget flat lined as requested, but updating the councils at the joint meeting that the airport is an economic revenue generator for the twin cities and there is a need for an airport.  Timing is everything and this may not be the year for an increase for repair work, which has been on the books for years, however we should ensure the city councils understand why flat lining budgets are not appropriate with such deferred maintenance considerations.

ON MOTION BY MR. WOLF SECONDED BY MS ROWELL IT WAS VOTED (4) TO GO TO THE JOINT COUNCIL BUDGET MEETING WITH A FLAT FUNDING BUDGET AND AN OVERVIEW PRESENTATION OF THE AIRPORT.

VOTE:  6:0

Dr. Pohl stated the word subsidy that is received from each city should be changed to reflect the benefits the city receives from the taxes from the airport and airpark. 

Ms. Amanda Meader, Attorney with Bernstein Shur for Crossley property project, updated the board and stated the next step in Eminent Domain process.  No agreement has been reached with Mr. Crossley; he has not produced a valuation to compare with the airports.  The airport will ask to be on the Auburn City Council Agenda to take the property through several statues by Eminent Domain.  Currently the date is February 27 or early March.  Mr. Crossley will be given notice that the property is being brought to the council for action.  Mr. Crossley will be given a check for the appropriated amount for damages as determined by the appraiser and review appraiser, which is part of the FAA grant.  At that point, Mr. Crossley may appeal contesting the amount of damages, and then a judge would look at both sides of appraisals and determine whether the amount awarded was the appropriate amount.  Lee Buzzel is an approved FAA appraiser and has appraised the property at fair market value.  If Mr. Crossley wants to meet and settle, we are more than willing to get together with him.  This piece of land is part of the hill and is solid rock. 

VEHICLE USAGE POLICY

The airport received lots of public input in regards to parking automobiles inside the fence and not in automobile parking lots.  The FAA does not condone this, but there are no rules that it cannot be done because we are not a Part 139 airport.  The insurance company cautioned that this could increase premiums if accidents occurred.  Ms. Holmblad questioned the 12 hours parking of your vehicle on your tie down area, the spot is the customer’s who pays monthly, not just for 12 hours. If a situation occurred and return was impossible within this 12-hour period a fine would be imposed, or vehicle towed.    It was decided by the board to remove the 12 hours from the policy.

ON MOTION BY MR. WOLF SECONDED BY MS. ROWELL IT WAS

VOTED (5) TO ACCEPT THE PARKING POLICY WITH THE CHANGE OF ELIMINATING THE 12 HOURS AND TO ISSUE ONE WARNING FOR ANY INFRACTION BEFORE BEING FINED $125.

VOTE:  6:0

NEXT BOARD MEETING

Chairman Plourde has requested moving the board meeting for the next few months to the first Wednesday or Friday, due to conflicting schedules.  The board agreed to schedule meetings for Wednesday. 

SILVER WINGS CODE COMPLIANCE PRESENTATION

Dr. Pohl, owner of Silver Wings, gave a slide presentation covering numerous years of on goings at the airport including leases with Platz, Auburn Hangar Condos, Bel Air Condos, Life Flight hangar, Twin Cities Air Service with the former FBO owner Mr. LeBlanc, current on goings with Twin Cities Air Service FBO owner Mr. Humphrey, code violations, airport budget, and the white hangar history.  Dr. Pohl stated in the end that all he wants is a level and fair playing field from the board. 

TCAS LEASE ADJUSTMENT ON RAMP USAGE

Currently attached to the TCAS lease is an Amendment #1 for the sea van next to the TCAS hangar #3 at no charge.  The Amendment #2 is an update of Amendment #1 to include all temporary structures for a footprint rental rate of .10/sq/ft/mo.  Currently there is the FAA shed, dumpster and sea van.

ON MOTION BY MR. METIVIER SECONDED BY MS. ROWELL IT WAS VOTED (6) TO APPROVE THE AMENDMENT#2 BETWEEN TWIN CITIES AIR SERVICE AND THE AIRPORT AS PRESENTED FOR TEMPORARY STRUCTURES.

VOTE:  6:0

ACCESS GATE ON EAST RAMP

Signs have been posted on the east side stating it is the east side of the airport, and another informational sign with businesses telephone numbers for drivers with deliveries or customers until Silver Wings installs a remote system in the spring.  Companies are welcome to pick up gate cards at the manager’s office if needed for deliveries.  UPS has already stopped by and received several more.  If gate card issuance is unacceptable to some, there is always the pedestrian walk thru gate, which is always open.  Tom Ward, Skyward Aviation, stated he will still have a problem with deliveries and requested to leave the gate opened all morning for his deliveries.  With the gate closed, if they do call, he has to run 300 feet to open the gate.  Dr. Phol stated this spring when the system is installed Skyward and Life Flight can be hooked up to system for a reasonable fee. 

PAC MEETING SCHEDULE

March 9, 2006 is the next PAC meeting for the Airport Master Plan, held in the same location at AVCOG, Manley Road, Auburn, Maine.  If you need further information, check out the website www.flytome.com or call the manager’s office.

SNOWBLOWER RFP

The specs for the snowblower includes work calculating the surface area for what FAA authorizes to give per cubic feet per minute (what actually it throws out of the blower) and satisfaction of enough companies to make proposals.  It costs $5,000 to complete these specs and is reimbursable through the grant.  The grant will not be awarded until fall and if we wait until then to build the specs, we will be unable to get the snowblower until the next budget cycle.  These machines cost around $300,000 and are made to order.  They are not readily available for purchase.

ON MOTION BY MS. FINNIGAN SECONDED BY MR. WOLF IT WAS VOTED (7) TO GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION TO DISCUSS TCAS DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT. 

VOTE:  6:0

ON MOTION BY MS. ROWELL SECONDED BY MR. WOLF IT WAS VOTED (6) TO COME OUT OF EXECUTIVE SESSION AND ADJORN THE MEETING AT 7:20 P.M.

VOTE:  6:0