HomeMy WebLinkAboutAirMinutes_2007_09_21Brookings Airport Board
September 21, 2007
Brookings, SD 57006
A meeting of the Brookings Airport Board was called to order by
Chairperson Robb Sexauer at 3:30 PM on Thursday, September 21, 2007, in the
Meeting Room at City Hall. Members present were James Bailey, Harry
Forsyth, Lynn Riedesel, Jeff Boulware, and Sexauer. Also present were Duane
Bymers, Dick Peterson, David Peterson, Randy Hanson -Pheasant’s Fury, Bob
Lehmann - TSA, Jim Jones Jr., and Jim Jones, Sr. – Big Sioux Aviation, Brian
Cossette – Great Lakes Aviation, City Manager Dennis Falken, City Engineer
Jackie Lanning, and Airport Manager Mike Wilson.
Item #2 – (Boulware/Forsyth) Motion to approve the minutes from the August
16, 2007 meeting. All present voted aye. MOTION CARRIED.
Item #3 – (Bailey/Riedesel) Motion to approve the agenda after adding
additional items – Essential Air Service, FBO agreement, and a new place on
the airfield. All present voted aye. MOTION CARRIED.
Item #4 – The next meeting will be on Thursday, October 25, 2007, one week
later than the usual meeting.
Item #5 - Old Business – City Manager Dennis Falken distributed a copy of the
Fixed Base Operator’s (FBO) agreement and the lease agreement for Lot Y.
He said his intent was to ask the Airport Board to look it over and bring it back
to the next meeting with necessary changes. He said he hadn’t had time to
discuss it with the Joneses yet as he had just received it. Sexauer said he was
frustrated as the Airport Board is an advisory board and they had not been
asked for input to the agreement. Falken stated that being a legal
agreement, the Board wouldn’t be asked to draft it. It was drafted by City
Attorney Steve Britzman, and he (Falken) had only just received the
document and was now distributing it to the Board. Riedesel asked if Lot Y,
the parking lot, is the site labeled as Site “E” of the airport map. Lanning said
yes. Falken asked the Airport Board to respond at the next meeting to the
document after reading it. Sexauer asked Jones, Jr. for input. He said he had
only skimmed it but will have comments at the next meeting. Falken said
Britzman will attend the next meeting.
Regarding the Big Sioux Aviation parking lot, Lanning said they have the first
right of refusal on the lot. BSA wants to build, but they want to know first what
will happen with the airport. Lanning said there was a compromise letting all
airport users park on the lot and Big Sioux Aviation will pay $.04 per square
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foot for the next two (2) years. Riedesel said he felt that was a good
compromise.
(Riedesel/Forsyth) Motion to accept the agreement. All present voted
aye. MOTION CARRIED.
A call was placed to RAP (Regional Aviation Partners) regarding Essential Air
Service (EAS) for Brookings. Sexauer spoke with Todd Jorns, legislative
representative for RAP, on the poly-com so all in the room could hear the
conversation. Jorns said there is a need to look at the mileage language and
the Department of Transportation’s calculation of mileage. He felt a need to
reauthorize mileage based on the most commonly used route and not the
shortest route. Jorns explained that the DOT applies mileage from the center
of a community and uses Rand McNally to calculate to the entrance of the
hub city using the shortest distance. Jorns said that the reauthorization bill
expires September 30, 2007 and won’t get passed. He said that puts Brookings
in a precarious position. Senate Bill 1934 seeks to address the issue, but it will
not be passed by September 30, 2007. If it could be extended, then air
carriers could continue to serve. Sexauer asked what could be done now.
Jorns said to contact Senators Johnson and Thune or service will probably
lapse. He added that Johnson and Thune need to contact Senator
Rockefeller of West Virginia.
After the phone conversation, Falken said he has talked with the staff of both
senators and will be immediately informed of any decisions made. Sexauer
said he was going to contact Doug Voss, Great Lakes Airlines President next.
He left a message because there was no answer.
Item #6 - New Business – The transfer of the hangar lease from Steve Whitaker
and Tim Huber to Pheasant’s Fury LLC was discussed. Randy Hanson asked
the Board’s approval to transfer the land lease. We said he would like a term
of at least five (5) years with the ability to sublease to South Dakota State
University. Bailey asked if Pheasant’s Fury LLC was the same organization as
the other leases on the Big Sioux Aviation hangars. Hanson said yes.
(Bailey/Riedesel) Motion to approve the lease transfer from Steve
Whitaker and Tim Huber to Pheasant’s Fury LLC. All present voted aye.
MOTION CARRIED.
The hangar lease application for David Peterson was discussed. Peterson is
asking to build a hangar at the airport. He would like it to contain a
mezzanine so he could have temporary living quarters. The living quarters
would be used only a few days a month when he is in Brookings for business.
Sexauer said that hangars should be used for aviation purposes only. Airport
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Manager Mike Wilson said the hangar would be used mainly for aircraft
storage. He would prefer to call the mezzanine area a pilot’s lounge. Lanning
said it would not be an apartment, and requirements are met for a pilot’s
lounge/mezzanine. Riedesel stated that pilot lounges are very prevalent, and
many of them have kitchens. It was noted that Brookings used to have its
airport manager living on-site, and there were no problem with that. Lanning
said that she and Wilson had done extensive checking and found nothing in
airport circulars or other documents that restricted the mezzanine use. She
added that it would be included in the lease that the hangar mezzanine
would not be rented out or used for full-time living. Dick Peterson, David’s
brother, said that he has visited with Lyle Prussman, and sewer and water can
be brought in as soon as approval is received. Sexauer asked how many
planes Peterson can house in the proposed hangar. David Peterson said two
(2) small planes, but he will have only one (1). The hangar will be 54’ x 40’.
Wilson said the hanger will be under the 40’ height requirement set by the
FAA. Wilson said the addition of a utility room may shrink the livable area.
Wilson added that the hangar will be a type S-2 which allows only routine
maintenance and nothing else. Lanning said that Bob Babcock, Helms &
Assoc. had checked the dimensions and the site. Bailey was wondering if the
distance between hangars could be minimized because of the shortage of
land for hangars. Wilson said there are no set minimums, but space has to be
left for moving and snow removal equipment to get between the hangars.
Also there needs to be room for construction of the next hangar. Wilson
added that fire rated walls help minimize the area between hangars.
Boulware asked if maintenance can take place in hangars in that area.
Wilson said only routine maintenance unless the hangar is fire rated. Boulware
questioned David Peterson asking if the area in his hangar would really be an
apartment. And if so, is there a rule against it. Wilson said the lease could
specify how many days a month it could be occupied. Boulware asked again
if there was a rule against occupying a hangar. Wilson said there was no law
that knew of, and he and Lanning found nothing in their research to prohibit
the mezzanine. Falken said the lease could state that the hangar mezzanine
area was for temporary use only by the owner. It would also state that the
area could not be subleased. Riedesel added that the Airport Board would
become involved if there were a request to sublease. Wilson stated that
many present hangars have kitchens, couches, and other items in them.
Forsyth suggested having the City Attorney become involved. Lanning said
that she would ask the City Attorney to draw up the lease. Lanning said that
restrictions would be included in the lease. If a tenant breaks the lease, it is
void. She added that much research has been done already on the request.
(Bailey/Riedesel) Motion to approve the building of a hangar subject to
the FAA and City regulations being followed. All present voted aye. MOTION
CARRIED.
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Sexauer received a call from Joshua Shields from Senator John Thune’s office.
He explained that a continuing resolution would be passed by the end of the
month. That is a positive resolution that would continue the Essential Air
Service in Brookings for 90 days.
Lanning explained that the trip to Bismarck to meet with the FAA, HNTB, and
Helms & Assoc. had been postponed until Tuesday, October 2, 2007. Sexauer
asked why the Airport Board hadn’t been contacted to attend this meeting.
Wilson said he had contacted all of the board members and two (2),
Boulware and Riedesel, have agreed to attend along with Lanning and
Wilson.
Item #7 – Airport Manager’s Report
Runway painting project Wilson stated that the project went fairly well. He
added that Bowes didn’t widen the runway enough, and there was an issue
with the painting. Riedesel said it looks good now.
ARFF Training in Denver Wilson explained his ARFF training and personalized
tours he received while in Denver. Lanning said it is a benefit to the City of
Brookings that Wilson is trained. Forsyth asked how many were in the class.
Wilson said he was the only one as the others had cancelled. Sexauer asked
how long the firefighter’s shifts are. Wilson said the response commitment is
one (1) hour to one and one-half (1½) hours. Wilson said the shifts are
becoming more popular, and city fire fighters are more willing to take shifts as
they are now being paid hourly. Boulware asked that if an airliner asked for
fire coverage, would the City have a way to charge them for it. Riedesel said
the fire fighters must be on-site when the airliner in on the ground so the fire
fighters are there anyway. Wilson added that there have been staged
emergencies with the Fire and Police Department and the ambulance
service. Lanning said the City is required to do live simulations every year and
tabletop discussions also.
WAAS LETTER Wilson said a council person presented this letter as a solution to
the airport problems. However, when contacting the writer of the letter (not
the council person) the writer did not see it as a solution, just comments. The
letter suggested that aircraft using the Brookings airport have a Global
Positioning System/Wide Area Augmentation System (GPS/WAAS) unit in the
plane to aide in the landing. Forsyth said that this would do away with the ILS
(Instrument Landing System), and each plane would need a GPS. Wilson
stated that there are many GPS units, but only three (3) are aviation
approved. Riedesel said he has flown a local plane with a GPS/WAAS
installed, and it worked very well, but the cost for each pilot to install the
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approved unit in their plane could reach between $10,000 to $15,000 per
plane, and then transient planes without a GPS/WAAS and also the airliner
could not use the airport. The Board agreed, as a whole, that the airport issue
still remains because this supposed solution doesn’t change the minimums.
Item #8 – FBO Report – Jim Jones, Jr. said they would be looking over the draft
agreement and would like to meet with Wilson, Lanning, and Falken next
week.
Item #9 – TSA Report – Robert Lehman reported that the boarding numbers
have bee fantastic. He said with the increased traffic, people need to know
they need to get to the airport early. He added that it has been a pleasure to
work with Brian, Chris and their crew.
Item #10 – Air Carrier Report – Brian Cossette, Great Lakes Airlines manager in
Brookings said the numbers of enplanements and deplanements are up from
last year. He said there have been no cancelled flights this month, but there
was a problem with the AWOS during some wind. He added the Wilson was a
big help in getting the AWOS reset. He stated that the monitor in the office is
good. Cossette said the Pierre market is very strong, and the majority of the
passengers are booking two (2) weeks in advance.
Riedesel said that Wilson did an outstanding job with the closing of the
runway during the painting project. Bailey wanted to compliment Wilson on
working with David and Dick Peterson on their hangar plans.
The meeting was adjourned.
___________________________________ __________________________
Diane M. Spencer, Acting Secretary Robb Sexauer, Chairperson
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