Airport Board

Airport Advisory Board Meeting Minutes Anaconda – Deer Lodge County November 30, 2016 – 7:00 a.m. Pilot’s Lounge Members Present: Chair Greg Bahr, Vice-Chair Al Messer, Jim Jonas, Airport Manager Jim Novak Members Absent: Tim Casey, Nick Nardacci Others Attending: Steve Hess, Planning Director, Carlye Hansen, Planning Department Secretary, Commissioner Terry Vermeire, Jodi Lechman, Guests: Randy Johnson I. Call Meeting to Order: No quorum. This was a work session. II. Approval of Minutes: Due to no quorum, the minutes from the October 28, 2016 minutes were read, but will have to be approved at the next meeting. III. MANAGER’S REPORT: Mr. Jim Novak  Wildlife Fence/Gates Update: The fence work will begin on December 5th, 2016. Shaun Shea will be here that day. Right now, there is enough work that needs to be done to keep busy; cannot work on the area where there is standing water right now. There is plenty of work that is far enough away from the runway. They are waiting to hear from Ueland’s to get access to the other side of the runway. Right now, they are hoping to not have to cross the runway, but if they must, then all involved crossing are required to have radios. This is Jim’s policy for safety and most all fencing contractors have radios. There are two cattle guards that will be put in, one will be at the gate that Wayne Wendt took out. The other will be near or very near to Shellanbacher’s gate. The reason is that down by Shellanbacher’s, if we fence them out, then we would have to put a gate in so they can get planes in due to their verbal agreement with the county to let planes get in and out.  Digiwx Visibility Update: Right now, this is working perfectly. Jims says he will get knocked off the internet, this is the only issue and it has only happened once, maybe twice to him, but he will go to the airport and get it back up. He states that he doesn’t get on the internet much. He calls this on the telephone or on his radio. He is going to begin being more attentive to the internet and see  what direction this will need to go. Greg stated that the last two times he has checked, he has not been able to access it on the internet. Jim states that they are just going to have to be diligent on checking it.  Weed Control Update: Jim will have the weeds sprayed around the lights so they should not have to mow around these. They will have to wait until spring to get this sprayed before the growing season. Jim has already talked to Mark about this.  Hangar Footprints: Need to wait for Shaun Shea for this review.  Morrison Maierle Update: There will be a pre-con meeting on December 5th, 2016. Right now they cannot work on the runway. However, there is a lot of work on this side that they can get done. There will be a survey done on the 5th to see if any of the fence work will be running into the Yellow Gopher Spiritual Area. If any work needs to be done, there will be a whole new set of rules that will need to be abided by as this is an Indian spiritual area.  Airport Future: Things need to be started now before year’s end and with Connie not being re-elected, there are some questions generated regarding the budget. If we don’t get the grant from Morrison Maierle, the county will be billed. Jim asked Terry Vermeire to go ahead with the Fuel Farm, as even without the grant, it may not be that much cost wise. The big cost would probably be the Environmental Assessment. This will be time consuming getting signatures. Jim will keep us posted on where this going, but he doesn’t want to be out on a limb by himself and asks for support. The plan currently is to begin the Fuel Farm in July of 2017.  Montana Aeronautics Grants: The grant application was due ten days ago. Jim had asked that they grant us money for the airport fence last year were turned down for this as Montana Aeronautics is having some financial issues right now. Right now, the plan is to push forward with the proposed Fuel Farm, but there won’t be an answer until after January. They are hoping to get half of the cost paid for by the grant.  Traffic through the airport has been very minimal, especially this time of year. More charter traffic than GA traffic. A lot of animal traffic on the runway. There is no fixed plane Life Flight anymore. The use is primarily helicopter. IV. OLD BUSINESS:  Marketing: No one has been in contact with Lisa Bracco. The last contact with Lisa was in September and she didn’t have anything. Jodi will update Carlye on this.  Board Vacancy (two): We now have three vacancies as we are waiting on a letter of resignation from Nick Nardacci. Carol Durham moved back to South Carolina. Bill Willing also resigned. Jim doesn’t think we will get a letter of resignation from Nick. We will more than likely have to wait until he has missed three consecutive meetings or someone will try and get hold of him to write a letter. Jodi has his cell number. Jodi mentioned that she would reach out to the hospital or clinic to possibly find a medical person to be on the board seeing that some of our visiting physicians use the airport runway.  Fuel Farm (July 2017): As above 2   Ramp repair: On schedule for July 2018  Lease agreement: Greg is waiting on county information regarding this. This is in the works and Jodi will discuss this with Carlye. Once leases are filled out and signed, the money is taken at the Treasurer’s Office. We need to get the new leases before we finalize this. Jim says that he has a good map of hangar owners. Per Jim Jonas, Jim will talk to Shaun Shea for review with Roxanne Trotta, FAA, and then to Ben Krakowka, County Attorney, for review  The annual inspection is coming due. They are looking into options for this.  Reapplication for a courtesy car: We need to get some sort of security system before the board will approach anyone for another courtesy car. They feel that with the new fence, this will be a step in a new direction regarding security. They will also be able to mount more cameras, and Jim will ask the county for cameras when the Fuel Farm gets set up. Hopefully, this will become secure enough to broach the subject of a courtesy car again. V. New Business:  None VI. Public Comment  None Adjourn: No motion was made. No quorum. This was a work session. Respectfully Submitted, Carlye Hansen Carlye Hansen Planning Department Secretary Approved 01/25/2017 3