AXX Airport Committee

VILLAGE OF ANGEL FIRE Airport Transport Committee Meeting Minutes Thursday August 29, 2024 at Village Hall Call to Order Mayor Lindsey called the Meeting to order at 10:00 AM Pledge of Allegiance Mayor Lindsey led the Pledge of Allegiance Roll Call Present were Mayor Lindsey, Lawrence Davis, Burt Lehman, Jacque Boyd, Fraser MacPhee, Jeff Gilmer, and Glen Tillery. Also attending via Zoom, were Mike Provine, Mark Manley, Glen Tillery, Saad Basha, and Jeremy. A Quorum was present Approval of August 15, 2024 Minutes Moved by Burt Lehman, Seconded by Jacque Boyd. Unanimously approved by voice vote. Approval of Today’s Agenda Moved by Lawrence Davis, Seconded by Burt Lehman. Unanimously approved by voice vote. Old Business: None New Business: A. Elect a Chair Person and a Secretary a. Mayor Lindsey called for nominations of a Secretary and Chair Person. b. Fraser MacPhee nominated Burt Lehman as Secretary. Lawrence Davis seconded the nomination. Roll Call voting was commenced and passed unanimously. c. Fraser MacPhee nominated Lawrence Davis as Chair. Jacque Boyd seconded the nomination. Roll Call voting was commenced and passed unanimously. d. Mayor Lindsey passed the remainder of the Meeting to Chair Elect Lawrence Davis B. Report on any pending/outstanding grants that Colfax County has a. Mayor Lindsey stated it was on his to-do list and he has not received it yet, and Mike Provine will be getting back with that. b. Chair Davis requested a Compliance Plan or other FAA documents that are also required to be provided. We could not find it in the airport files. C. Report back on Legal advice regarding MOU/Resolution to Colfax County a. Mayor Lindsey stated that the Resolution for the Village and Colfax County Commission has been written. It will go before the Commission Tuesday morning, September 24. It will also come before the Village Council that same evening at 5:30 PM, so long as we have a Business Plan to submit with the Resolution no later than September 17. Lawrence Davis confirmed these intentions. b. Fraser MacPhee addressed a request from Chair Davis on the progress of a Business Plan. He asked Mayor Lindsey about the expectations of the Business Plan, i.e., High Level, Detailed, Operational, Strategic. c. Mayor Lindsey replied that it was in the 30,000 foot level. d. Fraser, Glen Tillery and Craig who has put together numerous plans and has historical documents of the Airport’s past performance as well as well as goals and potential achievement goals for day-to-day operations of the Airport. Craig is putting together a full review including possible Land Lease income and other Page 1 of 5  strategic issues. This report is to be ready to go before the commission before September 17. e. Jeff Gilmer and Fraser MacPhee agreed that at least one paragraph should allude to ongoing progress of the Regulatory Pathway with primary intentions focused on Operations and Income. f. Jacque Boyd expressed concern that the “Regulatory Pathway” issue should not bog down the overall Business Plan. g. Mayor Lindsey concurred that, although the County did not ask for more than a Business Plan, the “Regulatory Pathway” should have a succinct mention as part of the process of an overall Business Plan. h. Mark Manley is attempting to connect with Guy Rouell, Director of Aviation, at DuBois and King, with significant experience on the regulatory side of things. He will report back with the possibility of Rouell’s being a consultant. i. Mayor Lindsey addressed Chair Davis’s legal concerns of the MOU or other shortcomings. The attorneys have worked on the Resolution and are now working on the MOU. D. Report back on any proposals on consultant possibilities to build a Business Plan a. Chair Davis added: “… and consult with the legal requirements for the FAA …” b. Glenn Tillery … after research, one kept popping up; Aviation Management, near Denver. c. Mayor Lindsey: Richard Nuttall is the Chief Executive Officer at Sri Lankan Airlines, not available until after October. d. … we have also spoken to Dan Allison from Expert Aviation Consulting (https://www.expertaviation.com/). They are eager to look into this as well. They are coming up here Sunday (September 1). e. Gilmer: … with that particular company is a retired FAA Regional Manager, 35 years in the FAA directly, dealing directly with State aviation in North Dakota, and a resident of Las Cruces and knows our valley quite well, and is interested on a sideline with the 135 operation. f. … be careful that often the consultants are interested with the daily operations of an airport while what we are talking about is a governmental transfer, which in the FAA world, is very different from operations. g. Mayor Lindsey: The consultant suggested by Mr. Manley fits that description. Manley: … apologies for not having direct communication with Guy Rouell. He will be contacted as quickly as possible. h. Saad Basha (CEO and President of Air Fugo): repeated Gilmer’s description of Allison. He is highly recommended and works for Basha as well. We have the 135 world, Charter Certificate worldwide ten or more, air ambulance, and the 145 Maintenance Repair facility. Headquarters is in Oregon with multiple bases across the country. Action Air – Dan Allison, Las Cruces. i. Tillery: What is the process for hiring a consultant? j. Mayor Lindsey: First, get past the Resolution Phase with the County, depending on their contract. If it’s under $20,000, we can just hire one. If the cost is from $20,000 up to $60,000 the Committee could recommend and choose from three quotes. Anything over $60,000 needs to go to RFP. k. Basha: Dan Allison would be the best to answer the question of cost. We would need a descriptive, detail-oriented proposal. Page 2 of 5  l. Chair Davis and Lindsey: We need to start writing that proposal, and with a one-year estimate, $60,000 plus would be highly likely. Rocky? m. Mayor Lindsey: We need the Business Plan to the Council no later than September 17. n. MacPhee: Make sure that he, Glen and Craig have something to the Council by that time. o. General comments about POC, Allison Brooks in Fort Worth. She is unavailable for work. We can send her emails; she may not be able to respond until the new regulatory year in October. Meanwhile, we need a single contact to not overload her. p. Chair Davis: We need to keep her aware of our processes. q. Gilmer: She was updated after the last meeting. r. Boyd: Requests that the Transport Committee members must have synopses on who does what between scheduled meetings so the members can arrive to the meetings knowing what has happened in the interim. s. Mayor Lindsey: As information comes in, this can be forwarded to all members on the email list. E. Status on Resolution being drafted a. Mark Manley: That was already covered, and I will give you all a copy as it has been finalized … more apologies. b. Chair Davis: Any more other business? c. Audience member: Operational capabilities need to be addressed. Previous meeting discussions addressed the needs for different, better navigational aids. ILS is basically ruled out with the cost and usage considerations. Something in the order of 500 feet and one mile visibility. Possibility a Terminal VOR or a solid state, centerline Localizer. d. Mayor Lindsey: The necessity and cost of this equipment would be good information to put into the Business Plan now that the Grant money for the hangar … The discussion devolved with overlapping voices about larger, faster aircraft, minimums, missed approaches, wind shear, airport lighting, a beacon with pilot control on a specific frequency, etc. e. Gilmer: These are necessary discussions, but the slow processes within the FAA are dependent on Grant funding. It’s a moot point now, but a paragraph within the Plan discussing the improvement thus of approach capabilities. This cannot happen until we own the airport. f. Boyd: Do we know the parameters of the existing grant for Air Services that might be required at the Airport? g. Saad Basha: Present navigational capabilities including missed approaches. Dan Allison could address this. h. Manley: Missed approach is the Big Block(age). i. Boyd: What specifically is in the rural grant for Air Carrier Service that the Angel Fire Airport might have to provide that we aren’t already providing? j. Manley: I do not know the answer to that at this time. I don't believe we have a contract yet. I haven't seen one, so it'd be premature for me to guess. k. …more discussions about general 135 and 91 requirements, but we are surmising that none of this is in the Grant. l. Boyd: I would like to see what is in the Grant that was awarded and if there are specifics … Page 3 of 5 m. Mayor Lindsey: Mark, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think any of that language is in the grant. What you're saying is when the contract is presented, it we would probably surface at that time, what the requirements of Angel Fire airport would be. n. Manley: That's my understanding but also the Carrier is going to know what requirements they're going to need and we're still in the preliminary stages on all of that, so I just I can't give you any more detail at this time. o. Gilmer: Jacque, last year when we were pretty close to getting where we are today, Advanced Air had no recommendations, well except for the walkway that we've been complaining about for years. They had looked at it and under their rules and under their guidelines. There was nothing in addition that needed to be done to start service. Now that may change, so I think your question is excellent, and I think it really should be looked at carefully. This is where Saad might do too because he operates this type of service and he might say, hey you're missing this, but it’s a good question. p. Fraser: I think what's being asked here by Jacque … correct me if I'm wrong … is that if there are Provisions in the grant where maybe there's some money in the grant to help provide a better localizer approach of some kind with better minimums to get aircraft in here that might be a possibility and you know BJ's question of budgetary issues with regard to improving the instrument capability of landing an aircraft here. If it's $20,000 to get something in there, maybe that Grant can facilitate that type of a system or improvement and upgrade to the system for better minimums. q. Gilmer: Fraser, so you being the airport manager at the time, and Scott can speak to this too. You have an inspection that is done by FAA airports. They identify as it was well said we’re 135, not far above 91 there are Parts in the FARs that rules that have to be abided by you would know because that inspection which is actually part of what Lawrence is asking for is to see those records of that inspection and their compliance that would speak to that. What I understand is that it's the State that will help with grants to get those issues done along with the FAA. That's why I think Jackie's question is really good; where do we need to go? It's putting all those pieces together to get the answers. r. Chair Davis: Okay, most all of that's not part of transferring the airport ownership. It's something we will have to do immediately after we accept ownership, but it's I don't think going to be a condition for the transfer. s. Boyd/ Davis: But, if the county has accepted that Grant,/ if there's a requirement, we will would come with it/The requirements will come with the transfer/But that's going to come with the contract proposal from the Air Carrier, right? I think we can move off with that one. t. Chair Davis: Is there a New Mexico State Aviation? Are we going to be required to clear through them as well besides the Federal? Are there any monies there too? It was something I may contact them and let them know that's our intent at some point here. u. Chair Davis: Anything else from anyone? v. Scott: In a conversation with Provine, we have a grant for updated Runway lights and a beacon which is going to help with the nav AIDS/navigation Aid argument. w. Davis: We have that already, correct? x. Scott: 2025 CIB and that will not only include a PAPI light which for those who don't know Precision Approach Pack Aid. Page 4 of 5  y. MacPhee: The one we have now is Pulse Light Approach, which is useful when ascertaining your altitude when breaking out of the clouds. z. Scott: On the PR side concerning the Rotating Beacon shining into everyone’s living room. aa. Gilmer: Tech Ops has already stated they will allow a specific frequency for Angel Fire Airport for pilot On-Off control. bb. Boyd: Dark Skies Committee speaks specifically about lighted towers. Beacons must be on radio remote control. cc. Gilmer: All these changes take time to disseminate the changes to the end users. Adjournment Chair Lawrence Davis adjourned the meeting at 10:52 AM Burt Lehman, Secretary Airport Transport Committee Submitted: 2:45 PM September 10, 2024 Page 5 of 5