Airport Authority

Athens Ben Epps Airport Authority Meeting July 26, 2022, 3:00PM Minutes Live Stream was not available for this meeting In attendance: Mike Mathews, Diane Napier, Keith Sanders, Grant Tribble, Craig Westwood, David Asman, Jeff Benjamin, Davin Welter, Chris Lowery (Holt Consulting), Peter Hughes (RS&H), Jim Duguay (Michael Baker International), Andrew Bolin (RS&H) Apologies: -- Note-taker: Davin Welter 1) Chair Update and announcements: Dr. Napier welcomed the participants and previewed the agenda. Dr. Napier welcomed Jeff Benjamin who is a new member of the authority. Because Dr. Napier had a situation that needs to be addressed, she obtained agreement to leave the meeting early and have Mr. Sanders take over leadership of the meeting. Dr. Napier then jumped to item 4 of the agenda which addressed the Lexington Road Corridor. Dr. Napier then presented a point of information about upcoming tasks which include reviewing the articles of the bylaws and specifically asking if the RACI chart should be removed. Dr. Napier asked the members of the Authority to review the specific provisions in Articles Three and Four. She also mentioned that in the future we need to focus on the 2022 Annual Report and the update of the Strategic Plan. 2) June Meeting Minutes: Mr. Sanders assumed leadership of the meeting at this time. The June minutes were approved as submitted, per unanimous vote. Mr. Tribble moved and Mr. Westwood seconded to approve the minutes. 3) Airport Manager Reports a) Financial & Operations Report: Mr. Mathews stated that AHN ended the year very well. Everything was in-line both from a revenue and expense perspective. Because of the situation, Mr. Sanders asked if the ACC leadership had anything positive to say about the numbers. Mr. Mathews responded that they are pleased. b) Capital Improvement Project Updates: Mr. Mathews said that he had some requests from airport tenants about progress on the various projects. He provided an update about 2 weeks ago. He is planning to restart a monthly newsletter to help provide info. The localizer has been painted. We are waiting on FAA to perform a flight check. A meeting about restarting the work on Taxiway Alpha occurred and we hope to start moving on that project soon. There are a lot of supply chain issues that impact this and other projects. Mr. Mathews is consulting with the Georgia Department of Transportation about moving this project forward. Unfortunately, the project will not be completed by UGA Football season, but we dealt with this last year and it should not be a problem. The resurfacing of Runway 2-20 is dealing with supply chain issues as well and it will take some time to get materials needed for the project. This project will not start until later this fall. We are working with the ACC Public Works Department to address the issues in the Runway Object Free Area. They will help with this project and suggested that we consider using goats in to eat the kudzu. c) Marketing & Outreach: Mr. Mathews reported that the ACC Chamber of Commerce brought about 50 folks from the surrounding area to address the topic of workforce development. He had  an opportunity to address this group for about 30 minutes to talk about the air service development prospects. Mr. Mathews reported that the ACC Economic Development Department brought in a group that flew in and looked at a site for potential development. He also reported that the fireworks event was cut short because one of the operators was disabled during the show. The Fire Department responded to this incident but other than that, Leisure Services did a great job. d) Mr. Mathews reported that because so the new COVID outbreak, the Authority did not go back to in person meeting. He hopes that will meet in person at the October meeting. 4) Old Business a) Lexington Highway Corridor Update: Dr. Napier reported that a public input survey about the project was conducted and a total of 71 people responded. The intersection improvement projects have been put on hold to make sure that all ACC departments that might be impacted are consulted and that all things are considered. 5) New Business a) There was no new business. 6) Standing Committees: Issues & Updates a) Business/Finance: Mr. Sanders said there is nothing to report from this committee at this time but the committee will get involved with strategic planning when ACC is ready. The committee will also work on the FY2022 annual report. b) Operating: Mr. Asman informed the Authority that there was nothing to report and welcomed Mr. Benjamin to the committee. c) Air Service Development/Marketing: Mr. Mathews and Mr. Tribble stated that they had no new business to report. 7) Other Business: a) First Lady Jill Biden flew in last Thursday as reported by Mr. Mathews. The Secret Service spent a lot of time with the airport staff to prepare for the visit. We had to shut down the airport for a short period of time. Unfortunately, a couple of folks were not happy with this locked down. The situation was too sensitive to give out times of the arrival beforehand. b) Next meeting: Tuesday August 23, 2022, 3-5 p.m. 8) Adjourn: 3:41 PM - Mr. Westwood moved and Mr. Tribble seconded to adjourn the meeting, with unanimous agreement. Minutes Approved ___________________ Diane Napier________________________ Davin Welter________________________