Airport Commission

Fitchburg Municipal Airport Commission Meeting Minutes June 26 2019 PLACE: Terminal Building METTING TIME: 6:00PM Attendees: Airport Commissioners: Chairman Jack Naylor, Vice Chair Peter Kettle Commissioners Richard Liberatore, Clayton Raymond, Dan Cunningham and Airport Manager Scott Ellis. Others in attendants include: Ward Councilor Elizabeth Walsh, Nicholas Ippolito, P.E. of Gale Associates, Inc, Richard Girsh of FPA Ken Maclean of Twin City Airmotive 1. Meeting Protocol Meeting called to order chair Naylor  Chair Naylor introduced the commission members in attendance.  Chair Naylor asked if anyone would like to record audio (granted) and approved, Comm. Raymond & Comm. Kettle  Chair Naylor asked to dispense of the reading for the public opportunity to speak. Approved 2. Previous Months minutes-including special meeting minutes Comm. Liberatore motion to approve May’s minutes Chair Kettle would like revisions to be made to April’s and Mays minutes and would like to table the motion until some items are revised. All agreed 3. Correspondence to the Commission Action Items recap Scott Ellis:  Letter received from Leominster City Councilor Gail Feckley letter outlines a noise complaint about the concert on Sunday night. Comm. Liberatore stated the concert was over 4 minutes earlier than his permitted time and the city received zero complaints. Action Scott Ellis will contact Gail Feckley and address her concerns. 4. Project review-Gale There are Three (3) projects that Gale Associates, Inc. (Gale) is administering on behalf of the Fitchburg Airport Commission. They are Runway 32 End Obstruction Removal (Off Airport Property) AIP No. 3-25-0018-26-2017 Project Description: This project is an obstruction removal project to clear obstructions identified on up to twenty-seven (27) off-airport properties in the Runway 32 approach surface in the City of Leominster. One (1) property is partially in the City of Fitchburg. Estimated Project Cost: FAA Share: $ 1,156,500.00 (90.0%) State Share: $ 64,250.00 ( 5.0%) Local Share: $ 64,250.00 ( 5.0%) Total Cost: $ 1,285,000.00 (100%) Project Status:  Contract No. 3 (Building): Work to modify the roof of an existing structure (Contract No. 3) is completed.  Contract No. 1 (Tree Clearing): Work to remove vegetative obstructions on the Runway 32 end has been completed.  Contract No. 2 (Obstruction Lights): Gale Associates has received an estimate to relocate the equipment onto the Obstruction Light Pole located on Crawford Street. The cost provided by KOBO Utility is $10,522.00. The value of KOBO’s Contract is $110,552.50, and the estimate at completion is $94,265.00. Meaning if the Commission chooses, the additional work would keep the total construction cost below the total contract amount. Gale would have to process a Change Order to cover the cost from items that have underruns.  Alternately, the Commission may choose to apply for a permit through the Planning Board/City Council to leave the equipment in place. The permit fee is $25.00, but the permit may be conditioned to include visual buffers, the cost of which is not known.  Once the final decision is made on how to proceed, Gale will start coordination.   Actions Required by the Airport this Month: Please direct Gale on how to proceed with coordinating the completion of Contract No. 2. Runway 14-32 Final Design and Construction – AIP No. TBD Project Description: This project will include the 95% and Bid Set Documents necessary to allow competitive bidding of the Runway 14-32 Reconstruction Project. This project will also include Bidding and Construction Phase Services for the new Runway 14-32. Estimated Project Cost: FAA Share: 13,832,100.00 (90.0%) State Share: $768,450.00 (5.0%) Local Share: $ 768,450.00 (5.0%) Total Cost: 15,369,000.00 (100%) Project Status:  The Airport has received the Independent Fee Estimate for the Runway Reconstruction Project. Gales price was within 10% of the IFE. Based upon this information, Gale has forwarded finalized Contracts to the Airport for signatures.  FAA has announced the award of a grant to the City of Fitchburg to fund the Runway Construction. Once the FAA Grant is in- place, MassDOT/AD will follow suit with the state share of the Grant.  Gale Associates has been coordinating with the Contractor to review and approve shop drawings, and begin the procurement process.  Both the Contractor’s Contract for Construction, and Gale’s Contract for design/construction have been submitted to the City. Once the grants are in place, please have the appropriate parties execute both Contracts and forward to MassDOT/AD for final approval. 1. Gale has not received a proposed schedule from D.W. White at this time; upon execution of the Contracts, Gale will work with the Contractor to determine a start date and schedule for Construction. It is anticipated that the Contractor may begin work as early as mid-July. 2. The Contractor has indicated through their Safety Plan Compliance Document (SPCD) that they intend to construct Phase I (Runway 32 end) and Phase II (Runway 14 end) concurrently. These two phases are separated by the active Runway 2-20. Gale has included contract provisions for two (2) full time Resident Engineers to be on site as needed to oversee construction in circumstances such as this. No action is necessary of the Commission at this time. 3. If Phases I and II are completed in September/October of 2019, it is feasible that the Contractor can complete the Project prior to the winter of 2019. However, this has not been confirmed to be their intent. Ken Maclean of Twin City Airmotive is concerned about the run way shut down timeframe and reiterates he does need at least a 120 day notice for this planned shutdown. Actions Required by the Airport this Month: Please sign and forward Gale’s Contracts and the Contractor’s Contracts to MassDOT.  Install Self-Serve Fuel Farm and Distribution System – ASMP No. TBD Project Description: This Project will be for the design and construction phase services relating to the installation of an above ground storage tank (AST) and distribution system for self-serve Avgas Sales at the Airport. Estimated Project Cost:  FAA Share: $ 0.00 (0%) State Share: $ 64,671.20 (80.0%) Local Share: $ 16,167.80 (20.0%) Total Cost: $ 80, 839.00 (100%) Project Status:  Gale has prepared a Scope of Work for this Project and submitted it to MassDOT for review. Comments were received from MassDOT in mid- February and the Scope of Work has been revised to reflect those comments. MassDOT is now preparing an IFE for the project; once finalized, the Airport may compare Gale’s fee to MassDOT’s Fee. o Update: Gale has reached out to MassDOT on April 11, 2019 and April 17, 2019 to inquire about the IFE. No response was received. o Update: Gale has reached out to MassDOT on April 29th, 2019 and May 27, 2019 to inquire about the IFE. No response has been received. o This project is currently out to bid. The bid opening date is scheduled for Friday, June 28th, 2019. Gale anticipates 2 to 3 bids.  Due to the delay in the Independent Fee Estimate from MassDOT, and the lead time on procurement of the tank and dispensing system, the 2019 Project has been changed from Design-Build to Design Only. Gale has submitted revised Contracts to the Airport which reflect the change in Project Scope. Moving Forward, Gale will assist the Airport in applying for a FY2020 grant to fund the Construction through MassDOT/AD’s ASMP Program.  Actions Required by the Airport this Month: None at this time.  Other Items:  It appears as though the FAA will be releasing an additional $500M in supplemental funding in fiscal year 2019. This notification was sent out a Program Guidance Letter (R-PGL 19-01) dated June 3, 2019. At this time no additional information is available regarding the program requirements, but FAA has indicated that it may be similar to the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2018, or it may be completely different. 5. New Business A. Safety Committee/ low flying aircraft Scott Ellis has received some complaints from people surrounding the airport concerning low flying aircraft. He has reiterated to the airport tenants that the noise abatement be followed when possible but Pilots have the right to put safety first and can fly in the noise abatement zone. B. Airport billing procedures- Scott Ellis states the new billing system is not ready at this time. The city is working on the computer system to grant access to the airport management staff. The billing system should be fixed by next month’s billing cycle C. Mass DOT-A VMP Grant: Scott Ellis states the airport will receive new battery powered vegetation equipment. This is part of a MASS DOT grant the city council has approved. D. Increase rent: Comm. Kettle is asking the Airport Manager to develop a plan to increase rents to the airport tenants and users to help share the expense of the airport improvement projects. Chair Naylor: wants no increases till after the Airport Runway Extension project is complete. Comm. Cunningham agrees. Comm. Raymond: states the Airport should be applying nominal incremental increases every year to all tenants to help decrease the burden of high unexpected rent increases every few years. Comm. Raymond also states this plan should be implemented with expectations that all buildings will be receiving proper maintenance on a routine schedule when such a plan begins. This will promote a better airport management relationship and encourage growth while maintaining a safe and productive space  for all. Action Scott Ellis will develop a plan to increase revenue to assure the airport can afford to pay its loans that we have already committed too. E. Hanger Construction – senate construction/ Vadim Gayshin Rob Rose of senate construction would like to know the process and procedures to move forward with the construction of a hanger at the airport. Two locations were consider by the tenant and were discussed. The general area agreed by the Airport commissioners would be adjacent to the FPA hanger. Vadim is considering a hanger of approximately 4500 sq ft. 70 feet wide by 60 ft deep. The hanger would be air-conditioned, heated with a bathroom and shower it will be in compliance to all mass laws. The commission is in favor to move forward with approval process to construct a hanger adjacent to the FPA space. Motion to approve senate construction to proceed with the approval process starting with a land lease agreement Motioned Chair Naylor 2nd Dan Cunningham 19-06-01Vote 5-0 6. Old Business A. Promoting/ Marketing Fitchburg Municipal Airport Scott Ellis is hoping to schedule a ground breaking ceremony for the runway project. Concerns were voiced by Ken Maclean of twin City Airmotive he is asking for a firm construction time line for the runway project. The timeframe on this project will not be known until the grant money is approved and the contract is signed. The Airport commission is expecting a construction time line by next month’s commission meeting. B. Autumn Air services (Cornerstone) Scott Ellis: states he has been in discussions with autumn air but does not have details due to the rent switch over in the computer system. Scott Ellis did say the arrears are being paid down. No exact figures were given. C. FPA Airfest /Young Eagles Richard Girsh stated the event was very successful and the FPA is thankful for the help they received from the Airport and the all the cities resources who attended. Comm. Liberatore was extremely pleased with the event and feels the volunteer time and personal money spent on fuel should be rewarded. Chair Naylor is in favor of passing on a fuel discount at next year’s event for the Young Eagles. All Agree D. Panama Productions the concert was well attended the event drew over 4000 people without incident. Comm Liberatore stated Carlos Silva of panama productions provided a great event and should be commended to how well the concert was executed. Scott Ellis received a letter from Leominster City Councilor Gail  Fleckey, voicing concerns about a noise complaint. Scott Ellis will contact Gail Feckley to address her concerns outlined in her letter. There were no other complaints at this time. 7. Financial review. FY 2020 Airport budget has been approved by the city council on June 5 2019 Scott Ellis provided the commission with a spread sheet on fuel sales Scott anticipates lower than average fuel sales up until the runway is completed. 8. Managers operation report` Old pole near hanger 12 Fact would like to put a Wye FI antenna on the pole Motion to approve Chair Nayloor 2nd Comm. Kettle Vote 5-0 9. Next Regular Airport Meeting June 26 2019 6PM at terminal Building Fitchburg Airport 10. Executive Session Required NO  Motion to adjourn Comm. Liberatore seconded Comm. Kettle 19-04-03  Conclusion 7:55  Recording secretary Clayton Raymond