Airport Commission

Fitchburg Municipal Airport Commission Meeting Minutes May 26, 2021 PLACE: Zoom Webinar TIME: 6:00PM Attendees: Airport Commissioners: Chair Clayton Raymond, David Ginisi, Elizabeth Walsh, Richard Liberatore Others in attendance: Airport Manager Peter Kettle, Chief Procurement Officer Mary Delaney, Director of Economic Development Mary Jo Bohart, Walter Grey and Rita Moran of PowerOptions, Carlos Silva of Ipanema Productions, Nick Ippolito of Gale Associates, Solicitor Pusateri • Meeting Protocol: Meeting called to order by Chair Raymond: 6:00pm • Chair Raymond introduced the commission members in attendance. 1. Previous Months minutes-including special meeting minutes • Meeting minutes March 31, 2021 o Motion to approve – Liberatore o 2nd – Ginisi § 26-05-01 Vote – 4-0, Approved • Meeting minutes April 28, 2021 – TABLED o Motion to approve – o 2nd - 1A. Action Items from previous minutes • Peter - Legislative Building Update: Agreed but not approved for general public yet • Peter – RFP Hangars: Docs to supports RFP were sent to Procurement Director. Will be published in the next week or two. ACTION: Mary • Peter – Hangar Building Fire Inspection: Hangars have been inspected by the City. Extinguishers have been updated. City will be recommending what needs to be updated in a week • Raymond – IFE: Signed by Chair and has been applied for. Kettle has received notification of approval. • Nick – Backup Generator Grant Search: It is eligible as an ASMP Project. Would need to be publicly bid on. Will look further into it. ACTION: Nick • Peter – Drone Presentation: Already met with Chief Martineau- will be putting together a joint petition together to prevent drones from flying freely at the airport before the City Council. Lunenburg & Leominster meetings to be arranged over the next month or so. ACTION: Chief Martineau & Peter. • Peter – Leominster Land Access: Solicitor Pusateri recommended Peter speaks to FAA- FAA recommends that the lease is a good deal. Recommends Commission to approve the deal. o Motion to accept the $8,600 Land Access Deal  § Motion to approve – Raymond § 2nd – Liberatore § 26-05-02 Vote – 4-0, Approved • Peter – 100LL Gas Valve Update: Peter has closed off the valve and turned it off. Meeting with Dependable Engineering 100LL gas company to get issue resolved. • Peter – Permission to continue collecting rent, paying bills: Does the commission need to vote on this? Solicitor Pusateri recommends Commission approval. o Motion to continue business as usual § Motion to approve – Raymond § 2nd – Walsh § 26-05-03 Vote – 4-0, Approved • Peter – Helicopter Landing Pad: Received FAA Approval. 2. Correspondence to the commission • Two Letters: o Carlos Silva: Request for new dates 8/14, 8/15, 8/16 – 9/25, 9/26, 9/27 – 10/9, 10/10, 10/11 o Motion to approve concert dates § Motion to approve – Raymond § 2nd – Ginisi § 26-05-04 Vote – 4-0, Approved o Bruce Higgins, San Diego, CA: Looking for 40-60 acres of land for a warehouse- looking for a lease term of 50 years. Kettle recommends Commission decline due to lack of available land. Solicitor Pusateri mentioned the empty sandlot across the street. Subject to remain open? 3. Project Review of Gale Associates • Update on re-meeting with FAA’s Carl Newton o Flight inspections have been delayed again • Airport Master Plan o Applications have been submitted, no action requested this month. There are two (2) projects that Gale Associates, Inc. (Gale) is administering on behalf of the Fitchburg Airport Commission. They are: 3A. Runway 14-32 Final Design and Construction – AIP No. 3-25-0018-028-2019 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: • This project is now substantially complete. • Gale has received notification from the FAA that the flight check scheduled for Friday, April 30th will need to be rescheduled due to inclement weather. The tentative window for the rescheduled flight inspection is sometime between May 1 and May 15th. • Upon successfully commissioning the NAVAIDs, Gale will prepare an estimate to release final retainage and move to close the Project out. 3B. Airport Master Plan and Airport Layout Plan update – AIP No. 3-25-0018-029-2021 (TBD) Project Description: This Project includes an update to the FIT Master Plan and Airport Layout Plan which were last updated in 2008. It is anticipated that this project will review the adequacy of the Airport’s landside and airside facilities, including hangars, aprons, taxiways/taxilanes, aeronautical and non-aeronautical uses, fencing, improved approach procedures, etc. Estimated Project Cost: FAA Share: $ 332,400.00 (90%) State Share: $ 000.00 (5.0%) Local Share: $ 000.00 (5.0%) Total Cost: $ 332,400.00 (100%) Project Status: • Master Plan scoping meeting with FAA, MassDOT, representatives from the Airport and City occurred on January 14, 2021. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the scope of work elements and general direction of the project. • Following the March 2021 Airport Commission meeting, the Commission solicited an Independent Fee Estimate for the Master Plan. • Gale’s proposed fee for the Master Plan is $326,400. As long as Gale’s fee is within 10% of the IFE’s fee the FAA will find it acceptable. • Please note that the total grant amount will include an additional $6,000 for ‘Sponsor Administration’ costs. ‘Sponsor Administration’ costs include items such as the IFE invoice. 4. Fitchburg Pilots Association Nothing to report. 5. New Business • RFP Hangars Land Lease o Covered in Action items • Hangar Building/Fire Inspection  o Covered in Action Items • TITAN – Badging & Credit Cards o TITAN has now taken over all Shell Aeronautical fuel supply. Rebadged fuel trucks for both 100LL and Jet A fuel have been applied. Peter advised the Commission that another free year of using the fuel trucks had been approved by Titan. • Warehouse Development o Reference to the Bruce Higgins letter ACTION: Peter – to advise Bruce of a different parcel of land across the street from the airport. • Ipanema Productions o Covered in Action Items from the previous minutes. • Tie Downs o 8 airplanes on 87 tie downs – Kettle recommends reduction from $88 a month to $50 a month. Would get more people in to buy fuel. Solicitor Pusateri recommends Kettle look more into the contracts. o ACTION: Peter. • Budget & Appropriation o Budget submitted to the city. City has taken $95,000 out of the 2021 budget. City Auditor Brooks suggested Kettle submit a letter of Appropriation request for funding to the mayor for $135,000. This will be used for the refurbishing of two hangar roofs (Hangar 2 and Hangar 3) and also a door for Hangar 10. Kettle has submitted a letter to the city and awaits a decision from the Finance Committee meeting on 06/08/2021. ACTION: Peter • Mary Jo Bohart o Mary Jo updated the commission on a grant funding request for MassDevelopment for consulting services for things not covered by MassDOT or the FAA on the airport master plan i.e. marketing o MassDevelopment respectfully denied funding back in March. Grant submissions are now available again and we have been encouraged to apply. o Mary Jo is asking the commission if we want to apply for the grant again for an ask of $75,000. o Mary Jo requests a letter of support to move forward and also decide on what is the ask of what the airport would like to receive for funding. ACTION: Raymond will write Mary Jo a letter of support. ACTION: Mary Jo. 6. Old Business • Joe Spinelli & five additional people – Now 9. o Still ongoing- update next month as dependent upon the RFP being issued.  • Drone Presentation o Covered in Action items § Peter is to complete presentations to both Lunenburg & Leominster Police Chief’s and DPW’s. • RFP Solar Farm o Walter Grey of PowerOptions give a presentation on a proposed solar farm, supported by Rita Moran.. o Commission agrees to postpone the solar farm endeavor for the time being because of a KW cap- hoping to see a change in the future. • Land Access Rental – Leominster DPW o Covered in Action items and voted positively on by the Commission. • Self-Serve Fuel Farm o Todd Fitzsimmons of Smarttank Inc. to visit the airport on Tuesday 06/01/2021 to evaluate the problem and offer assistance in line with recommendation by Kettle. ACTION: Peter. 7. Financial Review • Approval of commitments & abatements. Kettle has Commission permission to sign and approve both. ACTION: Peter. 8. Manager’s Operation Report 9. Executive Session • None at this time 10. Date of next meeting: June 23, 2021 @ 6:00PM @ Legislative Building 11. Motion to Adjourn – Walsh 2nd – Liberatore Conclusion – 8:30pm