Airport Commission

Fitchburg Municipal Airport Commission Meeting Minutes December 21, 2022 LOCATION: City of Fitchburg Legislative Building TIME: 6:02 PM Attendees: Airport Commissioners: Chair Clayton Raymond, Co-Chair Beth Walsh, David Ginisi, and Recording Secretary Richard Liberatore. Others in attendance: Airport Manager Peter Kettle, Mayor Di Natale, and via zoom isGale Representative Matt Caron. Meeting Protocol: Meeting called to order by Chair Raymond Chair Raymond introduced the Commission members and all other who were in attendance at this meeting. Previous Months minutes-including special meeting minutes: Chair Raymond asked for a motion to accept the November Monthly Minutes. Motion was made by Commissioner Walsh and 2nd by Commissioner Ginisi to accept the November Minutes. All in favor, 4-0. 22-12-01 Project Review-Gale: Monthly Project Update Matt Caron began his presentation by giving the Gale Monthly Updates on the ongoing projects at the Airport. Airport Master Plan and Airport Layout Plan update – AIP No. 3-250018-029-2021 As of October 28th, 2022, all parties signed the Airport Layout Plan and the FAA issued the ALP approval letter. The final reimbursement and closeout package was submitted to FAA on November 2nd 2022. MassDot has submitted the final reimbursement request and is awaiting FAA approval to release the final payment. This project is now completed. Environmental and Wildlife Hazard Assessment – AIP No. 3-25-0018-XX-2022 FAA confirmed that the Airport's AIP application submitted in April 2022 can be applied to a BIL grant. The package is under review by FAA and they will let the Airport/Gale know if any additional items need to be submitted in order to approve the BIL Grant. Gale did follow up with FAA on the status of the Grant offer for this project on December 20th, 2022. FAA does not have status update. Other Gale Items: Regarding the installation of a backup generator to power the Airport, this project has yet been funded. Airport Manager Peter Kettle did advise the Commission that a company named Convergent Energy which makes a Battery Bank Power System wishes to address the Commission on there Battery Cell Systems. Manager Kettle will research this Battery backup system in greater depth. Action – Airport Manager Kettle Fitchburg Pilots Association (FPA) Airport Manager Kettle stated that members of the FPA wanted to be involved in the Minimum Standards section of Old Business. Many members are present in the chamber at this meeting. New Business: Derek Boudreau: Has contacted the Airport Manager with a request to lease land for the development of aircraft hangers. Manager Kettle replied and asked that Mr. Boudreau come to a Commission meeting to speak in regards to his construction ideas. Chair Raymond added that he is in strong favor of the Commission to asking our City Council Members for monies so that the city would be in control of constructing T-hangars for the increase in revenue for the Airport. Action – Chair Raymond / Airport Manager Kettle Old Business: GPU Installation: The installation has been delayed about 2 to 3 weeks. Action – Airport Manager Kettle Hangar 1 Agreement: The tenants are looking for a lease of 5 plus 5 plus 5. The City Solicitor will start presentation of these lease documents. Action – City Solicitor/ Airport Manager Kettle Twin City Airmotive Agreement: The tenants are ready to sign their lease of 5 plus 5 plus 5. The tenant did request that the city add a Get Out Clause in the lease document. The city Solicitor will be including his clause in all transactions moving forward. Action – City Solicitor/ Airport Manager Kettle Minimum Standards: Chairman of the F.A.C.T., Mr. Mark Estabrook started off the discussion speaking on behalf of all the members of the F.A.C.T & FPA, asking the Airport Commission for a 90 day stay so that the F.A.C.T. & FPA could properly digest the Minimum Standards Draft that was presented to them. They would certainly appreciate the time to look over the document and to come back to the Commission with productive comments and suggestions. Chair Raymond granted the 90 day review and added that he is not looking to make dramatic changes to the Minimum Standards document but it must be understood that these Standards have not seen an update since 1973 and there are certain issues that need to be addressed. Chair Raymond states that his goal here is to keep all parties safe without discrimination. Airport Manager Kettle also spoke on behalf of the liability clause and the increase of the insurance of aviation technicians. Manager Kettle did his research with the FAA before making any changes to the liability section of the MS document. The Commission is certainly prepared to work with the F.A.C.T. & the FPA to make this Minimum Standard document work for all parties involved. Action – City Solicitor/ Commission Mass Development Site Readiness. Delayed to January meeting. Action- Mary Jo Bohart / Ed Starzec  Tie Down. (FPA-Coop). Manager Kettle is waiting for the Assistant Solicitor to get back to him. No action at this time. Mr. Bill Taylor did speak in regards to the increase in Tie Down Leasing. He stated that the FPA-COOP received a notice from the City Solicitor's office notifing them that they have breached their lease with the city because of lack of information regarding insurance and maintenance funds. Mr. Taylor insisted there was no breach and he presented to the Chair, documentation that the group did have current insurance on all properties at the airport and and that there were adequate funds in their maintenance account. Mr. Taylor asked the Commission of what had caused the lease increase. Chair Raymond replying to the question, that the lease rate for the Tie Down fee was set forth by the FAA and that current lease agreements like that with the FPA-COOP needed to be renegotiated. Chair Raymond added that attempts were made to have the lease with FPA-COOP compliant with the FAA ruling but there was no action on behalf of the FPA-COOP so the issue was passed on to the City Solicitors office. Mr. Taylor asked the Commission if they could forward to the FPA-COOP documentation from the FAA so they can better understand the process of the lease increase. Both parties wish to resolve this issue in a timely manner. Action- Attorney Pawlak / Airport Manager Kettle RFP 7 to 9 Hangar Agreement. No action at this time as we are waiting on the City Solicitor. Airport Manager Kettle did receive correspondence from Mr. Eric Sheffles. Mr. Sheffles the spokes person for the group stated that he is no longer interested in pursuing this project, stating the current economic climate has effected the scope and magnitude of the project and for him this is not economically feasible. Mr. Sheffles did add that he is willing to assist any person or group that would want to continue with a RFP. Mr. Sheffles also advised that he will added a few more changes to the Land Lease Agreement to make it totally acceptable to anyone wishing to build on airport property but obviously with Attorney Pusateri and the Commission's agreement. Chair Raymond agreed that we still need to move forward to obtain an RFP for the 7 to 9 Hangar project in order to maintain a 60 year lease. The Pete Store. Currently waiting for approval from the FAA on the land. Action- Assistant Airport Manager Deb Silvar Convergent Energy. Currently waiting for approval from the FAA on the land. Action- Gale Steven Dyke: Waiting for word from Human Resource Director. Financial Review: Approval of Commitments and Abatement's. There are none Executive Session: There is no executive session. Next Regular Meeting: January 19th, 2023 @ 6pm Regular Meeting Adjourned: Chair Raymond made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:34pm. All in favor. Recording Secretary, Richard Liberatore