Airport Commission

Fitchburg Municipal Airport Commission Meeting Minutes April 17, 2024 LOCATION: City of Fitchburg Legislative Building TIME: 6:02 PM Attendees: Airport Commissioners: Chair Clayton Raymond, Commissioner Erik Tkal, Commissioner Paul Hathaway and Commissioner Richard Liberatore. Other in attendance: Airport Manager Peter Kettle, Mayor Samantha Squailia, and from Gale Associate, Representative Jackie Marks. Meeting Protocol: Meeting called to order by Chair Raymond. Chair Raymond introduced the Commission Members and all others who were in attendance. Chair Raymond welcomed our two new est member to the Airport Commission. Mr. Erik Tkal and Mr. Paul Hathaway. Chair Raymond thanked the new Commissioners for volunteering their time and energy to the Commission. Previous Months Minutes-including special meeting minutes: Chair Raymond asked for a motion to accept the March Minutes. Motion was made by Commissioner Tkal, 2nd by Commissioner Liberatore to accept the minutes as recorded. All in favor, 4-0. 24-04-01 Action Items from Previous Meeting: Action Items will be covered during the meetings agenda. Correspondence to the Commission: There were none. Project Review- Gale: Monthly Project Update Gale Representatives Jackie Marks made the monthly Gale update presentation. Environmental Assessment and Wildlife Hazard Assessment: AIP 3-25-0018-034-2023 Monthly surveys will continue through May of 2024, with a draft of the full Wildlife Hazard Assessment report to be provided in the summer of 2024. Cheryl Quaine, Environmental Protection Specialist with the FAA, approved the EA for finalization pending minor updates on April 1st. Gale made the necessary changes and forwarded the final document for submission on April 12th. If acceptable Cheryl will provide the airport with a “Finding of No Significant Impact” (FONSI) statement. The Wildlife Hazard Assessment is ongoing. The surveys are expected to conclude in Mat 2024. The WHA report is anticipated to be completed on the following timeline: ***Pre-Draft WHA Report to be provided for Airport review within 60m days of last survey date. ***Draft provided to FAA within 15 days of receipt of last comment on pre-draft. ***FAA must approve the WHA and will determine if the Wildlife Management Plan is needed. ***Draft Wildlife Hazard management Plan will be provided within 30 days of approval of the WHA. ***Final Wildlife hazard Management Plan will be provided within 15 days of receipt of last comment. Following completion of the EA and WHA/WHMP, the project can be closed out. Design and Permitting for Main Apron Reconstruction: During the March Commission meeting, the Airport Commission voted and authorized the Chairman to enter into an agreement with Gale. Gale is preparing a contract for execution by the Airport in the amount of $267,800.00. Action- Gale and Airport Mgr. Kettle Groove, Seal and Remark Runway 14-32 (ASMP-2024-FIT-29 and ASMP-2024-FIT-30) Bid documents were provided to Mary Delaney for bidding on March 28,2024 and the project is currently out to bid. A pre-bid video call was held on April 17, 2024 at 10AM. Construction of this project is expected to begin sometime in May. There will be temporary closures of the Runway during the day while grooving work is being completed. Approximately 10 business days. During grooving operations, the Runway will be opened after 1700 hrs. every day until 0700 hrs. the next morning. Once the sealant is applied, the Runway will need to be closed until the friction test is completed. During the March Commission meeting the Airport Commission voted and authorized the Chairman to enter into an agreement with Gale for the engineering work to be completed. Action- Gale Other Items: The Airport and MassDot are still working towards funding solutions for the Backup Generator that will power the entire Airport. Medstar Legal- Gale assisted the Airport in preparing and submitting an FAA and MassDot Grant Application to recover funds associated with the eminent domain Aviation Easement lawsuit. We are currently awaiting any possible grant award and will submit a reimbursement request when and if a grant is issued. Fitchburg Pilots Association (FPA): Airport Mgr. Kettle reminded the Commission that the Wings and Wheels Event will be happening on April the 28th and the Aero Fair Event is scheduled for June 16th, 2024. New Business: High Resolution Stereoscopic Camera (HRSC): Airport Mgr. Kettle explained to the Commission that this is a tool used by MassDot to measure the ware of our Runway. The camera takes the image of the Runway surface and it gives precise details of the pavement surface. Approximately a year or two later the Runway surface can again be measured with this High Resolution Camera and an exact calculation can be submitted by which we would know just how much ware our Runway is receiving. Mgr. Kettle stated that there is no inconvenience to the pilots and the Airport remains open. NAAS: Airport Mgr. Kettle again explained to the Commission that this is a company out of Lawrence Ma. that builds Box Hangars and they are presently building 22 hangars and they are using their own money to do this project. Mgr. Kettle spoke with the owner of the company, who expressed interest in coming to Fitchburg to view our project. The Owner did state to Mgr. Kettle that it would be the responsibility of the City to bring in utilities to the project site. Mgr. Kettle says that it would be about a million dollars to get the necessary utilities into the airport and at this time the City just doesn't have those kind of funds in their budget. Lining of Airport Admin Parking Lot: Airport Mgr. Kettle stated that the parking lot at our Administration Building is in need of organized lines because at this time visitors are parking all over the place and he feels that painted lines would be a great benefit to aid the parking situation. Mgr. Kettle did reach out to the DPW Commissioner hoping he could get his people to do the line painting but at this time Commissioner Erickson does not have any extra funds to pay this people to do the job. Unfortunately the Airport also is short the funds to pay for the line painting. This project will be put on hold for now until funds become available. Action- Airport Mgr. Kettle FAA & $1 M Grant: Airport Mgr. Kettle reached out to the FAA to see if we could get a million dollar grant from them to get utilities to the Airport for the NAAS Company to build our project. The FAA stated that if it was the City doing the building then yes we would qualify for the funds to bring in utilities, but because it is not a City operated project, we do not quality for FAA funding. 5% Budget: The Mayor has ask Department Heads to cut 5% off there present budget and Mgr. Kettle did just that which explains the shortage of funds to do some of the projects around the Airport. Mgr. Kettle remains hopeful that available funds can be found in the future to take care of Airport necessities. Action- Mgr. Kettle Old Business: Wings & Wheels: This event was discussed earlier. The date is April 28th and there will be no interruptions to Airport operations. Aero Fair: Sponsored by the FPA, this event will take place on June 16th. RFP for Non-Aviation Land Lease Update: Airport Mgr. Kettle spoke in regards to the Non-Aviation Land and how we are not finding interested developers to come to our Airport property. Mgr. Kettle explained that there is an immediate need to widen our avenue of advertisement of this available land. We need to advertise Nation wide and perhaps we can use Mass Developers out of Boston as a resource to find a builder / developer from another State. The RFPI (Request For Expression of Interest) has been extended until mid-May with the hopes of encouraging a developer to view our available property. Action- Airport Mgr. Kettle / Mary Delaney Land Lease N Number Holdings Update: Airport Mgr. Kettle, reported that construction on the hangar that will house the Life Flight Helicopter is just about completed and they are looking at a move in date of May 1st. This will allow Dr. Myles Jen Kin who will be occupying space in the Admin Building, to move up his date of occupancy. The Doctor has been cleared by the FAA to perform Class 2 and 3 medicals for pilots and this will be a great benefit to the Airport. Action- Airport Mgr. Kettle / N Number Holdings Minimum Standards – Item 2.3 Chair Raymond asked for input from both the Commission and from those in the audience. Both Commissioner Tkal and Hathaway pulled out sections from the document to discuss and to get better clarification. Positive feedback was presented by the Commissioners and the Chair found it to be acceptable. Mark Estabrook, Pres. of FACT, had a few sections he wished to review with the Commission regarding the MS draft. Mark brought up many good points in the document and asked for clarification on certain parts of the document. In all there was very good feedback from both the Commission and Mr. Estabrook. Chair Raymond added that he hopes to have a final document prepared for review by the FAA in June. Action – Chair Raymond and Commission Crawford Street Safety- Nick Erickson: Airport Mgr. Kettle spoke on the Crawford Street issues. He got word from Nick Erickson, Commissioner of the City DPW that because of the budget rollback that he has to implement, he will not be able to hire the Road Consultant to look at the Crawford Street hazard. In- turn he will fall back on contacting the MassDot Traffic Bureau for their assistance. Hopefully MassDot will be able to respond and to view the Crawford St. situation. Action- Commissioner Erickson / Mgr. Kettle Financial Review: Approval of Commitments and Abatement's: There were none. Executive Session: There is no Executive Session scheduled. Next Regular Meeting: May 15, 2024 at 6pm. Regular Meeting Adjourned: Chair Raymond made a motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:20 pm. All were in favor. Respectfully Submitted, Richard Liberatore Recorder