Airport Commission

Fitchburg Municipal Airport Commission Meeting Minutes May 15, 2024 LOCATION: City of Fitchburg Legislative Building TIME: 6:00 PM Attendees: Airport Commissioners: Chair Clayton Raymond, Commissioner Erik Tkal, Commissioner Paul Hathaway and Via Zoom, Commissioner Richard Liberatore. Others in attendance: Airport Manager Peter Kettle, Gale Associate Representative, Jackie Marks and members from FACT and the FPA. Meeting Protocol: Meeting called to order by Chair Raymond. Chair Raymond introduced the Commission Members and all others who were in attendance. Chair Raymond asked if anyone in attendance wanted to speak in regards to any agenda item. You will have 2 minutes to do so. Fitchburg resident Jacquelyn Wehtje asked the Commission to speak in regards to Agenda Item 6B, RFP for Non-Aviation Land Lease. Jacquelyn started by stating that the $50,000. that the Airport gives to the City annually can be greatly increased by proper development of the Non-Aviation Land. Jacquelyn added that the funds generated by new business at the Airport should go directly to paving City streets only. The way you generate large amounts of revenue is to offer something unique. Jacquelyn continued to say that the City of Fitchburg should prepare a home rule petition to the State to allow a regulated Brothel on the site. A web-site poll was taken where 60% of those who responded, supported the Brothel idea. Other revenues such as the lottery, cannabis, casinos and sports betting have proven to be good for the State financially. Jacquelyn suggested to the Commission that we think outside the box and pursue this idea. Previous Months Minutes-including special meeting minutes: Chair Raymond asked for a motion to accept the April Meeting Minutes. Motion was made by Commissioner Hathaway, 2nd by Commissioner Tkal to accept the minutes as recorded. All in favor, 4-0. 24-05-01 Action Items from Previous Meeting: Action Items will be covered during the regular meetings agenda. Correspondence to the Commission: There was one received from Veregy and it will be reviewed under New Business. 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 The final round of wildlife surveys are scheduled from May 20, 2024 to May 22, 2024. Cheryl Quaine, Environmental Protection Specialist with the FAA, provided a digitally signed copy of the “Finding of No Significant Impact” (FONSI) statement on May 1, 2024. Gale will coordinate posting of the Final EA document to the Airport's website. 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. Execute the Agreement once prepared and sent to the Chairman, Clayton Raymond. Action- Gale and Airport Mgr. Kettle Groove, Seal and Remark Runway 14-32 (ASMP-2024-FIT-29 and ASMP-2024-FIT-30) The bid's for the project came in higher than expected and after coordination with MassDot, they have agreed to fund the project at a higher than 80%/20% split. Where the State Share will now be 91% at a cost of $821,730.00. The City share will now be 9% at a cost of $81,270.00. Total cost for the project is $903,000.00. The local share remains within the allocated amount approved by the City. The construction of this project is expected to begin sometime in early June. There will be temporary closure of the Runway during the day while grooving work is being completed in approximately 10 business days. During grooving operations, the Runway may be reopened for nighttime operations. Once the sealant is applied, the Runway may need to remain closed until the friction testing is complete. The MassDot grant application has been circulated for signature as well as the contract. 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 received a nice letter from the accountant of the Ford V8 group, Mr. Walter Welton and a nice check in the amount of $4000 for the two day Wings and Wheels Event held April 28. He stated that the weather was very cooperative and he looks forward to many more years of involvement here at the Airport. New Business: FPA COOP LLC, Billing – William Taylor & Harry Nikitas: Chair Raymond explained to the Commission that there is an on going billing issue with FPA COOP LLC and the Commission would not negotiate a settlement at this time, but we do want to hear from the owners of the private company, Mr. Bill Taylor and Mr. Harry Nikitas. Chair Raymond went on to say for the benefit of our newest Commissioners that he would describe what FPA COOP LLC is. It's a private company that occupies 17,000 sq. ft. of space at the North end of the Airport. The company rents aircraft hangar space to its members for a fee and the FPA COOP LLC is a Land Lease Tenant. The actual building footprint is approximately 6040 sq. ft. The Company Land Lease was established in 2004. The company is in good standing and has always paid there rent in a timely manner. Presently there is an issue with the billing that the company is receiving and the chair wants to correct the differences as soon as possible. Mr. Bill Taylor spoke on behalf of the ownership: The root of the dispute between the Airport and the FPA COOP LLC, arises because of a 2008 audit finding from the FAA, wherein the FAA found that the Airport should not have agreed to a Land Lease with the F.A.C.T. Condo Group that had rent geared to a tie-down rate versus a square foot rate for the used land area. The FAA at that time directed the Airport to renegotiate the F.A.C.T. Lease to have rent based on the sq. ft. versus a tie-down rate. This Lease was amended and the land use rate was adjusted to Sq. ft. usage. Since 2008 the Airport Mgr. at that time Mr. Fred Guertin, never made an attempt to renegotiate a lease settlement with FPA COOP LLC. FPA COOP LLC, at present continues to pay their rent on a timely manner to the Airport on the basis of the lease terms negotiated in their original lease. To be clear, the FPA COOP LLC remains open to a renegotiation of the Lease Agreement just as they were in 2008. Mr. Taylor stated that the current Airport Mgr. is using bully tactics and misguided accusations aimed at trying to find ways to find us in breach of our lease. The F.A.C.T. Condo Group lease is $0.25 a sq. ft. for land area and the FPA COOP LLC would have the same. Ownership of the FPA COOP LLC has ask the Airport Manager for details of the F.A.C.T. Lease but there has been no response from the Airport at this time as stated by Mr. Taylor. Mr. Taylor also brought up the fact that their lease is based on a 17,000 sq. ft. lot size with a structure approximately 6000 sq. ft. The lot is in close proximity of wet lands that have been verified by our most recent Airport Master Plan. The FPA COOP LLC suggests that 10 percent more of our building size, is what we should use for an area in our renegotiated lease similar to other established leases at the Airport. FPA COOP LLC states that the Airport and the Commission have no authority or basis to take action to change our lease other than what is stated in our original and valid lease, even though you have repeatedly and unilaterally taken action to adjust our bills without our agreement and without justification. FPA COOP LLC has two requests for the Commission: That an action item be taken to direct the Airport Management to correct our bills for the period starting Sept. 2022 thru May 2024 based on the current $247.50 per month and that this rate shall apply until such time a lease agreement with FPA COOP LLC is formally reached That an action item be taken to appoint a new negotiating team to address this matter with FPA COOP LLC. We suggest that Commissioner Paul Hathaway could be tasked with this effort along with the new City Solicitor Matt Provencher. Finally Mr. Taylor expressed to the Commission to take into account that Manager Kettle was once a tenant of FPA COOP LLC and thus he is conflicted and carries bias against us as his tenancy with us ended on bad terms. Chair Raymond did question Mr. Taylor in regards to the $247.50 payment to the Airport. Mr. Taylor explained that this was the fee set under the terms of the current lease which is based on the tie-down. Commissioner Hathaway asked Mr. Taylor what was the duration of the lease? Mr. Taylor explained that the lease auto-renews. The initial lease was for 20 years and now it has just auto-renewed again for an additional 40 years. Chair Raymond had one other comment, that to insinuate that Manager Kettle has an ax to grind is miss guiding. Manager Kettle is not the first Airport Manager to try to negotiate rate terms on Square footage. Chair Raymond added that the FAA audit found that F.A.C.T. was not in compliant with a grant assured Airport and their lease was amended to a rate based on square footage. This is the direction in which the Airport and the Commission is moving to renegotiate the FPA COOP LLC lease to a sq. ft. rate and for all future land lease agreements. Note: The Secretary of this Commission has included the full transcript of Mr. William Taylor as presented to the Commission and has made it a formal part of these May meeting minutes. Action- Airport Manager Kettle, Airport Commission Veregy – National Grid: Airport Mgr. Kettle reported that Veregy will no longer pursue an avenue to sell solar energy from the proposed Airport solar farm to the Unitil Company. Veregy is now looking to gain interest with the Nation Grid Electric Company. Veregy would like to go under the river as an access point to tie into the National Grid system. This would mean that Veregy would have to tunnel under the river or cross over it at some point. Veregy is looking for permission from the Commission to explore the proposed opportunity with National Grid. Chair Raymond stated that he didn't think he had the authority to allow Veregy to tunnel under the river. Airport Mgr. Kettle explained to the Commission that Veregy is looking for permission to explore the different avenues related to this endeavor and this comes with no liability to the Airport or the Commission. Commissioner Hathaway felt that the tunneling would not be acceptable here in the Commonwealth, but he states that there is no harm for Veregy to explore the opportunity. Commissioner Tkal added that this would be a huge undertaking just trying to work around all of the environmental issues that will arise. Comm. Tkal would want to see the details of this project before it ever moved forward. Commissioner Hathaway made a motion to allow Veregy to explore the feasibility of this project, for the purpose of gaining information and that the Airport will not occur any cost and that this is not an approval to get under way. The motion was 2nd by Commission Liberatore, all were in favor. 4-0 24-05-02 Action- Mgr. Kettle Old Business: Aero Fair: Airport Mgr. Kettle spoken in regard to the up coming Aero Fair, Sponsored by the FPA. This event will take place on June 16 as all of the necessary permits have been obtained. All that is needed now is some good weather. Action- Mgr Kettle RFP for Non-Aviation Land Lease Update: Airport Mgr. Kettle spoke in regards to the Non-Aviation Land Lease. He reported that the RFP has been withdrawn for now and it will be amended to include a better advertising media. We will use the $4000.00 that was received from the Wings and Wheels event to advertise both locally and nationally. We are hoping to attract better interest from larger companies who want to be near an airport. Action- Airport Mgr. Kettle / Mary Delaney Land Lease N Number Holdings Update: Airport Mgr. Kettle, reported that the City has granted full occupancy of the Life Flight Hangar making the service totally operational. The trailers will be removed and we will put out a separate RFP for a restaurant that will occupy that site. Commissioner Hathaway asked if it would be possible to set up a walk through for pilots and the Commission to view the amazing structure with top notch construction. Mgr. Kettle will work to schedule a visit to the Life Flight Hangar. Action- Airport Mgr. Kettle / N Number Holdings Minimum Standards – Item 2.3 Chair Raymond thanked the Commission for their diligence in keeping the Minimum Standards document moving in a positive direction. The Chair also wanted to thanks Mark Estabrook and Daniel Walton for their support of getting these updated Minimum Standards and all other information out to the tenants of our Airport. It is not an easy task and there is still much work to do. Mr. Mark Estabrook, President of the FPA and also representing the FACT group wanted to thank members of the Commission for solving many of the language barriers in the MS document. Mr. Estabrook wanted to empathize the fact that he really appreciated the transparency, the collaborative effort shown by the Airport Commission to be productive in these drafts so the MS will be an instrumental document for all parties at the Airport. This latest draft has a lot of positives for instance, allowing pilots to work on their aircraft in their personal hangar and having independent operates able to assist pilots in their maintenance schedules. One item in particular, Leasing should not be a part of the Minimum Standards. Mr. Estabrook explains that tying in leasing agreements to the MS will only create negativity. You can't include lease terms in this type of document. Leasing will be much better managed as its own separate document. He also commented on Airport Rules, a document that he was not aware of and had never seen. Other items in this newest draft were discussed and both Mark Estabrook and Chair Raymond agreed that all these items will eventually be resolves. Mr. Bill Taylor wanted to comment on the latest Minimum Standards draft. He believes that the intent of this document is not reaching in to existing commercial lease arrangements. This will only create conflict and we must remember that both the City and the FAA will want to review these documents before they can me accepted. We want to do this document successfully and without any questions. Mr. Taylor also brought up that some people at the Airport used private investments in order to build additional hangars space. Many hangar owners pay more in City Taxes than they do in rent considering they use very little of city services. There has been a lot of economic activity derived from having leases and rules that people can rely on and are willing to invest in. If we create a Minimum Standard document that is unsustainable then there will be limited growth for the Airport. Action – Chair Raymond and Commission Crawford Street Safety Update- Nick Erickson: Airport Mgr. Kettle spoke on behalf of DPW Commissioner Nick Erickson. Mgr. Kettle explained that there are no available funds at this time to do any work to correct the Crawford Street situation. Commissioner Erickson is still hopeful that the MassDot Traffic Bureau will be able to assist us. Action- Commissioner Erickson / Mgr. Kettle High Resolution Stereoscopic Camera (HRSC) Update: Airport Mgr. Kettle reported that the Data work is completed and testing on the runway will be conducted on June 4 and 5. Be advised that a portion of the Taxiway will be closed during this operation. Action-Airport Mgr Kettle NAAS Update: Manager Kettle reported to the Commission that the Lawrence base Company that is building box hangars has withdrawn their interest due to the high cost of bringing in utilities to the Airport property. However Mgr. Kettle added that he has made contact with another builder who does utility work along with the construction and that this builder has the capability to tie into their respective systems. Mgr. Kettle is waiting for a quote from this new builder. Mgr. Kettle added that the builder had proposed to construct 10 standard T hangars and Mgr. Kettle states that he already has 9 interested parties to purchase these hangars. Action- Airport Mgr. Kettle Lining of Airport Administration Parking Lot Update: Airport Mgr. Kettle remarked that the City DPW Line Crew, is hoping to get this project completed for the Airport by using Fiscal 2025 Funding that will come available on July 1, 2024. At the present there are no funds so the DPW Commissioner has asked the Airport to wait until July. Action- Airport Mgr. and DPW Commissioner Erickson Financial Review: Approval of Commitments and Abatement's: There were none. Executive Session: There is no Executive Session scheduled. Next Regular Meeting: June 24, 2024 at 6pm. Regular Meeting Adjourned: Chair Raymond made a motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:57 pm. All were in favor. Respectfully Submitted, Richard Liberatore Recording Secretary