Airport Commission

Airport Commission Meeting Minutes March 11, 2021 – Owatonna Degner Regional Airport “DRAFT” 1. Call to Order Chairman Keltgen called the meeting of the Airport Commission to order at 5:00 PM and welcomed everyone to the meeting. 2. Roll Call Attending Todd Hale Commissioner Tom Harrison Commissioner James Keltgen Chairman Greg Krueger Commissioner Justin Lindee Vice Chairman Paula Snitker Commissioner Sharon West Commissioner Dave Beaver Airport Manager Troy Klecker Community Development Director Visitors Ron Roetzel Bolton and Menk 3. Approval of Agenda Commissioner West made a motion to approve the agenda and Commissioner Snitker seconded the motion. The motion was approved. 4. Minutes Commissioner West made a motion to approve the minutes from the February 11, 2021 Airport Commission meeting and Commissioner Krueger seconded the motion. The motion was approved. 5. Action Items Chairman Reports Chairman Keltgen reported on the results of his recent survey to obtain comments for the Airport Commission Mission statement and possible questions for Airport Commission candidates. There was a brief discussion and general agreement on the results as presented. Chairman Keltgen will send to the mayor for consideration. Staff Reports Airport Manager Beaver reported on airport activities and reported that combined aviation fuel volumes dispensed are up year to date from last year. Mr. Beaver provided a brief report on aircraft activity, winter operations, and service activity. Mr. Beaver explained that all of the T-hangar buildings are currently being inspected and serviced as needed by a professional maintenance provider consistent with other city department doors. The preventive maintenance program is being updated to reflect the proposed new maintenance schedule. Consideration of Event Permit Application – Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Ceremony Airport Manager Beaver presented an event permit application submitted by the Owatonna squadron of the CAP to hold a squadron awards ceremony at the airport in the main hangar on March 30, 2021. There was a brief discussion regarding the event which is anticipated to be limited to 35-45 people to allow for COVID restrictions. After discussion, Commissioner Krueger made a motion to recommend approval of the event permit application for the CAP awards ceremony to be held on March 30, 2021 and Commissioner Lindee seconded. The motion was approved. T-Hangar Taxi-lane and Building Design Update Chairman Keltgen introduced Ron Roetzel with Bolton and Menk to present an update on the 10 Unit T-Hangar taxi-lane project. Mr. Roetzel presented the bids that were received on March 9th and reported that there were four bidders on the project. There was a discussion regarding the apparent low bid from Everstrong Construction and the alternate bids. There was general agreement that based on per unit costs, the alternate bid to reduce the scope of the project to an 8 Unit T-Hangar was not a better value over the 10 Unit T- Hangar building. There was also a brief discussion on the alternates involving a hydraulic door design. Mr. Roetzel explained that during the design phase, the project cost estimate was revised prior to bidding to reflect an increase due to the discovery and necessary removal of poor soils in the project area and projected increase in cost of steel for the building. Mr. Roetzel reported that the site work and taxi-lane came in lower than projected with the building cost coming in higher than projected. Overall, the low bid received is below the engineer’s estimate for the project. Mr. Roetzel explained the projected funding for the project including the use of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Non-Primary Entitlement (NPE) dollars for the 90% federal share of the project. This would include the borrowed NPE funds from two airports already in the transfer process as well as a portion of the project being funded by local funds to be reimbursed through future NPE allocations. Mr. Roetzel also reported that the 5% local and 5% state share of the project for this year would likely be eligible to be covered by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The project completion date is no later than June of 2022. After discussion, Commissioner West made a motion to recommend to City Council the approval of the low base bid to not include alternate bids received and recommend the approval of utilizing additional City funds to be paid back through future federal funding NPE allocations. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Hale. The motion was approved. Commissioner Comments The Airport Commission members wished to send their condolences to the family of Kyle Wolfe who recently passed. Kyle was a part of the airport community, an Owatonna resident, aviation enthusiast, and former Airport Commissioner who will be missed. 6. Adjournment The Airport Commission meeting was adjourned at 6:05 PM with a motion made by Commissioner Krueger and seconded by Commissioner West. The motion was approved.