Airport Board

3/4/2023 SPRINGFIELD - ROBERTSON COUNTY JOINT AIRPORT BOARD Regular Meeting Minutes – February 8, 2023 Springfield - Robertson County Airport, Springfield TN Board Members present: Edison Guthrie, Paul Nutting, Chris Simpkins, Janice Wallace, Lewis Walling Board Members absent: Jerry Converse, Gina Holt Ex-Officio Members present: Ryan Martin, Billy Vogle Airport Staff present: Brian Urbach, Lynn West, Jennie Omer, Mark Stoesser Chairman Paul Nutting called the meeting to order at 8:00 am. Five (5) members of the board were present for a quorum. The minutes from the January 11, 2023 regular board meeting were sent to board members prior to the meeting. Janice Wallace made a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Chris Simpkins seconded the motion; and it passed unanimously by a voice vote. Edison Guthrie gave the Treasurer’s Report for January, 2023. There was a total of $295,945.40 in the bank accounts. The airport has received some facility rental fees within the last few months. The fuel sales increased in January compared to December, and there were almost no repair costs in January. Paul Nutting suggested some of the money in the bank accounts could be put into a CD or money market fund to receive a higher interest rate. Lewis Walling made a motion for Secretary-Treasurer Edison Guthrie to pursue CD and money market opportunities with United Community Bank. Chris Simpkins seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously by a voice vote. Brian Urbach gave the Airport Manager’s Report. There were over 1,400 flight operations in January. There were 3,260 gallons of 100 LL and 2,560 gallons of Jet-A fuel sold in January. The hangar LED lighting program was officially completed. There are 21 installations of LED lights that are currently within the two-year rental discount period; however, the earliest discounts associated with the program will end soon. Several hangar lighting repairs were made this month. Another hangar storage room was rented in January. Brian is working with the City of Springfield to have the meeting rooms listed for rent on the city's website. The car show discussed last month will be held at the airport on Saturday, April 29, 2023. The contract to install four additional security cameras was awarded to BCI and work should begin in the next few weeks. A retiring Army chief warrant officer will intern at the airport later this year for four months. Brian showed a video of the Gulfstream 650 as it flew in recently. Page 1 of 3  3/4/2023 The airport board must have its proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 submitted to the city and county by April 1, 2023. Chairman Paul Nutting, Airport Manager Brian Urbach, and Bookkeeper Carol Justice have met twice to prepare a draft of the proposed budget for fiscal year 2024. The draft of the proposed budget will be presented at the Joint Airport Board’s regular meeting in March. Bill Burney of TDOT Aeronautics spoke about the Hangar Restoration grant. He said the grant's scope of work must be amended to include repairing the floor of the Highland Rim Aviation hangar. If the amendment is submitted by February 22, it can be discussed at the state's March project status review meeting. Lewis Walling made a motion to allow Paul Nutting and Brian Urbach to select an engineering firm to prepare plans and bid specifications, and to perform project inspection. Paul Nutting will have the authority to execute the contract. Chris Simpkins seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously by a voice vote. Hopefully by the time the state has authorized the work, the bid package will be finalized and the formal bid process can begin. The preliminary site design for the new T-hangars and the above ground fuel tank projects are part of the February project status review meeting for the state. The T-hangar project is currently having an environmental review. The fuel tank project is now ready for the final design through bid stage with a cost of $57,000. Because this project costs over $50,000, it must be reviewed at the Tennessee Aviation Commission meeting on February 23. Brian Urbach and Rick Hudgens of GMC will attend the meeting. The fuel farm is projected to cost $1,500,000. The state will provide 95% of the total cost in the amount of $1,425,000. The local share of the project cost is 5% in the amount of $75,000. The Wingnuts Aviation lease contract expires in May. Chris and Anna Ferraraccio have submitted a proposal for a new lease to Chris Simpkins and Brian Urbach. Clyde Richert, County Attorney, will put the proposal into the lease airport's template. The airport board’s lease committee will then review the proposed lease and other requested terms at a public meeting. The lease committee will then make a recommendation to the entire membership of the airport board for discussion and possible at a regular meeting. The Joint Airport Board would like assurances from the City of Springfield Board of Mayor and Aldermen and the Robertson County Commission that they will support the new hangar project being financed as a public/private partnership before more planning for the project occurs. Chairman Paul Nutting prepared a draft of a resolution to submit to the city and county asking for their authorization to pursue the project. The draft resolution presented a general over-all description of the proposed project. Paul Nutting stated that a few details about the project, including the amount of available acreage on the construction site and the size of the hangar waiting list, were in the process of being verified. The board members and ex-officio members discussed the wording of the resolution and Page 2 of 3  3/4/2023 recommended a change to the final paragraph which included the mention of the use of public financing as a possible option, in addition to public/private partnership financing. The consensus of the board members was to remove the mention of public financing from the paragraph and to present public/private partnership financing as the only means of funding the new hangar project. During the discussion, County Mayor Billy Vogle recommended to the board that the airport manager submit a written report every month to the county commission and the board of mayor and aldermen to keep them up to date on the activities and improvements at the airport. At the conclusion of the discussion, Edison Guthrie made a motion for the airport board to approve the resolution with agreed changes, and for the board to submit the resolution to the city and county governing bodies for possible project approval. Lewis Walling seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously by a voice vote. The total project cost is estimated at $2,300,000; however, a BIL grant in the amount of $500,000 will pay for the design and construction of site plan improvements, thus reducing the cost of construction for prospective partners. Paul Nutting will complete the verification of certain facts presented within the resolution and will email the final version of the resolution to all members and ex-officio members of the board. The resolution will then be executed by Chairman Paul Nutting and Secretary-Treasurer Edison Guthrie before being forwarded to the city and county for inclusion on their respective meeting agendas. The board discussed retaining Margaret Martin, who is an attorney with experience in aviation law, to provide, on an hourly basis, consultation to Clyde Richert, Robertson County Attorney, in the preparation of the land lease and contracts for the new 30-hangar project. Chris Simpkins made a motion to retain Margaret Martin on an hourly basis for consultation with County Attorney Clyde Richert on the legal documentation for the public/private partnership. Janice Wallace seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously by a voice vote. During comments by board members, Springfield City Manager Ryan Martin reported that the next regular meeting of middle Tennessee city managers will be held next week at the airport. The meeting was adjourned by consensus at 8:54 am. Respectfully submitted, Edison Guthrie Secretary - Treasurer Page 3 of 3