HomeMy WebLinkAbout2.11.14_Minutes_201503100802393666
Town of Nantucket
NANTUCKET MEMORIAL AIRPORT
14 Airport Road
Nantucket Island, Massachusetts 02554
Thomas M. Rafter, A.A.E., Airport Manager Commissioners Phone: (508) 325-5300 Daniel W. Drake, Chairman Fax: (508) 325-5306 Arthur D. Gasbarro, Vice Chair
David C. Gray, Sr. Andrea N. Planzer Jeannette D. Topham AIRPORT COMMISSION MEETING
February 11, 2014
The meeting was called to order 5:00 PM by Chairman Daniel W. Drake with the following Commissioner present, Andrea N. Planzer.
Commissioner Arthur D. Gasbarro was connected via telephone due to geographical distance.
Commissioner David C. Gray, Sr. and Jeanette D. Topham were absent.
The meeting took place in the 1st Floor meeting room at the Public Safety Facility, 4 Fairgrounds Rd. Airport employees present were Thomas M. Rafter, Airport Manager, Noah Karberg,
Environmental Coordinator, David Sylvia, Training & Compliance Officer, Ashley Christ,
Business Manager and Janine Torres, Office Manager.
Mr. Drake announced the meeting was being recorded. Mr. Drake read aloud a letter from Mr. Gray, resigning from the Commission due to increased
professional responsibilities reducing the time he can commit to the Airport. Mr. Drake reported
Mr. Gray’s resignation will be on the 2/19/14 Board of Selectman’s (BOS) Agenda for acceptance and the BOS will decide whether to fill the vacancy now or wait until the end of Mr.
Gray’s term which 6/30/14.
Mr. Drake asked for any comments on the Agenda. Hearing none the Agenda was approved.
Ms. Planzer made a Motion to approve the 1/14/14 Minutes. Second by Mr. Gasbarro and Passed by the following roll-call vote:
Mr. Drake – Aye
Mr. Gasbarro – Aye Ms. Planzer – Aye Ms. Planzer made a Motion to approve the 1/28/14 Minutes. Second by Mr. Gasbarro and
Passed by the following roll-call vote:
Mr. Drake – Aye Mr. Gasbarro – Aye Ms. Planzer – Aye
Ms. Planzer made a Motion to ratify the 2/5/14 Warrant. Second by Mr. Gasbarro and Passed by
the following roll-call vote:
Mr. Drake – Aye
Mr. Gasbarro – Aye Ms. Planzer – Aye
Public Comment
None.
Pending Leases & Contracts Mr. Rafter presented a draft Lease with Emily Air LLC, reminding the Commission they had
previously approved the sale of the Ocean Wings Hangar to Emily Air LLC including a new twenty Year Lease with 1 – ten year extension as long as the Lease terms were brought to current rates. It was noted the changes made in Draft 2 were made by our Legal Counsel and that Mr.
Cunningham hadn’t yet responded to the changes. Due to the hangar sale closing being scheduled for week’s end, Mr. Rafter suggested Commission approval as presented should there
be no further changes made.
Mr. Gasbarro suggested one insertion to paragraph 2.1 inserting “or licensed surveyor” after “stamped by a professional engineer”. Mr. Gasbarro made a Motion to approve the Lease as changed, subject to acceptance by Mr.
Cunningham. Second by Ms. Planzer. After brief discussion, the motion Passed by the
following roll-call vote:
Mr. Drake – Aye Mr. Gasbarro – Aye
Ms. Planzer – Aye
Pending Matters 070913-1 TON Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) – Mr. Rafter reported not having a
formal document ready for review, but reviewed his discussions with the new Procurement
Officer who is in the process of revamping the town-wide procurement process. After brief discussion it was thought best to keep an MOU in place which references not only a procedure for
procurement, but a procedure which incorporates the Finance Department as well.
Finance Mr. Rafter reported the FAA has indicated our Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) application will not be considered a non-hub application which extends the FAA review period from 30 days to
up to 4 months. This extended review period could bring an FAA decision past Annual Town Meeting (ATM). Mr. Rafter reminded the Commission the current FY15 Budget includes $600K
of PFC revenue based on the 30 day review period. Mr. Rafter added speaking with the FAA
representative who indicated she would expedite the process; but could not guarantee a decision before late March or early April. Therefore a contingency plan must be put in place to present
our FY 15 Budget for approval at ATM.
Mr. Rafter reported a meeting was held which included Mr. Drake, the Chairman of the Finance Committee, the Town Manager, the interim Finance Director, as well as other Finance Department and Airport staff at which a contingency plan was agreed upon: Remove $600K PFC
Revenue and offset by removing $450K from contingent Airport Fuel expense in the operating budget and reduce the projected operating profit by $150K to $90K from $240K projected in the
previous version of the budget.
2.11.14 Airport Commission Minutes Page 2 of 5
Should the FAA approve the PFC application prior to ATM, a technical amendment would be
proposed at ATM to reinstate the budget with the PFC as originally presented. Mr. Drake added should the favorable PFC application decision come after ATM, the FinCom Chair as well as the
Town Manager agreed informally that a Special Town Meeting to amend the budget would be
held in the Fall. Mr. Drake also added the Town Manager has requested questions from the Enterprise Funds to pose to the Department of Revenue (DOR). Mr. Drake believes all questions related to the Fuel
Revolver have been answered except for one: whether the majority of fuel purchases and sales could flow through the Operating Budget and use the Fuel Revolver as a back stop should fuel
prices go up. Mr. Drake noted being told several times that if you have to use the Fuel Revolver
first. However, a 2005 Memo from the then Finance Director to the then Airport Manager indicated you could not have both a line item in the budget and a Fuel Revolver. The group that
met agreed to revisit this issue again with the DOR to ascertain the parameters of decision making
when it comes to transferring excess revenue from the Revolver to the Operating Budget.
A copy of a memo from Mr. Drake and Mr. Rafter to the Town Manager, Interim Finance Director and FinCom Chair regarding use of the Fuel Revolver as a backstop was shared.
022613-2 Master Plan & Sustainability Program Update
Bill Richardson from Jacobs Engineering gave an update on the progress of the Master Plan indicating a draft of chapters 1 through 5 have been distributed to the Working Group and will be
reviewed at the Working Group meeting on February 25th. The Chapters are 1) Public Outreach,
2) Inventory, 3) Environmental Overview, 4) Air Service Trends, and 5) Forecasts. Mr. Richardson noted the Working Group will be focusing primarily on chapters 4 and 5.
The next Phase of the Mater Plan will look into 1) Alternatives, 2) Financial Management, 3)
Capital Improvement Plan and finally 4) the Airport Layout Plan. Mr. Richardson indicated the FAA will review the Forecasts as well as the Airport Layout Plan.
Discussion led to updating the website once the chapters are reviewed by both the Working
Group and the Commission. Mr. Rafter indicated his vision is to post Executive Summaries of
each section which will have links to the full chapters should the public wish to review the full document.
After brief discussion Mr. Drake asked for the Working Group Meeting to be posted so that he
and Ms. Planzer could attend to offer their comments on Chapters 1 through 5 noting Ms. Topham will be out of Town an unable to attend.
Manager’s Report
Project Updates Mr. Rafter reported:
• Preparation of the FBO is progressing and the plan is to perform operations testing the first week of March.
• The draft PFC application submitted to the FAA was close to 200 pages and the FAA has
indicated they will review at an accelerated pace.
• Two ESCO proposals were received for the Carbon Neutral Program. Questions are
being developed for interviews of the two companies.
2.11.14 Airport Commission Minutes Page 3 of 5
• FUDS (Formerly Used Defense Site) – A consultant came out to evaluate the area. The
hope is for them to return next week. They need to coordinate a laboratory technician as well as a bomb disposal technician to coordinate efforts. Mr. Drake asked for this topic
to be listed as a separate item under the Manager’s Reports until the matter is resolved.
RFP/Bid Status
• The RFQ for the Air Traffic Control Tower is downtown for review with the hopes of getting it advertised next week. A conference call with the FAA was held to go over and revise the schedule.
• The proposals received for the On-call Engineering RFQ were evaluated. Jacobs was deemed the most advantageous. Mr. Rafter seeks approval to negotiate a contract.
• The proposals received for the Aviation Fuel Supply RFP were evaluated. Ascent was deemed the most advantageous. Mr. Rafter seeks approval to conduct contract
negotiations.
• An RFP for Automated Teller Machines is underway and may coincide with Town
procurement for same.
Motion by Mr. Gasbarro to proceed with contract negotiations with Jacobs and Ascent as requested. Second by Ms. Planzer and Passed by the following roll-call vote:
Mr. Drake – Aye Mr. Gasbarro – Aye Ms. Planzer – Aye
Mr. Rafter thanked Heidi Bauer, Chief Procurement Officer as well as Silvio Genoa, Town Engineer, for their participation in the RFQ evaluation process. Mr. Drake added a formal thank
you to the two non-awarded firms, McFarland-Johnson for the Engineering RFQ and Eastern Aviation for the Fuel RFP.
Operations
• Airport staff participated in a signage walk through of both indoors and outdoors to develop a plan for improved information.
• Training is complete and a Letter of Agreement signed with the FAA to switch to Digital NOTAMS (Notice to Airmen). However, the change must be approved in the ACM (Airport Certification Manual) before utilizing the digital process.
• Working with Jacobs in preparing both the MassDOT and FAA Grant applications for the both a new Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) vehicle as well as security
improvements.
• Received notification that the firm of Hoyle Tanner was awarded the MassDOT
engineering contract for their State-wide crack sealing program. Hoyle Tanner will be visiting next week to evaluate our pavement. Mr. Rafter announced he will be out of the office the 13th and 14th and will be returning to the
Island on Monday.
Sub-Committee Reports
None. Commissioners Comments Mr. Drake commented on the Inquirer & Mirror article last week noting the headline drew
attention but the article itself was reasonably accurate and hoped the reporter would attend Commission meetings to learn what’s going on.
2.11.14 Airport Commission Minutes Page 4 of 5
Public Comment None.
Having no further business, Ms. Planzer made a Motion to adjourn into Executive Session, not to
reconvene in Open Session, to review the Executive Session minutes of 8/28/12, 9/18/12, 12/2/12, 12/11/12, 2/26/13, 4/23/13, 5/28/13, 8/27/13, 9/10/13, 9/24/13, 10/8/13 and 11/12/13 for
possible release; and 1/14/14 for review and possible release. Second by Mr. Gasbarro and Passed by the following roll-call vote:
Mr. Drake – Aye Mr. Gasbarro – Aye
Ms. Planzer – Aye Meeting adjourned at 5:41 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
___________________________________
Janine M. Torres Recorder
Master List of Documents Used 2/11/14 Agenda including Exhibit 1
1/14/14 Draft Minutes 1/28/14 Draft Minutes
2/5/14 Warrant Commission Approval Sheet Emily Air LLC Draft Lease
FY2015 Revised Budget 2/10/14 Memo from Drake/Rafter to Gibson/Dilworth/Mulcahy
2.11.14 Airport Commission Minutes Page 5 of 5