The Alva Airport Commission meeting Monday started off with the discovery that agenda packets did not include minutes of the March 14 meeting. Since the commission members couldn’t review them, they voted to table that item until a later meeting. However, the minutes from April 11 were approved.
Chairman Dale Logsdon presided over the meeting with members Paul Kinzie, Terry Cline and Kelly Parker present. Calleb Mosburg was absent.
City Council Report
Mayor Parker presented the city council report. He said the Oklahoma Municipal League (OML) received eight applications for the Alva business manager position. After checking qualifications, the list was cut down to two. When the city called to set up interviews, they learned one of those applicants had already taken another position. So the applicant list is down to one individual. City Business Manager Angelica Brady is set to retire as of June 1.
“The position remains open,” said Parker. “I’m noy sure how quickly we’re going to be able to get that filled.” He said in a special meeting on Tuesday, May 10, the city council would consider “some interim planning on how we move forward without a business manager in place.” (See that report in the Friday, May 13, Alva Review-Courier.)
Parker said the budget process for the city is wrapping up with the proposed budget to be presented to the city council on Monday, May 16.
Another purpose of the May 10 special council meeting, Parker said, was to hear from the auditor on the annual financial audit. “The report as I’ve read it says it’s a clean audit. What we’ve reported is an accurate reflection of what our finances are as a city,” he said. Parker added that the city’s financial position is not “what we want it to be.” He said he expected the auditor to say it was reported accurately, and the city is taking measures toward a better financial position.
Looking at financial statements for March and April, Kinzie asked about the difference in cash and investments from March to April. In March, the City of Alva loan was listed at $603,747.35 and in April it was $564,708.26. However, the cash balance and investments did not go up.
Parker said the loan went down. Kinzie agreed the loan went down but it didn’t show up in cash balance or investments. “Where would I find that?” asked Kinzie. Parker said he would have to ask Brady. “It’s probably supposed to be in your checking, but it doesn’t show it,” suggested Cline. “Unless the city paid for something out of the general fund,” said Parker. He made a note of the question to follow up.
Airport Manager Report
Airport Manager Derrick Courson reported airport traffic was busy the first of April but slowed down in the last part due to wind and rain. The airport sold $32,783.83 in Jet-A fuel and $6,972.63 in 100LL fuel during the month. With oil sales, the total was $39,786.12 for April.
In April 2021, the airport had $17,542.44 in total sales with $8,550.90 from 100LL and $8,868.00 from Jet-A.
Courson said Wheeler Brothers sprayed the areas west of the ramp with fertilizer and weed killer. Courson said he sprayed some other areas where they don’t want to weed-eat.
Two part time employees have been hired for the airport with one already working and the other to start May 18.
Courson called Williams Electric about the PAPI (precision approach path indicators) lights, but they were headed to work at another airport. He expects them to get to Alva by the end of May. Northwest Electric worked on the t-hangar network.
Courson said with current fuel prices, it is hard to plan when to order more fuel. Avgas fluctuates on price a lot. He reported the Jet-A fuel tank holds only 10,000 gallons, and when it gets down to 3,000 he orders more.
However, he can’t pump out the last 1,000 gallons. There have been weekends when he worried whether he would have enough Jet-A to fulfill all the needs before the next supply arrived.
There was some discussion about why the final 1,000 gallons could not be pumped out. It apparently involves moisture condensation measures.
Courson also told commission members that the next Alva Chamber Community Coffee on May 20 will be held at the airport. He said they asked, and he thought it was a good time with the new furniture in the terminal. The coffee begins at 8 a.m. Mayor Parker told minutes clerk Heather Bonham he would get with her about posting an airport meeting agenda for that date in case a quorum of commission members attends the coffee.
Runway Lights and Budget Amendment
In a discussion of the runway lights, Courson said the runway lights are working. The PAPI lights and the taxiway lights are not. He said the PAPIs can be fixed fairly easily by hooking up the spare equipment and changing the size of the wiring. The taxiway lights are another matter. He believes the taxiway light repairs will cost about as much as fixing the runway lighting which was around $16,000.
This led to discussion about amending the FY21-22 airport budget, the next item on the agenda. This year’s budget needed to be increased to pay for the taxiway lights, the PAPI repairs and the already completed runway lighting repairs.
It was estimated the PAPI repairs and taxiway repairs would cost about $24,000 total. Adding the $16,000 for the runway lighting, the budget needed to be increased by $40,000. The increase in Jet-A fuel sale has increased the actual revenue so the new expenses will be covered. Kinzie made a motion, seconded by Cline, to amend the budget to increase the maintenance item by $40,000. The motion carried by a unanimous vote.
FY22-23 Airport Fund Budget
Then the airport commission considered next year’s budget. Looking at paperwork provided, they had some trouble deciding just which figures they were supposed to be using. The FY22-23 section listed columns for a requested budget and a proposed budget selected.
Parker attempted to phone Brady but she was unable to talk then. After some discussion about differences in the two columns, the commission members decided the proposed budget selected column was the correct one. It shows total revenues of $720,500 and total expenditures of $715,713 leaving a carryover of $4,787. Kinzie made a motion, seconded by Cline, to approve that budget, and it passed.
ASAP Fuel Invoices
Commission members looked at three separate fuel invoices from ASAP which exceed the city business manager’s spending limit of $25,000. Those invoices require approval by the city council to be paid, but the airport commission must also approve them. The invoices for $25,339.56, $33,677.762 and $33,453.57 were approved. All three were for Jet-A fuel.
Electrical Metering of Hangars
In the newest t-hangars owned by the airport, the electrical bills have been paid by the airport. In other airport-owned hangars, those leasing space divide the electric bills and pay them. Commission members discussed how to set up a fair arrangement for people leasing the hangars to divide the electric bill.
In past years, a transmitter-receiver system was set up that indicates individual electrical usage. However, it has not been used because no one currently knows how it operates. Courson has been in touch with Northwest Electric to get the system working.
Courson said he hopes by June to have the system running so he can monitor the electrical usage in the hangar and it can be billed to each of the lease holders.
Logsdon said the airport does not need to be paying the bill for the lease holders. He also asked Courson to get with Northwest Electric to produce documentation on the system.
In addition to Northwest Electric, SPI has been at the airport to see what they need to do to get the reports into the computer.
No action was taken on this agenda item. It was decided it is merely a maintenance issue which does not need approval by a vote.
Remarks
During commission member remarks at the end of the meeting, Parker said the next meeting agenda needs to include action to increase the airport manager’s spending limit on fuel only. He said the fuel bills will still require city council approval as part of the consent agenda and may be pulled out for a separate vote if a council member requests it.
Parker also believes the next agenda should include discussion on the markup on fuel. Currently, the airport manager is marking up fuel by 50 cents above cost. Parker said the markup may need to be changed to a percentage of cost.
Kinzie said in the past, the manager was given leeway to decide how much to mark up the fuel price. Logsdon said that policy was adopted in the 1990s and there have been a lot of changes since then.
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