City of Prospect Heights Chicago Executive Airport Board of Directors met Sept. 16.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
I. Open Workshop
A. Call to order by CEA Chairman Harris
The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m.
B. Pledge of Allegiance - Chairman Harris led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance.
C. Roll call confirmed the following:
Chicago Executive Airport: Executive Secretary Jennifer Pfeifer took roll call. Chairman Harris, Directors Berman, Hellyer, Kearns, Kiefer, Lang and Saewert were present.
City of Prospect Heights: The Aldermen took roll call. Mayor Helmer, Aldermen Cameron, Dolick, Morgan-Adams, and Quinn were present. Aldermen Ludvigsen was absent.
Village of Wheeling: Deputy Village Clerk Karen Henneberry took roll call. Trustees Krueger, Lang, Papantos, Ruffatto, Vito, Vogel and President Horcher were present.
D. Welcome and Opening Remarks
Chicago Executive Airport Chairman Harris welcomed everyone and thanked all the staff members of the City of Prospect Heights, the Village of Wheeling, and Chicago Executive Airport. He hopes tonight’s presentation will give the municipalities some new information that they have not heard prior. He highlighted the number zero which stands for the number of Covid-19 cases reported at the Airport. This is a tremendous success when you think of the number of people who come through the airport. Safety is the number one core value of the Airport and without it we do not have a functioning organization. Jamie and his team have worked amazingly well with the communities this year.
Village of Wheeling President Horcher thanked everyone and said he is glad we have these opportunities to get together and looks forward to when we can see each other face-to-face. Nice job this year.
City of Prospect Heights Mayor Helmer said he is pleased with the attendance at this meeting. He gave credit to his own staff and also the leadership of Wheeling, Jon Sfondilis and Pat Horcher. He spoke about events at the Airport, thanked Court, the Directors, Jamie and the Airport staff and spoke about the unauthorized individual who drove their car onto the airfield recently. Everything was handled well. Congratulations on the success. He also congratulated his staff who have made every effort to support the Airport.
E. Citizens Comments and Concerns
Steve Neff, a Wheeling resident, said this is the fifth Joint Workshop he has spoken at. He spoke about the Airport Master Plan and said he is thankful the municipalities did not approve a Master Plan with a longer runway. He recommended putting language in the Inter- Government Agreement (IGA) to limit runways to their present lengths.
F. State of the Airport and Major Projects Update Presentation by Executive Director Jamie Abbott
Jamie started the presentation by reading the Airport vision and mission statement.
• Jamie welcomed the Board of Directors and introduced the two new Directors, Bill Hellyer and Steve Berman, both from the Village of Wheeling.
• Annual Operations for the FY20 (May 2019-April 2020) were 74,014 flight operations, 408 U.S. Customs operations, 252 based aircraft and fuel flowage was 5.8 million gallons.
• Pandemic Impacts
o Jamie thanked the Airport staff, the FBO staffs, the communities and their staffs, emergency responders, tenants, users, the control tower, and U.S. Customs each for their important role in keeping the airport running and safe. o Jamie talked about the timeline of the pandemic guidelines and how it impacted airport operations and staffing. A new trend of business-class flyers transitioning to private flights may increase operations in the future. o Charts showing 2019 compared to 2020 operations and fuel flowage comparted were displayed demonstrating how the pandemic has impacted the Airport.
• Financial Report – Jamie said Chicago Executive Airport remains profitable, is not a financial burden to either community and was again awarded with the Government Finance Officer Association’s certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting. The Airport is almost on budget even though revenues are down due to the pandemic restrictions and expenses are also down. Non-essential spending expenses have been cut.
• Major Projects
o Residential Sound Insulation Program (RSIP) – Jamie explained the program, funding for the program, the status of the program and said the next step is acoustical testing of the first ten homes that will receive new doors and windows. Acoustical testing will begin this Fall. President Horcher asked a question from a resident and Jamie explained the avigation easement. Residents are skeptical which the program consultant says is normal. Trustee Papantos asked how many of the applicants are qualified for the program and Penny Merritt from C&S Companies explained how the program works. Trustee Krueger asked how long applications will be accepted and which homes will be worked on first. Jamie said for as long as the program is active, applications will be accepted and that in general the most affected homes will be worked on first.
o U.S. Customs Facility – Jamie summarized the purpose of the project, where the facility will be built, a description of the facility, the construction timeline and how the project will be funded.
o Airfield Lighting Project – Jamie said this is a newly awarded projected funded with an FAA/IDOT grant and he described the scope of the project and what it means for the Airport.
o Private Hangar Development – Hangar 43 at Atlantic Aviation on Wolf Road will be constructed in 2021. Jamie described the new hangar.
• Community Partnerships
o Aviation Academy – District 214 and Lewis University have classroom and hangar space at the Southwest T-hangars. The purpose of the program is to introduce high school students to aviation maintenance. Trustee Papantos asked how many students are enrolled. George Sakas explained there is a 20- student capacity and that only 10 students attend on site at a time for social distancing.
o Fire and Police Department Training – Jamie described the emergency responder training sessions that have taken place in cooperation with the Airport. Exercises inside a hangar and with a simulated aircraft have been used to give realistic training. Any opportunity to provide space for training is something the Airport is always interested in.
o Civil Air Patrol – Jamie summarized the Civil Air Patrol program that has been active at the Airport for many years and uses our facility for cadet education, meetings and training. The local Civil Air Patrol squadron has been active during special events at the Airport.
G. City Aldermen and Village Trustees: Questions and Comments
• Alderman Morgan-Adams asked how many homes in the RSIP have been worked on and are there other communities in the program other than Prospect Heights and Wheeling? Jamie replied none yet. After acoustical testing, the project will begin with 10 homes. There are eight homes in Mount Prospect.
• Alderman Dolick thanked the Airport for the presentation.
• Alderman Cameron thanked the Airport for the presentation.
• Alderman Quinn said kudos to the Aviation Academy and asked about the wording in the IGA that Steve Neff mentioned. Jamie will research the IGA and report back to her.
• Trustee Papantos spoke about the additional funding for the RSIP this year, asked if the project could be stepped up and said that residents need relief from the noise. Jamie said he will discuss and consider this in the next fiscal year. Trustee Papantos asked if the drop in U.S. Customs operations is due to COVID and Jamie said, yes, it is due to travel restrictions internationally. He added that the Airport anticipates that this drop is temporary and that CEA customs operations are still more than other airports in the area. Trustee Papantos asked when construction will start on the new U.S. Customs facility and how long the construction will take. Jamie said if the weather is good, construction could start this fall and it should take 8-9 months to build. Trustee Papantos asked about an environmental report and Jamie spoke about the next noise exposure map update. Trustee Papantos spoke about the IGA and said the Village and City steer the IGA. She asked if the information she requested on the Master Plan costs were shared with the City Council. The Chairman asked Jamie to remind everyone of the reimbursement for the Master Plan costs. Jamie will forward that information to the council and he spoke about reimbursement of the Master Plan costs.
• Trustee Vito questioned the airport operations slide; it appears that operations are currently higher year over year. Jamie explained that in July and August of this year operations were higher than July and August of 2019.
• Trustee Krueger thanked Jamie for the presentation and had no further questions.
• Trustee Ruffato asked what will be done to encourage people who are eligible but have not responded to the RSIP. Jamie said the project manager will continue to send information and Penny Merritt confirmed that and said she is continuing to work with condo associations and apartment managements.
• Trustee Lang commented that the RSIP is a fantastic program and said that usually small airports do not offer this type of program for neighboring communities. He added that when residents see their neighbors getting new doors and windows, they will be interested in participating in the program. He said this is a step in the right direction for the Airport to be a good neighbor.
• Trustee Vogel had no comments.
H. Closing Comments from Chairman Harris, City of Prospect Heights Mayor Nick
Helmer and Village of Wheeling President Patrick Horcher
President Horcher said he is glad the communities and Airport get along and have these meetings. He looks forward to the new U.S. Customs facility and hopes more residents will participate in the RSIP. He would like to look into the language regarding the runways in the IGA.
Mayor Helmer quoted Daniel Burnham, “Make no small plans. Have no small dreams.” Keep up the good work and thank you.
II. Adjournment
A motion was made by Village of Wheeling Trustee Krueger and seconded by Trustee Lang to adjourn the meeting. The motion was approved by a roll call vote. Ayes: All. Nays: none.
A motion was made by Prospect Heights Alderman Morgan-Adams and seconded by Alderman Quinn to adjourn the meeting. The motion was approved by a roll call vote. Ayes: All. Nays: None. Absent: Alderman Ludvigsen.
A motion was made by Chicago Executive Airport Director Kiefer and seconded by Director Kearns to adjourn the meeting. The motion was approved by a roll call vote. Ayes: All. Nays: None. Absent: None.
Meeting adjourned at 7:36 p.m.
https://www.prospect-heights.il.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_09162020-1019
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