City of Prospect Heights Chicago Executive Airport Board of Directors met Jan. 20.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
I. Call to Order and Roll Call
Chairman Harris called the meeting to order via Zoom at 6:00 PM. Roll call confirmed the following present: Directors Berman, Hellyer, Kearns, Kiefer, Lang and Saewert. Absent: None.
Also in Attendance: Jamie Abbott – Executive Director
George Sakas – Director of Economic Development
Jason Griffith – Director of Finance
Jennifer Pfeifer- Recording Secretary
Tom Lester – Attorney
II. Pledge of Allegiance
Chairman Harris led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance. III. Approval of Minutes
A motion was made by Director Saewert and seconded by Director Kearns to approve the minutes from the December 16, 2020 Regular Board Meeting. The motion was approved by roll call. Ayes: Directors Berman, Hellyer, Kearns, Kiefer, Lang and Saewert. Nays: None. Absent: None.
IV. Changes to the Agenda
None.
V. Public Comments
None.
VI. Hearing and Reports
A) Treasurer’s Report
Director Saewert said we are in the eighth month of the fiscal year which is 66.67% of the year completed, revenues were over budget at 69.47% and operating expenses were at 51.22% of budget. The CARES stimulus money should come this week to our bank account.
B) Executive Director’s Report.
Executive Director, Jamie Abbott, reported on the following:
✈ Spoke about Joe Wargo who was a long-term, dedicated employee and passed away recently.
✈ Reported that operations are still strong.
✈ Staff recognitions:
o Jason Griffith, Director of Finance, won the Excellence in Financial Reporting Award from the Government Finance of Accounting.
o Andrew Wolanik, Airport Operations and Maintenance Supervisor was recognized in Airport Business Magazine in their Airport Business Top 40 under 40.
✈ Winter Operations report – So far this season there have been many light weather events that have required the operations team to work extra hours to clear snow and spread chemical.
✈ U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility report
o The final permit paperwork has been received from Metro Water. Work has begun on water lines.
o The updated construction schedule has been sent to the Board of Directors. The project manager expects walls to be up next month.
o The scheduled completion date is July 4th.
✈ Residential Sound Insulation Program (RSIP) – 424 applications have been received and the target for the first round of home testing will begin around mid-February. COVID protocols will be in place during the testing.
✈ Rock ‘n’ Run the Runway is tentatively rescheduled to August 21 this year.
✈ The quarterly GA users meeting was held last week. It was lightly attended but there was a good discussion.
✈ The Noise Complaint Dashboard was shown which summarizes the noise complaint calls that were received in December and shows trends. There were 24 total complaints.
✈ Upcoming Events
o 2/8 – Corporate Users Meeting via Zoom
o 2/15 – Presidents’ Day – The office will be closed.
o 2/17 – Regular Board of Director’s meeting via Zoom
Chairman Harris asked how long it will take after the completed construction of the Customs facility for the facility to be fully operational. Jamie said he believes it will be a quick transition. The Chairman requested that Jamie ask CBP.
Director Kearns asked if on the Rock ‘n’ Run the Runway date will runway projects be scheduled to take advantage of the runway closures? Jamie said yes, we usually schedule crack sealing or painting.
Director Kiefer asked what the current lease at Atlantic Aviation for U.S. Customs is; is it month to month? Jamie said he will check to be sure but believes it is month to month and said Atlantic wants the space back.
C) Director of Economic Development – George Sakas
❖ Atlantic Hangar 43 Update – Fencing is in place and construction will begin soon.
❖ He attended the Ed Bolen CABAA online event and the Great Lakes AAAE virtual meeting. George will keep the directors informed about the upcoming meetings. The airport will sign up to all the meetings.
❖ Hangar 5/6 Update – He put together an expense report for the past year; we are ahead of expenses and fully rented.
❖ Aviation Academy Update – The FAA workforce development grant has finally come through and the application period is open until the end of March to apply for a grant with D214 and Lewis University.
❖ FY2022 Budget which coordinates with the Capital Plan and TIPS will be discussed later in this meeting.
D) CMT Engineering Report – Dan Pape
❖ It was a light month due to the holidays. The focus has been on the U.S. Customs site and permits.
❖ Working on detention alternatives.
❖ The FAA has acknowledged receipt of the Master Plan.
❖ Will be meeting with the airport staff regarding the budget and upcoming 2021 projects.
Director Saewert asked Dan to explain the 10% completion indicated in the CMT report on the Customs facility. Dan said that the 10% covered looking at shop drawings, materials lists, pavement designs and answering questions on construction matters. He said Kris Salvatera meets with Camosy regularly. Director Saewert asked if the pie chart represents dollars or work done and Dan said it is a snapshot of where we are at on the construction phase CMT agreement with the Airport.
Director Kiefer asked about the upcoming budget, how the budget is determined and how do we know what we are spending on CMT projects. Dan said it is CMT’s budget, not the Airport budget. Director Kiefer said it gives the directors an idea of total costs. Dan will make the reports clearer. He will work with Jamie and the team on how to present it better.
Chairman Harris asked what we are doing to motivate the FAA to complete the Master Plan. Dan said he has a monthly coordination call with the FAA and said there are many clients in the same situation. He encouraged the Board to participate in a conference call with the FAA and that CMT can set up for a half hour status update. The Chairman said Jamie and Dan should get this set up.
E) Board Member Comments
• Director Berman wished everyone a belated happy holidays and new year. He spoke about the noise complaint reports and how they can be recorded better. He looks forward to the budget process.
• Director Hellyer thanked the staff for the work on the budget.
• Director Kearns had no comments.
• Director Kiefer said happy new year and that he drives by the airport every day and it looks great, kudos to the staff on the attention to the detail. The runways are so clean. He commented about airport revenues during this challenging time.
• Director Lang said that we should take advantage of the spike in private business travel and first-time users of general aviation. He hopes these new customers do not go back to commercial travel. He said Jamie and George should work on this with the FBOs. He appreciates the kind words about Joe Wargo, who was a loyal employee of the airport for 27 years, and said his family are genuine people. He said it is very sad to lose Joe and he has known Joe since second grade.
• Director Saewert said he visited a couple nearby airports, one smaller in size and one larger, to see what is happening with their business. He noticed that the client bases at other airports are different from ours. He commented that our FBOs are growing.
F) Correspondence and Chairman’s Comments
Chairman Harris congratulated Jason and Andrew for their accomplishments and said he appreciates the relationship the Airport has with Attorney Tom Lester. He spoke about Signature Flight Support’s recent acquisition.
VII. New Business
A. Initial FY22 Budget Discussion;
Jamie thanked George and Jason for their work on the FY22 Budget and said this is an initial discussion of the budget and no decisions will be made tonight. The following topics were covered with a Power Point presentation:
• Budget schedule – beginning tonight and ending in April with the community’s approval.
• Capital Purchases and Projects – Jamie said that the budget is approached conservatively. Purchases and projects will include an environmental assessment to prepare for decommissioning of Runway 6/24, Hangar 21 stormwater detention and new physical security upgrades.
• Operational budget – Public relations services will be included in the budget.
• Rates and Charges Assessment will include fuel flowage fees, U.S. Customs fee adjustment, T-hangars and tie downs fees and Hangar 5 fee adjustment. After a year of managing Hangar 5 we now have a better picture of revenues and costs.
George spoke about the budget process, the new early approach, and Capital Plan.
Director Lang said he is happy with the earlier start to budget discussions and does not anticipate much change to what was just presented. He spoke about security cameras and asked if the purpose was to capture tail numbers. Jamie said this feature is probably not within the security scope and the cameras are for physical security of the field. Director Lang asked if there is any need to track tail numbers and Jamie said the data is good to have and could be useful to capture revenue. Director Lang said it might be a good time to implement this system.
Director Saewert agreed that now is a good time to investigate the cameras that capture tail numbers and Jamie said he will look into it. Director Saewert also spoke about capital outlays and would like a five-year capital budget plan projection. Jamie said we have a five-year capital plan.
Director Kiefer said the budget schedule looks excellent. He said do not touch the reserve funds, especially the funds for the RSIP.
Director Kearns spoke about funds for the security plan and said to make sure the system is better than adequate. He would like to see a state-of-the-art quote and go from there.
B. Resolution 21-001 – A Resolution Authorizing the Payment of Claims;
A motion to approve was made by Director Hellyer and seconded by Director Berman. The motion was approved by roll call. Ayes: Directors Berman, Hellyer, Kearns, Kiefer, Lang and Saewert. Nays: None. Absent: None.
C. Resolution 21-002 – A Resolution Approving a Letter of Engagement with the Firm of Allen, Galluzzo, Hevrin, Leake (AGHL) Law;
A motion to approve was made by Director Hellyer and seconded by Director Berman. The motion was approved by roll call. Ayes: Directors Berman, Hellyer, Kearns, Kiefer, Lang and Saewert. Nays: None. Absent: None.
Attorney Tom Lester thanked the Board of Directors for their continued support and appreciates the long-term relationship with the Airport.
VIII. Executive Session
There was no Executive Session.
IX. Action Taken from Executive Session, if required
None.
X. Adjournment
At 7:04 p.m. a motion was made by Director Kearns and seconded by Director Hellyer to adjourn the meeting. The motion was approved by roll call. Ayes: Directors Berman, Hellyer, Kearns, Kiefer, Lang and Saewert. Nays: None. Absent: None.
https://www.prospect-heights.il.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_01202021-1053
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