AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD AGENDA
Thursday, September 12, 2019
5:30pm
Airport Administration Building
8807 Airport Boulevard
Leesburg, Florida

1. Call to Order

• Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance

        2.  Approval of Minutes – August 8, 2019

        3.  First Amendment to Lease with BHI Properties of Central Florida for Property at 32720 Echo Drive

        4.  Sublease Agreement among City of Leesburg, Mercy Flight Southeast, Inc. and TTOTF, LLC d/b/a First Class Aerospace 

        5.  Project Update

• Master Plan
• Storage Hangar Design
• Runway 13/31 Rehab

       6.  Airport Manager Update

       7.  New Business

       8.  Adjournment 

PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES NEEDING ASSISTANCE TO PARTICIPATE IN ANY OF THESE PROCEEDINGS SHOULD CONTACT THE HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE, ADA COORDINATOR, 48 HOURS IN ADVANCE OF THE MEETING AT 352-728-9740

 Airport Advisory Board Minutes
September 12, 2019 5:30pm
Airport Administration Building
8807 Airport Boulevard
Leesburg, Florida

 Attendance:               Mark Crawford
                                       Tom Frost
                                       Byron Oldham
                                       Alan Reisman

Call to Order

Chairman Alan Reisman called the meeting to order at 5:31pm.  Mark Crawford gave the invocation and led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Approval of Minutes from August 8, 2019 Meeting

Byron Oldham made a motion to approve the minutes from the August 8, 2019 meeting as written.  Mark Crawford seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously.

First Amendment to Lease with BHI Properties of Central Florida for Property at 32720 Echo Drive

Airport Manager (AM) Dean this site was leased to BHI in June.  It is the old C-Wings hangar near the tower.  This amendment does a few things. There is a small grass strip between this location and the tower fence that BHI asked to add to their area, thereby expanding their leasehold.  She has no issue with this and it actually helps her because airport staff will no longer have to maintain this small parcel.  Also, the legal description in the original lease must be amended because it included part of a retention area that should not have been included.  Finally, BHI has asked to lease four parking spaces that are across the road for use by their employees.  The spaces have never been used since she has been the airport manager so she has no qualms about this request.  They are not included in the legal description for the leasehold.  The cost for the parking spaces will be an additional $10.67 per month.  The monthly lease amount for the property itself will also increase based on the square footage of the new legal description.

Chairman Reisman said he must abstain from voting on this item, but he will be happy to answer any questions on the agreement.

Byron Oldham said he does not recall having any agreements to add parking spaces to a lease before.  AM Dean said parking on the airport is very limited so for tenants it is usually contained within their leased property.  These are four random spots near the tower.  They are not needed by tower staff and they are not close to any other hangars.  BHI is expanding and adding more jobs so they have asked to add them to their lease for their employees to use. 

Brian Sapp noted that these spaces are left from when SunAir Aviation was located in the area where the tower now stands.

Chairman Reisman said the original lease included some of The Villages property so that was removed and the other area was added.  AM Dean said that ended up being a net increase of 7,671.69 feet.  There was no further discussion.

Mark Crawford made a motion to approve the agreement as written.  Tom Frost seconded the motion and it was approved 3-0, with Chairman Reisman abstaining.

Sublease Agreement Among City of Leesburg, Mercy Flight Southeast, Inc. and TTOTF, LLC d/b/a First Class Aerospace 

AM Dean said First Class Aerospace is an aircraft interior business working out of the Angel Flight hangar.  It was recently brought to her attention that they do not have a sublease.  This agreement corrects that deficiency.

AM Dean said Steve Purello from Angel Flight is the owner of First Class Aerospace.  He is in attendance to answer any questions the Board may have.  They currently use a small office space only.  This agreement is for a larger area in the main hangar.  This will allow them to expand and improve their service to their clients.  With their current space restrictions, they typically operate by traveling to their customers where they remove the pieces to be worked on and bring them back here to do the upholstering.  When the pieces are done they travel back to the customer to reinstall them.  Having a larger area will allow them to do their work on site.

Chairman Reisman asked Steve Purello if they will operate Angel Flight from the top floor and this business from the bottom.  Steve Purello said yes, for the most part.

Byron Oldham noted that approval of the sublease basically brings them into compliance.  He does not have any issues with it.  It is an aircraft related business.

Byron Oldham made a motion to approve.  Tom Frost seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously.

AM Dean noted that this agreement and the BHI amendment will both go before the City Commission on September 23^rd.

Airport Project Update

Storage Hangar Design:  AM Dean said the 100% plans have been submitted.  The documents are ready for bid.  However, the City’s Purchasing Department currently has a backlog of projects they are working on so the bid has not been advertised yet.  She hopes to have the bid documents out in the next couple of weeks and believes there will be a period of either 30 or 45 days for proposals to be submitted. 

Master Plan Update:  Mary Soderstrum from AvCon said the Master Plan is still at the FAA for review.  She estimates it will be at least 45 more days.  When they receive the comments back from FAA, AvCon will update the Plan to address them and then resubmit it to FAA for their final review and approval.

Runway 13/31 Rehab:  Wilbur Mathurin from Hoyle Tanner and Associates said there is not a lot going on with this project yet.  They met with FAA on site yesterday.  They have started the survey and geotechnical work.  That should be done in about two weeks.  Once they have that information, the design work will be started.  The middle 5,000’ of the pavement will be rehabbed.  They believe the design will be done in time to go out to bid in April. 

Chairman Reisman asked if the original scope was always to just rehab the middle section.  AM Dean said the end sections were done in 2009 and are in good shape. Wilbur Mathurin said the FDOT pavement rating for those areas have them above the index number for rehabilitation.  That study rates the middle section as being in fair condition.  He noted there will be a little bit of work done on the ends including adding shoulders.

Airport Manager Update

AM Dean said the lightning storm on August 13^th did a lot of damage to the gates.  They are still working on them.  The new directory for the west gate on Airport Boulevard is up now.  It is LED with a touchscreen.  The installation of the directory for the east gate will be finished next week. 

The annual FDOT airport inspection was done today.  Everything was good.

She noted that at the meeting last month she was asked to survey some other airports regarding rental rates for t-hangars.  She is working on that and has received some information.  So far the lowest rate is $2.44 per square foot (Gainesville) and the highest is $3.60 per square foot (Lakeland).  Condition and age of hangars may need to be taken into consideration when comparing this information.  She should have a final report for the Board next month.  Chairman Reisman asked for the size of our new storage hangars.  AM Dean said they will be about 1,900 square feet.   Byron Oldham thanked AM Dean for her work compiling this data.  He noted that at the last meeting the Board talked about a rate of $3.00 to $3.50 per square and that seems to be in the right price range.

New Business

Chairman Reisman asked for an update on the t-hangar door repairs.  AM Dean said the work is being done on the t-hangars on Echo.  The replacement of the bottom rail and casters is complete.  They have found that some of the top rails and casters also need work.  Some of them also need new stop brackets that will have to be fabricated. She is waiting for a plan from the contractor for this additional work. 

Chairman Reisman asked if these hangars are at capacity.  AM Dean said there are twelve units and they are all leased.  She is only aware of one that does not have an aircraft in it.  That tenant has told her he is bringing his airplane soon. 

Chairman Reisman asked for an update on the proposal for new airport signs.  AM Dean said a requisition will be issued to a sign company based on that proposal.   She is still working to finalize the language that will be printed on each sign indicating what facilities are available at each entrance while emphasizing Wilco as the main entrance.  

Chairman Reisman noted that there are two dead trees on the Wipaire site.  He is concerned they may fall in the road.  AM Dean said she will notify them.

Byron Oldham asked if we are expecting big repairs on the gates from the lightning storm.  AM Dean said there are certain gates that are more important and she is trying to prioritize the repairs.  For example, there are only two gates that provide access on Echo.  If they are down, tenants have to work with the tower to drive on the taxiways to get to that side.  She is working with the contractor and the City IT Department to improve the system.  They are trying to utilize fiber where ever they can which eliminates the connection between the gates and the electrical vault.  This decreases some of the opportunities for lightning damage.  She is still in the process of getting quotes for some of the repairs.  There was so much damage from the strikes on the 13^th that they are trying to file an insurance claim. 

Byron Oldham said lightning strikes seem to be a frequent and very expensive problem and he is wondering if there is something that can be done like installing lightning rods.  AM Dean said there are some lightning rods already on the field, mainly near the electrical vault.  Tom Frost said the copper in the wiring for the gates is an attractant for lightning.  That can cause a lot of the problems.  AM Dean said the contractor they are using is working with her to find the best equipment to upgrade our system while still being conscious of the expense.  They are working closely with the IT staff and she believes they will come up with a good plan.  Byron Oldham asked if any of the new pieces will be wireless.  AM Dean said she believes that is what they are working toward.

Adjournment

Chairman Reisman moved to adjourn.  The motion was seconded by Byron Oldham and approved unanimously.  The meeting adjourned at 5:57pm. 

    Alan Reisman                                                 
Chairman

     Pam Hester                                                    
Recorder