ISAS Meeting

January 11, 2010

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by President Ken at the EAA hangar.  Present were: Andy Andersen, Dave Martin, Al Cleveland, Ken Hardwick, Robert English, Debra Plymate, Bob Brown, Dave Martin, Jim Hubule, Norm Rainey, Jim Pryce, and many guests who attended to hear State Airports Manager Mitch Swecker speak about the current state of affairs with the ODA and the FAA.

 

Mitch spoke to the audience after Ken introduced him.  After briefly bringing everyone present up to speed regarding their search for a new ODA director, still ongoing, he told us what was going on with the FAA regarding the "through the fence" agreements.  The FAA has said that they are not planning to enforce the refusal of any TTF agreements, but the FAA organization at large is still reticent about saying anything more definite.  March 21 is the deadline for public comment regarding the FAA order, and Mitch encouraged all those in attendance to make comments about it if they have not done it already.

 

Mitch said that with the current funding, the ODA cannot afford with the current revenue streams to maintain the airports without FAA funding.  There were questions about what kind of alternate revenue could be found to maintain the airport, though no concrete plans were formulated.  The use of the airport can be perpetuated as-is with current funding if the pilots and residents stay within FAA guidelines.

 

A question was asked about whether there was any face-to-face threat made about the withdrawal of funding.  The answer was no, that there was only innuendo.  Mitch said there was some risk in bringing this issue to the highest levels of the FAA because that could bring an answer that no one wants to hear. 

 

When questioned about noise, Mitch said that he had only received one noise complaint in a full year whereas the Aurora airport generates several complaints a week.  This airport is not a civil nuisance by any means, and the most recent letter to the FAA mentioned that there were almost no complaints about noise here.

 

There was a reminder about what happened at Creswell, which affected just two houses but the affect was lethal: the FAA directed that the tie-down fee go to $68 a year and that the access to the runway terminate with the sale of the home.

 

Some comments were made about Dan Clem, and where his loyalties were when he assisted the negotiation of the last agreement.  Mitch reminded everyone that the ODA is not the FAA and cannot set policy as the FAA can.  Moreover, that Dan did negotiate the best settlement possible before he left the position.

 

The order that has everyone concerned is an advisory and does not have the binding force of a regulation.  A question came up about whether this was a bunch of guys saying that the airparks should be shut down, and Mitch said that he didn't think the FAA was being that deliberate about this, which brought welcome laughter from the crowd.

 

Another question came up about an email that was circulating regarding the cost of leases going up.  Mitch responded by saying that there were a lot of non-standard agreements in exchange for services such as cutting grass or other labor.  It is called "payments in kind," and the current attempt is to make that practice above-board and fully legal, to continue "payments in kind" as they have been.  Ken chimed in saying that the ODA was going to review all of the lease agreements on the ODA-owned hangars at all the airports including the insurances.  He further said that the ODA was not generating enough revenue to keep itself afloat and that they were looking for increasing their revenue.  Mitch said that what Ken said was fundamentally correct.  He said that the fuel flow for aviation fuel at Portland International was down by $30,000 a month, so the agency has to reassess where its money comes from to make sure it can make ends meet.  Since 2001 the ODA agreement says that they had the right to reset their fees every two years, so this is normal and not a new practice.

 

Ken asked that if there were specific questions before the meeting wound up.  One comment was that there should be some trust for the judgment of Randy Babbitt of the FAA, and there was hope that his decision would come down on the right side.  Mitch said the ODA was really working on behalf of the airpark residents and was on our side.  Mitch was publicly thanked for showing up and being so good natured, and those present applauded.

 

The actual ISAS Board meeting began after a brief recess to clear chairs.  The second part of the meeting began at 8:07 PM.

 

The only order of business was to decide who the Board was going to be for 2010.  Ken provided the sheet to fill in the blanks.  Here is the slate of Board members for the coming year:

 

IAHA-South

Gary Van Horn

Herb Jolliff

 

IAHA-North

Norm Rainey

Jerry Pryce

 

Lessees

Ken Hardwick

Jim Davis (hasn't shown up)

 

Airport Business

Debra Plymate

Dave Baker (hasn't shown up)

 

EAA 292

Bob Brown

<to be announced>

 

OPA

Mark Matthews

Dave Martin

 

Non-voting Members

AOPA – Norm Farb

OFF - Andy Andersen

 

ISAS OFFICERS

PRESIDENT: Ken Hardwick

VICE PRESIDENT: Dave Martin

SECRETARY/TREASURER: Robert English

 

Ken said that the last two meetings did not have a quorum.  The meeting minutes were up on the web site and were not yet approved, so Ken passed around some copies from the web so that folks could read them.   All present voted to approve the minutes as posted from previous meetings.

 

Treasurer's report: still the same amount, $42.83.

 

There was no formal agenda items tonight, though there were a couple of comments: Jim Pryce said that there was one house in foreclosure in the North Annex.  A lien had been filed on the property before the deadline.  Regarding the State request for N-numbers that has been a thorn in the side of many residents here: there is a Federal registry for airplanes but not one for the State, and there is no penalty for not registering your airplane with the State.  The request to examine hangars for airplanes and report their N-numbers came from the obvious gap between the planes that are registered with the FAA and those few that are registered with the State.

 

Andy had a report from the Flying Farmers: Saturday April 17 is the day for the APT (Annual Proficiency Training) Seminar.  The actual seminar is 2 to 3:30 and flying will go on all day.  If you're interested let Andy know.  There was also an update regarding the fate of the Airport Safety Zone legislation, which is not going to pass.  The next State ODA meeting is not scheduled yet, though it will probably be in the Portland or Salem Area, and they will probably have a new chairman: Mark Darger.

 

Carole Gabel has said that their hangar, traditionally available for the ISAS meetings, won't be available anymore.  We will have to find a new place to meet before our April meeting.  The library downtown was suggested and those in attendance liked that idea.  The next meeting will likely be held there.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:46 PM.  The next meeting is on Monday, April 12.  Respectfully submitted by Robert English, secretary.

 

 

Meeting0111.doc