July 13, 2009

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by President Ken. Present were: Tom Ritchey (Polk BOC), Dave Martin (ISAS), Pete Weber (OPA), Andy Andersen (OFF), Jim Hubele (OPA), Robert English (ISAS), Mitch Swecker (ODA), Deborah Plymate (99s), and Al Cleveland (Memorial Committee). Dick Wildman (North Annex) arrived later. Guests this evening: John Sedey, Harry Bladow, and Phillis Upright.

We were one member shy of a quorum this evening, so this was a discussion-only meeting with no motions or votes.

SECRETARY/TREASURER: The minutes of the April meeting were passed out, and there were no corrections. There could be no vote to approve them without a quorum, so they will remain as “draft” minutes until the next meeting.

The balance in the kitty is the same as three months ago: $42.83.

MEMORIAL RECAP: Tom Ritchey said that the timing was perfect on all of the fly-bys and the speakers were good, and this was one of the best Memorial Events we've hosted. Dave Martin said that there were 209 lunches served, a few more than last year, and there were no free ones since the Coast Guard didn't show up. Andy piped up about the budget: the porta-potties and printing were the only expenses, totaling $125.00, since we didn’t have to rent a PA system this year. With the passing of Harry Malette, the porta-potties are going to have to be sponsored by someone else for next year's event. Newsletters were sent out to the media and various airports in the area. Jim commented that the media coverage was very good. Bob Zafran and Tralee Knapp helped with the news write-ups. There were some concerns about the aircraft flying at the same altitude as the F-15s when they were scheduled for their fly-by. There was some discussion about what frequency they use, as they are not going to retune their radios for every fly-by, so maybe we could monitor their communication. A static frequency for monitoring by airports would be a good idea, with one person on the ground listening to that frequency at each airport. Pete Weber stated that he needed to bow out of his tasks for next year, and pass along the addresses for whoever is going to be in communication with the Coast Guard.

OLD BUSINESS: There was an update on the "through-the-fence" courtesy of a letter from Heidi Williams of the AOPA to the FAA, dated July 1, concerning the stated intention by the FAA to attempt to eliminate through-the-fence operations. Lots of discussion ensued from this.

Andy spoke up about the airport protection bill: the legislation failed again despite positive testimony in favor of the bill. The mayor of Salem testified against it saying that there was no money to support the zoning changes that the bill allowed, which was actually not correct.

NEW BUSINESS: The FAA came out to look over the airport some months back, and found the airport in good shape, except for the absence of "no smoking" signs at certain locations.

There is an ODA meeting at Hood River, which is close to the museum, on the 11th and 12th of August.

GOOD OF THE ORDER: ISAS now only has one person to represent airport business, and needs another person to fill Harry Malette's position. We've got a couple of months before the next meeting to decide who that is going to be.

There is a bi-plane fly-in here at the airport this weekend, an RV fly-in on the 29th of August, and the OPA is having a fly-in next month in Albany. The ODA is hosting an "Aero Volunteer Appreciation Day" on the 21st of August at 11:30 in the ODA offices. Ken suggested the ISAS group appoint a designated aero-volunteer.

Andy brought up a state-wide legislative taskforce to tackle the "geese problem," to which he reports as a member of the OFF. There was lots of discussion about this including Jim saying he’d toured the Boeing factory and saw the size of the new Boeing 787 engine which is big enough to swallow several birds at once.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 7:54 PM. Next meeting is October 12, 7:00 PM, at Gabel's Hangar.

Respectfully submitted by Robert English, ISAS secretary.

Meeting0713.doc