July 15, 2004
The meeting was called to order by alternate Gary Van Horn at 7:12 PM. Present were: Harry Malette, Carole Gabel, Bill Francke, Larry Kruljac, Ed Hannevig, Mike Pongracz, Andy Andersen, Gary Van Horn, Bob and Dorothy Gillett, John Conley, and Robert English.
Gary had six copies of the new by-laws as well as freshly written operating policies for the Board (using the by-laws as a guide). The first area of focus was article 4 section 2 (page 4) which was read aloud for comment. Choice of chair was the first discussion point, with John Conley, with John saying that he wouldn't mind being Chair if that's what everyone wants. Harry Malette made the motion to nominate John Conley as Chair, Carole Gabel seconded, and the motion was approved by all present with amazing speed.
Andy had a Treasurer's report, which was passed around to the attendees, and it showed that ISAS was $21.83 in the black. There was some discussion about the printing expenses, as most of the people who receive hard copies of the minutes now have e-mail addresses and it is not necessary to print and mail copies to them (thereby spending money unnecessarily). One copy could be put up on the bulletin board, which is by the fuel pumps at the FBO, as well as the posting of the ISAS Flyer on the ISAS web site. John asked if there was a motion to accept the treasurer's report as presented, Harry Malette made the motion and Gary Van Horn seconded. All approved by voice vote.
The minutes of the previous meeting, as posted by email and on the website, was the next point of discussion. Harry Malette made the motion that the minutes be approved as presented in that email. Mike Pongracz seconded, and all approved by voice vote.
The secretary was next - Gary Van Horn had mentioned before the meeting that he would be interested in handling this job. John asked for a motion to make Gary Van Horn the secretary for ISAS, Harry Malette made the motion and Carole Gabel seconded. All approved by voice vote.
A new position of ISAS Web Master was proposed, since that position has technically been filled (by Robert English) but there was no actual post for it. John proposed that this position be created, and Robert English continue in that function. Gary Van Horn made the motion, Harry Malette seconded, and all approved by voice vote. Robert is to write a two-sentence description of this position to be included in the operational procedures and e-mail it around.
The new treasurer for the organization was next to consider, and there were no immediate volunteers for the separate office. Carole made the motion that the positions of Secretary and Treasurer be combined and Mike Pongracz seconded. All approved by voice vote.
The next point of discussion was maintenance of the email mailing list, and whose job that would be. The secretary would hold the primary mailing list, and the webmaster would hold a copy so that either party could send out the flyers.
In other new business, Andy passed out a formal letter of application for a representative of the AOPA/ASN to be added to the ISAS Board as a non-voting member. There was some discussion about when it would be appropriate to accept the letter, as there has been no policy adopted to allow this addition yet. John said it was more important to establish the procedures before considering new memberships, though he was in favor of adding this certain person since they have been helpful to 7S5 in the past. The letter was accepted in lieu of establishing a policy to actually handle the task of adding a board member - it was tabled until the next meeting.
Gary went over some more points that he was not clear on at the time he wrote the operating procedures, such as the level of adherence to Robert's Rules of Order and a possible dues structure (to cover operating costs). Some discussion ensued on these points and others. Gary stated that his intention was for these points to be thought about, mulled over, and settled by next meeting. Mike Pongracz made the motion to look these various points over between now and the next meeting, and Harry Malette seconded. All approved by voice vote.
John asked if there were any outstanding issues concerning the airport. Harry Malette had some points to bring up, mostly about the plans to make Independence a "destination airport". There was also discussion about the proposed fencing - there was some doubt as to whether the fencing would only be the south end (to keep stray pedestrians out) or whether it would be the entire airport. As it turned out, it would be just on the south end since there is a Federal regulation about the new leased hangars to be built which demand that fences be constructed around them. This fence, along Hoffman and 20 feet in from the road, will not go any further than necessary to meet these Federal regulations. There was some more discussion as to recent trespasses on the runways by schoolkids on their way home, and that this fencing could help with that, but that it was always best to regard any movement by the State with caution. Andy brought up the budgetary restrictions that the ODA was operating with, i.e. that Federal money was going to cover the planned construction. Gary mentioned that the ODA had established their plans for the hangars and fencing earlier, and this was revealed during the IAHA's negotiations for the new ingress/egress agreement. The plans are finalized and the contractors will be here to start the work soon, but there is still time for ISAS to make its opinions known - specifically where the money would be better spent.
John asked if it would be a good idea to send a letter from the new ISAS Board to the ODA basically announcing that the Board had formed and was looking to communicate with the ODA. The point was made during discussion that just about all of the people that ISAS has communicated with in the past have left the ODA, and that there is little "institutional memory" of ISAS. Ron Rencke, being the interim director of ODA at this time, was the proper person to send it to according to Andy. John then asked whether this letter should come from the Director or the Secretary of ISAS, and Gary said that he would write it for John to sign.
During the discussion about what the ODA was actually going to do, Mike Pongracz made the motion to add a point to that letter to the ODA that the expansion of the ramp was to be specifically mentioned as a bad idea. For the purposes of discussion, Gary Van Horn seconded.
Some discussion arose from the prospect that the ODA was looking to dispose of any airport that a sufficiently large burden to it, which all agreed was a frightening proposition. It has not been any more than innuendo or hints at this time, with smaller airports being the most likely candidates for divestiture, and it was proposed to find out how serious the ODA was about this idea and whether this was indeed something to be concerned about. There was no point in putting this in our introductory letter, though - it would be something that would be discussed at a sit-down meeting with the new ODA representative.
It was agreed that it was important to find out exactly what the ODA would be doing before making suggestions about whether specific projects would be a good idea or not. Harry Malette volunteered to gather the information about exactly what the ODA was planning and then bring that information to the Board. This effectively killed the earlier motion that was made to specifically prohibit the ODA expanding the ramp, which was unanimously voted down.
Carole mentioned that there was a plan to slurry-coat the north-south taxiway and that would mean the taxiway would be closed while they did this work. The specific dates were not known at this time, but measurements were being taken on that taxiway this afternoon by the contractor.
John then asked for a suggestion for the next meeting date, one which the ODA representative would hopefully attend. Bi-monthly meetings would be better for after all issues are ironed out, but in the meantime there is a need to set operational policies so more frequent meeting would be helpful. Since there was no possibility of a meeting on the 15th of August, the 30th (a Monday) was proposed and established.
Gary Van Horn made the motion to adjourn the meeting. Harry Malette seconded, and all approved by voice vote. The meeting was adjourned at 8:21 PM. Next meeting is to be the 30th of August, 7:00 PM, at Gabel's hangar.
Respectfully submitted by Robert English, secretary.