The meeting was called to order at 7:45 PM by
new President Gary. Present were: Gary
Van Horn, Craig Cowles, Keith Moes, Herb Jolliff, Kelly and Margaret Wilson,
Alan Wright, John Horn, Robert English, and guest Dick Wildman. Rena Peck and Bob Gillette arrived later.
SECRETARY: The draft minutes of
the October meeting, posted on the web, had been read by all present. After brief discussion about fine points,
Herb Jolliff made the motion that the minutes be approved as posted and John
Horn seconded. All approved by voice
vote. The December minutes were then
discussed: John Horn made the motion to approve the minutes as posted, and Herb
Jolliff seconded. All approved by voice
vote.
There were some suggestions about putting links
up for emails on the web site, and articles, and Robert said that all someone
has to do is send him something and he'll post it.
TREASURER: Keith handed out a
year-end balance sheet for the Association, slightly lower because of the legal
fees spent throughout the year. There
was also the seal-coating work done on the taxiways, though these expenses were
covered by existing funds. About 66
homeowners haven't paid yet but we have until the end of the month.
MAINTENANCE: Craig said
that the temperatures are going up, and grass is starting to grow again, so
there will be spraying soon. Craig also
said he was grateful that the Board is reimbursing him promptly for expenses.
He also talked about the big ditch near Amos'
house, and the volume of water being carried in it: the banks of the ditch are
starting to erode. He contacted a
contractor to ask about how much it would cost to put in a pipe there, and it
would cost a little over $2,000.00.
Discussion centered about previous issues along that same ditch: it
serves as the main drainage for the Airport and the Ash Creek Water Control
District owns it. Keith Moes said that
he sits on the Board for the Ash Creek Water Control District, and he could send
a letter to the President of that Board and get back to us.
NEW BUSINESS: John Horn
gave us a current status report on the FAA through-the-fence issue. The FAA has answered the EAA letter,
basically saying that Christmas Valley airpark (80 miles NE of Klamath Falls)
was safe. John had consulted with Jon Pugsley of Rep. Schrader's office, and the
consensus is to wait until the FAA responds to the Congressional inquiry and
then take appropriate action whatever that might be. He also gave us a synopsis of what his own letter had said. The two issues are whether the FAA will
uphold its long-standing agreement regarding Independence Airpark, and the
ongoing comments on the "advisory letter" and order 5090.6b.
One of the points of discussion centered around
the FAA's overblown concern about children riding tricycles on taxiways, and
because they are sensitive to issues such as that we need to encourage our
neighbors not to ride up the taxiways on bicycles: it could jeopardize our
negotiation process if the FAA finds out that such things do go on here.
Margaret Wilson made a brief speech about the
workings of the Block Herald system, and introduced Rena Peck as the new
distributor for information to the Block Heralds on each block. Gary asked about the Social Committee as
spelled out in the charter, and effectively Rena is the new head of that. There is a balance of $261.41 in the Social
Committee account, mostly coming from the permits each year for the Airpark
Garage Sale ($84.00 was made last year after expenses of advertising). Funds will be needed for the Ice Cream
Social later, so they are trying to hang on to the little amount they've
got. Rena said that she planned to get
together with the Block Heralds and meet them.
Gary said he had talked with Norm Rainey and he
said that the North Annex had formed a committee to see about uniting the two
Airpark Associations. This is simply
exploratory, to see what the two Associations have in common and what they
don't have in common, and Herb Jolliff has volunteered to head a committee in
our Association. Dick Wildman said that
there were a few people who have property in both ends, and each would be a
valuable resource for information.
Lois Martin has volunteered to compile a history
of the Airpark, a scholarly and thorough record from the beginning, and there
are many people who would like to be involved in helping out.
Craig said that while he was flying he had seen
a helicopter fly up in front of an airplane without communication. There was discussion about what to do, how
far to go in warning the helicopter pilot, and whether this will endanger our
stance with the FAA. The first step
would be to documenting which specific regulation he is violating, and then
talk to him face-to-face about it.
Alan said that he has been pursuing a clarification
in the ODA language regarding the fees that are paid. The existing language since 2004 has been a "per
airplane" fee, which is not true as we are paying "per lot." There was lots of discussion surrounding
this point.
The subject of driving on the taxiway came up:
two incidents, one involving a police cruiser and the second involving a
contractor. The method of enforcement of our existing prohibition in the
CC&Rs, about vehicles on the taxiway, was discussed. No motions were put forward.
The roster, and whether there should be
electronic copies of it, came up for discussion. Gary asked what the pleasure of the Board was in regard to this
question, and whether there was liability that the Board could face if that
information escapes. After much
discussion, it was decided to keep things the way they are for now with an
option to send electronic copies by email to who wants it. Gary said he wanted to get more background
on this subject, by talking to Gail Hill and others about it, and report back
to the Board by the next meeting.
ADJOURNMENT: John Horn
made the motion to adjourn and it was approved. The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 PM.
Respectfully submitted by Robert English,
secretary.
Meeting0121.doc