IAHA Board Meeting
The meeting was
called to order by president John Horn at 7:00 PM. Present were John Horn, Craig Cowles, Jim Kirkendall, Dave
Martin, John McCoy, Robert English, Kattie Altman and Alan Wright. Guests attending were Dick Wildman, Andy
& Connie Andersen, John Sedey, Norm & Reta Farb, Dennis & Kathy
Widby, Ted & Gwen Boer, and Pamela Domick.
SECRETARY: Robert had sent out the December minutes
by email, which had been read by all present.
There were no corrections. Dave
moved that the minutes be approved as sent out, and Kattie seconded. All approved by voice vote.
TREASURER: John passed around the latest balance
sheet, which showed a bottom-line balance of $85,028.00. Dues collection is going smoothly with no
known issues at this time.
ARCHITECTURAL: Jim said that the committee membership
has stayed the same as last year. One
project has been approved. There was
some discussion about a possible new neighbor who wants to build at the end of
Airport Way, and there were a few members of the Board who have met this
fellow. Dave seconded the names of the
committee members, and Alan seconded.
All approved by voice vote.
MAINTENANCE: Craig has cleaned the mower up &
sharpened the blades in preparation for the grass-mowing season, and the rest
of his report will be under "new business".
MEMBERS-AT-LARGE: Kattie had no report to give. Alan gave a brief report about the land west
of the airport, which is for sale, and his efforts to secure that land to
protect the airport from encroachment.
Mr. Gentemann, the current owner of the land, is attempting to sell for
higher than agricultural price, a price that is not truly sustainable with the
protected agricultural zoning. One of
the possibilities being considered is to purchase a controlling interest in the
land which would be cheaper and effectively do the same thing. A firm point was made that the money for
this potential purchase would be coming from individuals within the community
and never from the IAHA treasury. Some
discussion ensued about the FAA matching funds which are available for the
purchase of land around airports, and how much work would truly be necessary to
bring that land within the urban growth boundary (a lot of work would be
necessary). There was also some talk
about the newer development projects in Independence, mostly to the south, and
how to cover the taxes on this property should it be purchased.
VICE-PRESIDENT: Dave Martin had no report.
OLD BUSINESS: The possible need to print a new book version
of the by-laws and the CC&Rs was discussed. The new book would be costly, though no one knew exactly how
much. John Sedey said that 600 had been
printed and there should be many more of them still sitting in storage. Robert said that he had been considering
stick-on pages to put in the existing books.
The decision was made to table this until the next meeting when we could
know what it would cost to remake the books with the new content.
Alan Wright had
a presentation about the discussions with the ODA regarding collections for the
Stearman Street agreement: he had met before Christmas with the then-director,
but he has since left the post and the business covered at that meeting would
have to be re-covered with the new guy.
Lots of discussion grew from this having to do with the high rate of
changeover and the difficulty of dealing with some of the ODA employees. Alan gave a brief explanation of what
improvements to property make it assessable by the ODA, i.e. when the property
acquires access to the taxiway, and that some folks in the North Annex are not
paying ODA fees because they have no connection to the taxiway from their
property. John said that the Board should let sleeping dogs lie for the moment,
and when ODA comes back to the organization about this we can talk about it
then. There was also agreement to
attend each one of their board meetings so that we could have our ear to the
ground for any new changes. John Sedey
had a question about the instructions for paying the ODA, which haven't been
sent out by them recently, and while the instructions for paying the ODA were
in the most recent issue of "Loud and Clear" it was agreed that it
would be better to send specific notices to the Stearman Street folks about
where to send their ODA money.
NEW BUSINESS: Craig Cowles had prepared lots of
documentation for his report about how much it will probably cost to
realistically maintain our taxiways, in order to more realistically figure what
the IAHAdues should be. He had talked
to three different contractors (the names and addresses of which were in the
report). Among the consensus of these
contractors was that proper maintenance was key to the cost. Repaving of the taxiways can cost ten times
what a slurry coat costs. The cost of
repaving each taxiway is approximately $20,000, which legitizes the amount
which has been saved up by IAHA for that purpose. The actual damage of asphalt comes from the expansion and
contraction it goes through with temperature fluctuation. Drainage and gravel at the edges are two
keys to proper maintance of the sub-surface of the paved sections. Craig's recommendation was that IAHA have
about $100,000 saved up in five years, which is possible with the current dues
structure. It was too soon in the year
to ascertain how much would be needed to be done this year: the Spring woud be
the soonest that survey could be performed.
The Board discussed these points and it was decided to keep the dues the
same in order to keep these reserves at a realistic level to enable the taxiway
maintenance, and that Craig return to the board with the results of the
survey. Some concern was voiced about
about getting more Board Member involvement in setting the scope of the work,
not just taking one contractor's word for the scope and cost of the work, in
order to keep the cost from going too high.
Craig's next
issue was the water ditch, and the flood that occurred the week before
Christmas that overwhelmed a certain neighbor's pipe that he had placed in that
ditch. The quick thinking of certain
other neighbors saved the day, but this is a warning for the future. Action needs to be taken regarding this
ditch, or property will be damaged and there will likely be lawsuits. Water flowed well through this ditch before
this pipe was put in. Kattie had some
news about this; one section of the pipe has been removed already, and the rest
is going to be removed after the ground dries out. Jim suggested that the owner should be asked to restore the ditch
to its original condition. Keeping
those items as suggestions at this point is the best thing to do at this
point. There was also some talk about
the Miles Towner culvert, with the 90-degree bends in it, and Jim told us that
the City engineers worked with him on that and the work was done well enough
that there has been no problem with the huge amount of rain we've had. Jim also said that the City is taking the
matter of this ditch under advisement and that he would get back to the Board
on that.
Craig's next
point had to do with contractors and equipment on the taxiways. There was a recent incident with a forklift
visiting each taxiway that caused some concern. Craig stated that he and Lynn usually put signs out saying
"no driving on taxiways" and those are usually followed. Dave suggested that some of the members of
the Board should have a talk with the people causing the damage, and if that
does not work then the police should be brought in since damage to property is
the issue. Alan suggested that the
owners of the construction project be given the signs and be told to put them
up, then have a consultation with them if these signs aren’t posted.
The roster for
2007 needs a volunteer to put that together, since Jim Anglin has stepped down
as roster keeper. Dave said that Karen
Brown was willing to be the roster keeper.
The discussion around this issue had to do with the errors in the
current roster, and that the block heralds had not been contacted to help
proofread the 2006 roster. John
reaffirmed that if Karen Brown was willing to do this then we should take her
up on it. The decision about whether to
redo the 2006 roster was to be tabled for the next meeting.
Dave Martin
proposed the motion that the meetings be moved to the Gabel's hangar, and Jim
Kirkendall seconded the motion. Alan
asked if there was anyone who was specifically uncomfortable with the Gabel's
hangar for meetings, and John McCoy responded that there were some homeowners
who said they could hear better at the library but they were not in attendance
at tonight's meeting. All approved this
motion by voice vote.
FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER: Pam Domick, from the North Annex, had a
brief presentation about the construction of barriers at the end of each
taxiway to clearly delineate the automotive traffic from the taxiways. This
is to keep automobile drivers from assuming the taxiways are roads. She had some examples of signage which were
available at approximately $35.00 each.
Some discussion followed this indicating that there had been a problem
with this for some time, which also include some complaining about the gate
next to the restaurant which remains open.
Dave Martin volunteered to look into this possibility, including perhaps
some low-level fencing, to keep traffic out from the east. Pam Domick was told to consider herself a
member of that committee if she was willing, and she was.
Jim Kirkendall
spoke briefly about MINET, which is Monmouth-Independence Network, which is due
to go on-line next month. The goal was
to provide phone, internet, and TV service through one set of optical cables
which are in the process of going to each house. This is in direct competition with Qwest, not augmenting their
existing service. More details, such as
actual cost, are undetermined at this time but should be known shortly.
John Sedey
brought up the Ice Cream Social and requested that people who want to can pull
their plane out onto their easement for a photo-op.
The meeting was
adjourned at 9:25 PM.
Respectfully
submitted by Robert English, secretary
Meeting020206.doc