President Gary called the meeting to order at
7:50 PM. Present were: Alan Wright,
Norm & Reta Farb, Andy & Connie Andersen, Dave Martin, Craig Cowles,
John Horn, Keith Moes, Kelly Wilson, Gary Van Horn, Mark Matthews, and Robert
English. Mitch Schwecker was guest
speaker for the evening.
Before the official business of the meeting,
Mitch gave us a thumbnail description of what his experience was like
testifying before the Committee On Transportation and Infrastructure at the
Hearing about Through-The-Fence on September 22. He handed out copies of his eight-page testimony, which he
explained had to be truncated because he only had five minutes to speak. Chairman Oberstar , a Representative from
Missouri who authored HR 4815 and opposes the FAA on the TTF question, was
praised as a champion of Residential Airparks and Mitch said we should all send
communication to his office to thank him.
Mitch was pleasantly surprised that the tone of the hearing went against
the FAA, and those who testified against Through-The-Fence were
"skewered" with hard questions.
There were many questions about the hearing
itself as well as the logic (or lack thereof) behind the FAA's stand against
TTF. Mitch has said that the ODA was
firmly behind the Airpark and in favor of TTF, and that the FAA was completely
off-base in their opposition to it.
There was also a question as to what the FAA considers the end-date of
our current agreement here at Independence: was it 2014, or 2034? There was a difference of opinion about
that, and all those concerned agreed to consult the actual letter. Another question had to do with the 41 acres
to the West, and Mitch said the price at this point is unaffordable though the
interest in expanding the airport remains.
President Gary thanked Mitch for his ongoing efforts, and Dave thanked
Mitch for his testimony at the hearing.
Mitch said that the ODA meetings are being held every month and they are
public, and anyone who wants to attend can come. The Chinook Room at the Portland Airport is where the meetings
are held.
Before Mitch left, he said that there were some
sinkholes noted in the southern taxiways, off to the side and not on the
centerline, and there were pylons around the trouble-spots. They would try to fill them tomorrow.
SECRETARY:
Dave Martin moved that the minutes of July be approved and Keith Moes
seconded. All approved by voice vote.
TREASURER:
Keith passed around a balance sheet for the year to date, showing expenditures
for taxiway work this year. There are
three liens filed against those homeowners who did not pay their fees. John Horn moved to approve the balance
sheet, and there were two seconds: Alan Wright and Dave Martin seconded. All approved by voice vote. Keith asked that addresses be current by
November 12 so that he can send the ballots out, especially for those folks who
are out of town. Gary said he would
send a request to Gail Hill for that information.
MAINTENANCE:
Craig praised the people who came out to help clean the drainage ditch, and
also Lynn McDonald for the job he's been doing: those attending asked to convey
their thanks to Lynn as well. Craig
also shared his ongoing thoughts about maintenance of the drainage ditch
itself. Dave said his understanding was
that these ditch problems are on private property, and IAHA has no legal
responsibility or power to force either of the property owners to do any
repairs. Gary said that the meetings he
had with the Water District representatives didn't yield any new legal answers
to this problem. The dividing line
between IAHA property and private land is approximately in the middle of the
ditch, and Gary solicited opinions from those attending as to what was the
pleasure of the board on this issue. A
legal opinion cannot be found for free, sadly, so Dave suggested that the IAHA
do what it has done in the past, which is to only maintain our half and let the
homeowners take care of their half.
There was no motion regarding what to do, so Gary suggested we move on
with the agenda.
Kelly made the motion that the drainage ditch be
left open, not covered in other words, and the cost be shared in proportion to
actual ownership of the ditch. Dave
Martin seconded. All approved by voice
vote.
Craig went on to describe the new taxiway crack
sealing technique, then said that he was going to wait a year to see how well
this new crack sealing method works out.
After he knows how well this works, then he will write a report about
long-range plans for taxiway maintenance so we can have proper money set aside
for that work. Lots of discussion
ensued around this point: there doesn't seem to be any imminent failure
problem, but there does need to be some kind of long-range evaluation about what
it would take to replace the taxiway infrastructure and when it would likely
need to be done. It is not necessary to
replace everything all at once, but it is necessary to keep a certain amount
available. Dave suggested an article in
the next Loud and Clear describing the Board's efforts to survey the
taxiways. Gary said this issue is
legitimate to discuss at the next Membership Meeting in December and, based on
that, asked if we had a motion to change the dues assessment for next year:
there wasn't one. More information is
needed. John Horn made the motion that
Craig write a report about the full taxiway square footage and the replacement
cost for all of the taxiway. Kelly
seconded. All approved by voice vote.
BALLOT:
Gary had sent a note out through email about candidates for this year; Keith
said that three years as treasurer was enough, and that Rena Peck has said she
will take the job. The slate is the
same as years past for the other offices.
Gary asked for a motion to approve the ballot as presented. Craig moved to approve the ballot, and Kelly
seconded. All approved by voice vote.
GOOD
OF THE ORDER: John Horn said that he had written up a
rebuttal to the FAA's proposal, and that there was a suggestion that those
written opinions be delivered as a Board opinion. That was considered a good idea.
Following up the FAA question, Gary asked
whether the Independence Airport should remain a part of the Federal Airport
system, as there are some residents who are starting to talk about it. Andy said that idea had been explored many
years ago and it was considered impossible as the local tax-base is not big
enough to support it.
OLD
BUSINESS: Rena had reported at the July meeting that
there was only seven responses about whether the roster should be printed or
delivered electronically.
The meeting place for December's Membership
meeting was the last item to discuss before adjournment. After some discussion, it was decided that
the EAA hangar would be a good place, if it is available that day. John said he would contact Jerry Pryce about
scheduling the place and paying the nominal rental fee.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 PM.
Next meeting is the Annual Membership Meeting on Sunday, December 5 at
the EAA hangar.
Meeting1021.doc