The meeting was called to order at 2:00 PM by IAHA President Gary Van Horn. There were approximately 30 neighbors in attendance.
Gary started by thanking Jim Kirkendall for all of his hard work over the years, Rena Peck for being the Treasurer and Chief Block Herald this past year, and both of the maintenance chairs Craig Cowles and Lynn McDonald for their outstanding work keeping this place looking good. He also urged those in attendance to thank the Block Heralds who serve the community on each street. Many thanks went to Gail Boyer who has been editing the Loud and Clear newsletter until recently, and also to Lois Martin who has returned to the editor’s chair for that same newsletter.
ANNUAL REPORT: After going over the treasury figures, Gary described the work done by the Maintenance Committee on the main drainage ditch this past year: after cleaning the silt a wall was built to protect the north slope from further erosion. The annual fee for the IAHA dues will stay the same, at $100. There is a taxiway maintenance project coming in 2012, and some money has been budgeted for it. A firm out of Albany is the contractor, and they have done work for the North Park so if you’d like to see what the work will look like take a look at their taxiways.
There are some cars that have made incursions on our taxiways, thinking they were streets, and in two instances their GPS led them to go there. We have contacted Garmin to let them know that these are not streets, and Garmin has promised to rectify that. There are two other companies that provide GPS data but they have not responded to us. We have asked the DOA to take a look at the gate situation here with an idea toward securing the gates better.
The ODA was in danger of being re-absorbed into ODOT as a budget-cutting measure, but after extensive review they survived as an independent agency. Mitch Swecker is now the administrative director of ODA, and Matthew Maas is the replacement for Mitch in his original position of airports manager. We looked into a grass strip here at Independence, but that would involve having to buy the land to the West and that is too expensive right now.
The Congress version of the FAA reauthorization bill includes a passage that specifically bars the FAA from withholding grants from an airport that includes residential through-the-fence access. So far the language is still there and it looks good to stay in the bill. The access fees will be increasing by $30 per year. This is the first increase we have had since 2004.
Rena counted the ballots, and the results are as follows:
PRESIDENT: Gary Van Horn
VICE PRESIDENT: Herb Jolliff
SECRETARY: Robert English
TREASURER: Gail Hill
MAINTENANCE: Craig Cowles and Lynn McDonald
ARCHITECTURAL: Dave Martin
MEMBERS-AT-LARGE: John Horn and Alan Wright
ANNOUNCEMENTS: The new years eve party is going to be held in Dennis Krummell’s hangar, with Dave Upton playing the music. Cost is $25 for single and $35 per couple. There was also an announcement about power going off on Monday December 5 from 2 to 3 PM in order to replace a transformer.
Gary thanked everyone attending for a good year and for all their support. The meeting was adjourned at 2:20 PM. Respectfully submitted by Robert English, IAHA secretary.