Pilot questions relationship between airport and city

 

March 16, 2018

Marione Martin

John Wiebener (standing) speaks to the Alva Airport Commission Monday night. He addressed tension among the city, airport and those who use the airport. Airport Manager Greg Murray is at the far left. Board members seated around the table (clockwise from left) are Dale Logsdon, Caleb Mosburg, Kelly Parker, Terry Turner and Paul Kinzie. Extra chairs had to be brought in to accomodate visitors.

What's causing the deterioration of the relationship among the city, the airport and the people at the airport? That was the question posed by pilot John Wiebener at the end of the Alva Airport Commission meeting Monday night.

Speaking during the citizen remarks and inquiries section of the agenda, Wiebener first described his history with the Alva Regional Airport. "I've been associated with this airport since I was a kid because right across from the airport is our homestead, and this land was my grandpa's before it was the airport."

Wiebener said he's owned an airplane since 1994. "So I have an emotional, business and pleasure purpose for coming to Alva. Now I have a home here; we're part time residents here."

In the 24 years he's been associated with the airport as an aircraft owner, "I've never seen such a bad relationship between the city, the airport and the people at the airport," said Wiebener. "This is from the guy who gets to fly in as an outsider, but I'm an insider, too, because I'm here part of the time."

He asked the board members to look inside and ask "what's going on at this airport that's causing all this animosity and all this disgruntlement?"

"This (airport) is a gem to northwest Oklahoma. This used to be a place that people looked forward to coming to. So what's causing it?' he asked.

Wiebener then questioned the qualifications of some of the board members. He pointed out on a five member board, one was the mayor "who appointed himself" and another "who knows nothing about aviation."

"So two of the five members of the board don't know anything except what they've learned being on the board of aviation," he continued. "Yet you've got plenty of members of the community that the mayor could have appointed to sit on this board that are aviators."

Wiebener said in the past most of the time the board had been composed of aviators who made decisions that were then taken to the city council. "It seemed to work pretty good for a lot of years. So my questions to the board is, I'm asking you guys to look at this introspectively and try to fix this," he concluded.

Board Chairman Dale Logsdon thanked Wiebener for his comments. The other members of the airport commission, who were all in attendance, are Paul Kinzie, Terry Turner, Mayor Kelly Parker and Caleb Mosburg.

Four city boards have a seat designated to be filled by a city council representative: Alva Hospital Authority, Alva Airport Commission, Alva Library Board and Alva Recreation Complex Board. Parker represents the council on the airport board.

The disgruntlement described by Wiebener seems to stem from a number of recent policies and rules imposed at the airport. In the perception of local pilots, these are originating at city hall instead of with the airport board. The starting point appears to be restrictions on the use of courtesy cars provided for visiting pilots. Recently the airport board was asked to approve a city policy manual with added materials from what could be found in airport files of approved policies and procedures. The latter contain several items which pilots recognize as obviously outdated.

Staffing Changes

An executive session was held for the annual evaluation of the airport board manager. No action was taken on that item when the meeting returned to open session.

City Business Manager Joe Don Dunham spoke to the board about the possibility of changing airport staffing. Currently the airport manager is on duty Monday through Friday during the day. A part-time employee takes care of Saturday and Sunday. The airport is not staffed at night.

Recently while the airport manager was ill with the flu, the part-time employee could not cover the airport. So a city employee was pulled from another department. This employee was not trained on airport equipment.

Dunham proposed that the airport board replace the part-time employee with a full-time staffer. He said they would overlap three days a week with two people on duty. During the summer there is plenty of mowing to keep them busy, and it would insure the airport could be covered by a trained person.

He said in the past it has been difficult to keep part-time employees at the airport due to the limited number of hours available. Often they must have another job and are usually looking for other employment for more hours.

Dunham also asked if the board would be interested in having employees "on-call." An employee would be available after hours if a plane lands needing fuel or some other airport matter needed attention. He said this would require extra pay. With two full-time employees, each would be on-call one week and off the next.

Kinzie asked where Dunham got the job description for the second full-time employee. Dunham said it came from the part-time employee description with modifications added.

Dunham presented the board with the financial impact of changing to two full-time employees on next year's budget. It would increase expenses by almost $32,000 per year. Kinzie asked where this additional revenue would come from. Dunham said the oil revenue from airport property is about $10,000 to $12,000 per month. Also the airport has no capital improvements scheduled at this time.

Turner suggested a fixed-base operator (FBO) would be a less costly option. An FBO is granted the right to operate at the airport and provide services such as fueling, aircraft maintenance and flight instruction. Turner said he thought an FBO could make enough profit from fuel to make it worthwhile, but Logsdon said the city clears about $25,000 a year on fuel.

Parker asked if the board wanted Dunham to pursue that option. Kinzie summarized five possible staffing options: (1) the current situation of one full-time and one part-time, (2) two full-time, (3) a contract operator, (4) a part-time FBO or (5) a full-time FBO.

Dunham was asked to look at all these options and present his findings to the board. Kinzie agreed to help him with information, saying that Texas has the options outlined very specifically.

In his comments at the end of the meeting, Wiebener asked if numbers of people using the airport warranted having two employees. Referring to the airport manager's absence due to illness, Wiebener asked, "Is this an isolated incident, or are we creating a problem when there's really no problem?"

Airport Terminal Painting

The board looked again at three quotes for painting and repairs mainly to the outside of the terminal building. Some interior work will be involved in window frame repairs. The three quotes ranged from $12,790 to $4,805.81. The companies had been asked to provide additional information about materials and the length of time it would take to complete the project.

Parker made a motion to accept the $5,600 bid from SheaDeeLea's Painting as the lowest best bid due to the scope of the work described and the length of completion time. Kinzie seconded, and the motion was approved.

Jump Start Equipment

The board took no action on the purchase of a jump start/APU unit for aircraft use. Airport Manager Greg Murray said he purchased a 24 volt battery charger for $260 which should handle the job. Murray is approved for purchases up to $1,000 without prior board approval.

Manager's Report

Murray reported fuel sales were good for the short month of February at $15,313.55 total. Of that amount $7,308.65 was 100LL and $8,004.90 was Jet A. The remainder of the total was for oil.

He said Papon and Sons Roofing came to the airport on Feb. 27 to replace shingles on the terminal building which had blown off in a storm. Then on March 6, a couple more shingles were blown off by wind gusts so the roofing company will return.

Logsdon has rented the one open hangar in the new building for a week or more starting March 9.

Murray said Oklahoma Environmental Services (OES) contacted him to say it was time to renew the airport's agreement with them to provide the statistical inventory reconciliation as required by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. They offered to bill for the service annually instead of quarterly at a ten percent discount.

OES offers some other services currently provided by other companies. Murray did cost comparisons and learned the airport could save money by having OES take over these services.

Kinzie asked about the VASI lights being out on the south runway. Murray said they've been reported out before, worked on and then operate for a while. He said a cause has not yet been found but it will be looked into.

Kinzie also expressed concern about a pile of limbs on the northwest corner of the property that might attract unwanted animals to move in. Murray said he inherited the pile and has added to it. He tried to burn it last year but it wouldn't burn. He said he will check into getting the pile of debris hauled off.

Air Show

April Mills from Plane Plastics gave a quick update on the air race and air show coming up in June. She said they are setting up a Best of Show contest with 22 categories for planes. Two planes have been scheduled for Friday to give rides. With the $15,000 approved from tourism tax, the fund for the events is $25,000.

 

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