HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-07-06 Regular Meeting Minutes
New Hanover County Airport Authority
July 6, 2016
Page 1
NEW HANOVER COUNTY AIRPORT AUTHORITY
REGULAR PUBLIC MEETING
July 6, 2016
CALL TO ORDER
The New Hanover County Airport Authority met on Wednesday, July 6, 2016, at Wilmington
International Airport, 1740 Airport Boulevard, Wilmington, North Carolina. Chairman Crane
called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.
September 2, 2015. No conflicts of interest or potential conflicts of interest were identified at
that time.
Airport Authority members present were; Jonathan Crane, Chairman; Thomas Wolfe, Vice-
Chairman; Carter Lambeth, Secretary; Tom Barber, Donna Girardot, Dan Hickman, and John
Perritt. Also present were Julie Wilsey, Airport Director; Gary Broughton, Deputy Airport
Director; Robert Campbell, Finance Director; Whitney Prease, Facilities Director; Carol
LeTellier, Business Development Director; Rose Davis, Executive Assistant; and Wanda Copley,
New Hanover County Attorney.
Guests present included Steve Bright and Amy McLane, Talbert & Bright, Inc.; Hal Reichardt,
Bill Cherry, Dave Rock, Butch Truelove, Eric Canup, Ryan Evans, Monte Coughlin, Josh Lopez,
Hannah Leyva, and Chris Stevens.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The Authority has reviewed the minutes of the Regular Public Meeting on June 8, 2016. Mr.
Wolfe MOVED, SECONDED by Mr. Barber, to approve the minutes of the June 8, 2016
Regular Public Meeting as submitted. Upon vote, the MOTION WAS APPROVED
UNANIMOUSLY.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Chairman Crane turned the meeting over to the nominating committee and Mrs. Girardot
reporting on behalf of the nominating committee, nominated Tom Wolfe, Chairman; Carter
Lambeth, Vice-Chairman; and, Dan Hickman, Secretary. The nominations were seconded by Mr.
Barber. Upon vote, the officers were approved unanimously.
Dr. Crane turned the meeting over to Chairman Wolfe. Chairman Wolfe recognized out-going
Chairman Crane with a plaque of appreciation for his leadership for the past year.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
None.
FACILITIES
Mr. Prease recommended the approval of a work authorization for North General Aviation
Apron Rehabilitation and Stormwater Improvements Phase 2 with Talbert & Bright (T&B) in the
amount of $261,574.00 for additional design, including Subconsultant Electrical Engineer,
Construction Administration (CA), Resident Project Representative (RPR), Quality Assurance
Testing (QA), Geotechnical Services and Excavation Oversight, Confirmatory Sampling &
Reporting. Mr. Lambeth MOVED, SECONDED by Mr. Barber to approve the work
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July 6, 2016
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authorization as recommended above. The MOTION WAS APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY.
Mr. Prease recommended the approval of the N.C. Grant Agreement for the Taxiway A, E, F and
N Lighting Rehabilitation Project in the amount of $299,999.00 not to exceed 90 percent of the
final eligible project cost. f the cost is not to exceed $35,000. Mr. Lambeth
MOVED, SECONDED by Mr. Barber to approve the Facilities action items discussed above.
The MOTION WAS APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY.
FINANCE REPORT
Mr. Campbell May 2016 cash report, summary of accounts and financials. Mr.
Campbell reported that the finance department is preparing for the upcoming audit of FY16.
Mr. Campbell recommended the approval of a land acquisition for the purchase of a 3 acre parcel
of land on Old Wrightsboro Road. This is the Rivenbark property adjacent to the airport and is
PFC eligible and the appraised value is $120,000. Mr. Hickman MOVED, SECONDED by Mr.
Barber to approve the purchase of the Rivenbark property (3 acres) on Old Wrightsboro Road for
not more than $120,000 using PFC funds. The MOTION WAS APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY.
GENERAL AVIATION
Nothing to report.
GOVERNMENT & PGA GOLF
Mrs. Girardot updated the Authority on the FAA final rule on the UAV regulations regarding
drones which will go into effect in August and reminded the Authority about the reception on
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July 19 to welcome Dick Blouse, the Interim Chamber CEO.
Mrs. Girardot reported the General Assembly finally ended their 2 year session and will not
ort money in it has passed and ILM
will be able to complete the apron rehabilitation.
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Mr. Broughton reported on the PGA Committee meeting on June 23 which Ms. Gwen Crow,
Director of Player Services for Wells Fargo attended. Ms. Crow was pleased th
managers were at the meeting and that they plan to add capacity during the tournament.
Mr. Perritt commented that staff tournament and Air Wilmington visiting the
Masters, enabled them to ask her better questions so that Ms. Crow was able to get granular with
the committee about the needs and details.
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Mrs. Wilsey added that on the Federal level, Congress is due to recess on July 15 and should
take up the FAA extension and reauthorization next week to keep the FAA operating until
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September 15 so they can go into recess and still have a budget for the FAA.
HUMAN RESOURCES
Mrs. Wilsey reported that staff has added a new Auxiliary PSO, Brooke Pittman; ILM has two
Auxiliary officers at this time and they fill a great need with staffing and help reduce overtime.
A Dispatcher has also been hired to fill the vacancy of Gloria Vaughn, who retired after 22 years
at ILM; and Ms. LeTellier and Mr. Campbell are interviewing candidates for the Marketing
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July 6, 2016
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Assistant position.
MARKETING
Ms. LeTellier reported on the recent meeting with representatives from the Wilmington Beaches
CVB to begin a collaboration with them to market more in the Northeast for conventions and
meetings as the downtown hotels come online.
PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT/TERMINAL EXPANSION
Ms. LeTellier requested approval of a two year renewal, through June 30, 2018, of the rental car
concession and service center agreements for Enterprise Leasing Company Southeast, LLC;
The Hertz Corporation; and, ILM Transportation. Mr. Perritt MOVED, SECONDED by Mr.
Barber to approve the renewal of the rental car agreements as discussed above. The MOTION
WAS APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY.
Mr. Barber reported to the Authority that now that the public comment period has passed on the
FTZ application, ILM can complete an application to become a magnet site for this foreign trade
zone. Ms. LeTellier reported that having a customs officer on duty gives ILM an edge but we
would still need a bonded warehouse, but if we had an operator who wanted to come and build
something, we could do a temporary agreement. Mr. Wolfe shared that he may know someone
interested.
OPERATIONS REPORT
Mr. Broughton reported that ILM is up year-to-
Lambeth pointed out the increased seats with the airbus and Mr. Broughton shared that ILM is up
15% on capacity.
Mrs. Wilsey recommended the approval of a one year contract with Mead & Hunt, Air Service
Consultant, not to exceed $65,000. After some discussion, Mrs. Girardot MOVED,
SECONDED by Mr. Barber to approve the contract with Mead & Hunt as recommended. The
MOTION WAS APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY.
Mrs. Wilsey recommended the approval of a contract with Fluid IT for hosted data services and
IT support, not to exceed $60,000. After some discussion, Mr. Barber MOVED, SECONDED
by Mr. Lambeth to approve the Fluid IT contract as discussed above. The MOTION WAS
APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY.
Mrs. Wilsey shared a slide illustrating the official CY2015 FAA Enplanement data highlighting
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8 NC Airports with ILM being the 5 largest commercial airport in the state.
Mrs. Wilsey also shared slides from the Jump Start Conference prepared by Bill Swelbar
showing that the big transition and challenge with small airports is the transition from 50 seat
regional jets to 70 seat regional jets because some of the markets will not sustain service with 70
seats per turn.
In response to Mr. Barber question regarding the terminal capacity study and FAA forecasts
and whgrowth rate is consistent with those forecasts, and if ILM will need to expand
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July 6, 2016
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the terminal, Mrs. Wilsey pointed out that across the system numbers are lower but ILM
has peaks in activity during the day because the airlines are upgrading aircraft as opposed to
reducing the frequency. ILM grew 2.6% last year and year-to-date, 6%, so ILM is doing better
than most. The big challenge with the terminal is the peaking. Mr. Barber said he felt it was
very important that the Authority start addressing this issue.
Mrs. Wilsey continued with the slide review pointing out that the population for the non-hub
airports varies from 10,555 up to almost 1M and ILM is right in there at 420,000. A lot of the
small hubs are becoming non-hubs so the medium and large hubs are growing but the small hubs
are shrinking into the non-hub sizes. The important part for ILM is, as a non-hub, ILM is
eligible for funding for the terminal expansion, up to $20M.
Mrs. Wilsey wrapped up the review by pointing out that there are some non-hub markets that
may not sustain air service because they cannot sustain the demand of a 70 seat RJ. Mrs. Wilsey
reported that Jump Start was a good conference and ILM received good reports from Delta and
American. Staff continues to meet with other carriers like Southwest and United and other new
start-ups to see if we can get additional service and use our Small Community Air Service Grant.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
None.
NEW BUSINESS
None.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Board, Chairman Wolfe adjourned the
meeting at 5:28 p.m.
Prepared by: Respectfully Submitted:
Rose M. Davis
_______________________________
Dan Hickman, Secretary
Date of Approval: August 3, 2016