Kane County Reporter

City of Aurora Airport Advisory Board met October 8. 

Here is the minutes as provided by the board:

I. Meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Chairman Armbruster.

II. Members Present: Mr. Wolf, Mr. Koster, Mr. Armbruster, Mr. Davis, Mr. Lieser, Mr. Baker, Mr. Fank

     REPS Present:     Mr. Andras

     Others Present:    Kyle Peabody, Mike Mitera, Luke Grotto, Dan Wolf

III. Election of Chairman and Vice-Chairman – A motion was made by Mr. Wolf, seconded by Mr. Lieser, to elect Jim Armbruster as Chairman and Doug Koster as Vice-Chairman. The motion carried unanimously.

IV. A motion was made by Mr. Wolf, seconded by Mr. Lieser, to accept the minutes of the August 13, 2018 meeting of the Airport Advisory Board. The motion carried unanimously.

V. Committee Reports

     A. Finance - no report

     B. Planning & Ops – no report

VI. Old Business

     A. Sugar Grove Update – Mr. Wolf reported the City of Aurora is considering investing $500,000 to $1 million to bring fiber out to the airport. After Aurora priced fiber to the airport, Metronet became a hi-speed internet service provider in the Village and Aurora has contacted Metronet for a quote.

     B. Draft Airport Rate Study – no report

     C. Airport Entrance Sign – no report

     D. Sugar Grove Park District (Ball Field Sale) – Mr. Andras reported the airport is still waiting for clarification on how the funds from the sale can be used. Mr. Peabody reported that an inquiry will be made at the TIPS meeting in Springfield on October 16. Discussion took place on possible ways to spend the money.

     E. ALCMS – Mr. Andras reported that the underground work for the ALCMS project will be completed this calendar year with the remaining portion of the project completed in January or February. Mr. Andras reported the roadway overlay project will begin on October 15. In addition, the City contracted with Builders to resurface the parking lot at the southwest corner of the east ramp during the same timeframe as the project.

     F. Non-Airworthy Aircraft on Ramp – Mr. Andras reported he continues to work with City finance and legal staff to collect payments and to have aircraft removed from the field.

     G. Overnight Parking Fees – Mr. Wolf began discussion by informing the board that if overnight parking fees were to be imposed, it would have to be for all public ramp space not just the east ramp as previously suggested at the August meeting. Mr. Wolf went on to remind the board that as a federally obligated airport we must treat all tenants on a fair and equal basis. Lengthy discussion was held on this topic which included more discussion on non-airworthy aircraft parked on the ramp. After much discussion, it was suggested that overnight parking fees may not be the answer. However, the board would still like to consider ways to increase revenues at the airport. The suggestion was made to look into increasing the fuel flowage fee. Overnight parking fees will be removed from the agenda and increasing the fuel flowage fee will be added.

     H. Review of the Airport Advisory Board By-Laws/Ordinance – The board discussed possible changes to the by-laws along with changes to the ordinance to recommend to the City Council. These changes included changing the number of board members from 13 to 9, changing the by-laws to align with the Illinois Open Meetings Act, in Section 4 of the by-laws changing the word investigate to review, and to possibly remove the requirement of being a City of Aurora resident.

VII. New Business – no new business was brought before the board.

VIII.Other Business

     A. Mr. Armbruster meeting with Mayor and staff – Mr. Armbruster reported he met with the Mayor, corporation counsel and chief of staff to discuss the airport. Mr. Armbruster reported the topics he brought to the table were airport manager, resolving disputes between FBOs, putting money towards customs instead of fiber, legal enforceability of minimum standards, increasing fuel flowage fee, and having only one FBO and that FBO having a national presence.

A motion was made by Mr. Wolf, seconded by Mr. Armbruster, to adjourn the October 8, 2018 meeting of the Aurora Municipal Airport Advisory Board at 8:00 p.m. The motion carried unanimously.

https://www.aurora-il.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_10082018-1568