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HomeMy WebLinkAbout24.07.11 - Minutes, Hag Regional AirportHagerstown Regional Airport Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes of July 11, 2024 Page 1 of 3 HAGERSTOWN REGIONAL AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION Minutes of the Open Meeting July 11, 2024 The Hagerstown Regional Airport Advisory Commission held a public meeting on Thursday, July 11, 2024, at 3:00 p.m. at the Hagerstown Regional Airport Terminal Conference Room, 18434 Showalter Road, Hagerstown, Maryland. Commission members present: Rob Ferree (Chair), Austin Colby (Vice Chair), Curtis Berry, Randal Leatherman, and Laurence Gross. County staff members present included Neil Doran (Airport Director), Gene Bolanowski (Airport Operations & Security Manager), and David Douglas (Administrative Assistant). CALL TO ORDER Rob Ferree called the meeting to order on July 11, 2024, at 3:03 pm. CITIZEN’S PARTICIPATION None. No visitors were in attendance. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion was made by Mr. Colby and seconded by Mr. Gross to approve the minutes of the June 27th, 2024, meeting. The motion passed unanimously. AIRPORT DIRECTOR’S REPORT Neil Doran, Airport Director, provided his report including that Volaire, HGR’s Air Service Development consultant, is working to prepare a draft application to be submitted to the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Small Community Air Service Development Grant Program (SCASDP). Volaire has asked airport staff to assist in collecting letters of support to be included in the application. So far, we have received fifteen letters of support from federal and state officials in addition to some local marketing partners. Our marketing partners are showing support in the form of cash or discounted services as in-kind commitments. Dan Spedden from the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) has committed $75,000.00 in cash. The airport will likely be asking for $325,000.00 from the federal government for the grant. The airport would then commit our existing $50,000.00 with the $75,000.00 from CVB for a grand total of $450,000.00. These funds could be spent over three years and no less than triple our current marketing budget. If awarded, the additional value of the “in-kind” discounted and/or free services from marketing partners could further increase the total impact to $650,000+. This Hagerstown Regional Airport Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes of July 11, 2024 Page 2 of 3 would, in some scenarios, potentially quadruple the available marketing resources and efforts across a three-year period. The airport staff have been preparing to submit a “Grant 071” application to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This project includes the Runway Object Free Area (ROFA)/Runway Visibility Zone (RVZ) obstruction removals, Fairchild Firehouse Demolition and of replacement segments of airport gates and fences in new locations. Unfortunately, the airport received no bids on the project back on July 10th and so changes to the scope of the Grant 71 application will have to be made to remove the construction portion at this time. The HGR team also submitted the Passenger Facility Fee (PFC)-related Notice of Intent to Impose to Allegiant Airlines. The airport proposes to collect approximately $896,000.00 across a multi-year period on a $4.50 per-enplanement basis. The airport hopes to start collecting this fee later this calendar year 2024. Updated titles for two of the airport’s administration office staff positions were mentioned. The airport is considering the need for a salaried Deputy Director or perhaps an additional hourly Airport Operations/Security position. Mr. Doran also provided updates on the challenges of staffing sufficient numbers of part-time positions at the airport, especially for airline service positions. Mr. Doran periodically counts the number of vehicles in the parking lot, and we have had peaks between 360-560 vehicles in the lot during the summer 2024. This is due to the increased flight schedule and a larger parking lot surface area being able to accommodate more cars. AIRPORT OPERATIONS REPORT Mr. Bolanowski, Airport Operations & Security Manager, provided his report including that in July the airport began transitioning to an online airport badging platform known “AirBadge”, and we are very close to having that system up and working. In addition, “Digicast”, an American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) web-based on-demand training system, is up and running. The airport’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 139 certification inspection is complete, and staff is working on fixing the minor discrepancies that were found. Inspections coming up in August are with the Maryland Aviation Administration (MAA) on August 16th and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on a date to be determined. AIRLINE SERVICES UPDATE Ms. Smith was unable to attend the meeting. No update given. COUNTY COMMISIONER UPDATE Mr. Wagner was unable to attend the meeting. No update given. Hagerstown Regional Airport Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes of July 11, 2024 Page 3 of 3 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT UPDATE Mr. Horowitz was unable to attend the meeting. No update given. AAC MEMBER UPDATES Mr. Colby shared some observations related to potential new Lessees and developments in portions of the New Heights Industrial Park building that are located near the Hagerstown Aviation Museum properties. Mr. Ferree made a motion to cancel the August 8th meeting and to move the September meeting from the second Thursday of the month to the first Thursday of the month. The September 2024 meeting will be on Thursday, September 5th, at 3pm. The motion was seconded by Mr. Gross. The motion passed unanimously. ADJOURNMENT Motion made to adjourn by Mr. Gross. Motion was seconded by Mr. Leatherman. The meeting was adjourned at 3:53 p.m. Respectfully submitted,