Rutherford County Airport Authority - Regular Meeting

Meeting for 05/04/2026. So I call it to order. First order of the business is, the pledge of allegiance. If you'll follow me, I'll lead you. I

pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Next item is gender appeal. I seek a motion.

Make a motion to approve the agenda.

So I have.

I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? If not, all those in favor, signify by raising your right hand. Motion carries. Do we have any public comments? And I'm asking you, okay. They have to fill out a paper for you. So if they didn't, we usually don't. But next thing is the consent agenda. I seek a motion on it. I make a motion to approve. Make a motion. I have our motion on the floor and need a second. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any questions? Any discussion? If not, call for a vote. All those in favor, signify by raising your right hand. Motion carries.

The financial report. You wanna let the director, mister Devin Reisch?

Thank you.

So far, this year, we're on trend fairly well with our fuel sales. There was a couple of items that we've referred to in the past that we're working on to kind of get adjusted. One is our part time salaries, kind of bringing that back into level with what is needed right now. We had some adjustments with a couple full time positions that we filled, one full time position that was a retiree. And so we're kind of in the process of kind of rebalancing that and structuring that. So were there any questions concerning the budget?

Is it they have to get trained or were they already from a part time status to come up?

It is a training process for these. Quite often, it's hard to find in the small pool that we pull from individuals that have the skills that are needed in aviation. But we do have a good training program and platform for them to launch into. And with a couple background part time guys that have been there a long time, I was able to kinda balance all of that. So currently, the two new staff are trained with the fuel program, and they're certified through Titan. So they're just gaining gaining their experience right now. So K. They've been great so far. So

Thank you.

Any questions concerning the budget? I guess that's all I have on that.

If there's no questions on the financial producer information only, under new business, the $44.50 for the fuel farm upgrade, we did a bid and stuff on it. Can you update us on it, please?

Yes, sir.

Just recently, Ardura put out bids for the fuel farm upgrade, which is for a generator project. In light of Helene and the storm, we realized that was something that was essential for us to be able to operate aircraft out there to be able get new loads of fuel. The bid was put out. RJ Tenney Electric was the one that came in fairly well under the the Walker and Whiteside bid. And it's our recommendation to go with RJ Tenney.

I'd also like to have Greg come up if he would as well. I know there were some questions as if they had worked with RJ Tenney in the past. And I just want him to clarify and be able to give some confidence to their work.

Yeah. RJ Tenney, they're they're prequalified to live in CDOT. They have to hold the proper licensors. Haven't had lot of experience with them in the past, but they are under contract with us at Cherokee County to rehabilitate their obstruction lights out there. So they're they're they're a qualified contractor. We've solicited bids from them before, but I haven't actually had to get the opportunity to work with them, but they seem like a reputable company. One thing that's now also that's not in there when we solicited bids, we did reach out to three contractors. I believe Cubo was a third electrical engineering company that we did reach out to. They did not respond with the bid, but we did we did reach out to to at least three qualified bidders when we were soliciting those bids.

Thank you. And their bid was about half

of what? Yeah. Did they was the bid specified in such a way as you're comfortable that if they had perform to the letter of the bid that we're gonna get what we want?

Yeah. It's it's not a complicated project. They they

don't know

what they were doing. I think Walker and White Sides just got a lot of work going on right now.

That's why I

was gonna ask maybe do it.

So Maybe they're busy.

They they wrote it high just in case nobody else bid, and then they could just make some gravy. But yeah.

Yep. Makes sense. Okay. I have a a motion that needs to be. It's written there.

I seek a motion.

I have a motion that we approve.

I have a motion. I don't know if you need a second. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, I call for a vote. All those in favor, signify aberration of right hand. Any opposed, like sign. Motion carries. Next question up is forty four seventy five, the Perimeter Fencing Project.

Alright. So the print perimeter fencing project right now, we're looking at doing a change order on this fencing project. Currently, we are encompassing what what of the airport grounds are missing fence and trying to connect interconnect to the fence that's there. In order to be able to give this project a complete look, we are proposing to go ahead and pull out the old fencing that is right now it's kind of been hodgepodge through the years, so you get fencing that kind of running in places that really shouldn't be. And when you pull up to the airport, it also is not a warm and biting feel to the airport.

This will also take out some of the fence line as far as, like, the on the backside. It's not gonna actually go along and and pull out all of the fence, but it's gonna come along the back edge

form because

of the property where the hangar development is. And so there'll be new gates that'll actually be more protected. The gate that we have right now, the main gate for drive through is about chest high. And then it just it'll it'll make it more simulated to what what the the new fence looks like all the way around. Currently, we've had two aircraft that have had incursions with the year since I've been there.

And then we've had several jets. Even recently, one had to pull up to get out of way from a deer. And so having this new fencing allows for 10 foot high fencing with one foot of barbed wire on top. So that allows for 11 foot, which should be able to help keep our airport safer from the deer and also safer all around.

Most of that existing fence around the terminal area is six feet high, which was which was okay when it was being installed a few decades ago. But that's you have a wildlife report that FAA orchestrated, and their recommendation was 10 foot high wildlife fence with a wildlife skirt that goes into the ground to keep animals from burrowing under it. So all that's been approved. And NCDOA, we've had preliminary discussions with them on this scope of a change order. And they've already blessed it and said move forward with developing the change order. So they're in support of the project.

And this section of fence will be black?

So what our proposal is is to have a section of fence between the terminal building and the hangar that's black and also from the hangar all the way out to where the second vent second gate is. So that gate will be black as well so that when you pull up, it's not

Yeah.

It's not looking so like like you're pulling up to a penitentiary.

Right. There you go.

Yeah. You can still see through it.

More inviting. And that that change would essentially cost, which is in our budget already for upgrades to our facilities, $10,100 which is very minimal compared to some of the more elaborate fencing you can get into.

Okay.

And that is built into this as well, that that proposal with that black

And that money is already there that we can utilize. It is.

Yes, sir.

Yeah. The the grand money is there. We will have to have NCDOA will have to approve the final change order. They've approved the concept. Now that we've drafted the change order, which you have in front of you, we have to send that to them and they have to concur on all the pricing and the and the budget increase on the grant, and then we will modify the grant and add those additional monies into it for all the reimbursements. But the money is there. They just we gotta get the approval from NCDOA. So any approval that you make today needs to be contingent on NCDOA approval, which we expect, but that's part of the process.

K. And that's that's the way it's written up. There is a recommended motion there. Yeah.

I'll make a motion to approve the low bid authorization of the county manager, airport authority, chairman, airport director, finance officer, clerk to the board, and other county officials signed to execute all documents in support of the action contingent upon AIG funding and contingent on NCDOA's approval.

Okay. I have a motion on the floor and need a second. Second. I have a motion and second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, I call for a vote. All those in favor, signify by raising your right hand. All those opposed, like signed. Seeing none. Motion carries.

The next thing is the, 4467 Hangar B 6 B.

Yes, sir. I was recently approached by Kyle Hankinson. He would like to sell Hangar 6 B to Troy Tethys. He they've given us a letter with their request to the airport authority for your consideration. They have put their their price in there as well, which is $3.25. And my recommendation at this point is that we don't have a great need for that or budget set aside for that that particular hangar. So it would be to allow them to go ahead and move forward with this this sale. But that is in your hands. K.

Make a motion.

Make a motion to adopt a resolution for the transfer.

Have a motion. Need a second?

Second. Sir.

Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, I call for a vote. All those in favor, signify by raising your right hand. All those opposed, like sign. Seeing none, motion carries. And the last thing is $4.04 $7.02 requested budget.

Yes, sir. Currently, we have, with the new staff, been restructuring some things at the airport. And so within this budget, the changes with staffing and also with maintaining the grounds at the airport, we are requesting some additional funds in the to be adjusted in the buckets to be able to offset costs for future equipment and for being able to repair the equipment that we have. And then also, with the fuel prices the way they are and trending, I'm also looking at keeping a little more of a a padded approach to the amount of money that we have set aside for our fuel budget so that we can kind of offset those costs. And I budget on about 100,000 gallons a year is what I look at.

Sometimes it comes in just a little under. Sometimes it comes in a little over. What typically happens within a year is I'll have a jet that is basing at the airport. And they will, for some reason, end up either selling the jet or end up not buying fuel for a little while or coming back because they get a better price maybe down in Florida where they're buying in bulk. And so currently, we have the King Air that's in there that has kind of helped kind of bring up our fuel sales and kind of offset some of those lapses.

So I'm still trending toward about $100,000 for this year. So I'm thankful for that even with all the increase in fuel prices. So I'm hoping that we can continue to stay on budget with our fuel. But other than that, is there any questions concerning the budget at this time?

How are you dealing with the I mean, you're saying that you're changing what you're calculating a little bit now, so to allow you a little bit more leeway to that. Is the is it a percentage?

No. What I've looked at in the past is how much we've sold over time. And so I've kind of evaluated what is trending as far as how much fuel we're selling. And then I just kind of I give a little bit of a buffer in there to be able to accommodate either an increase in traffic or an increase in cost. So I'm either going to increase my volume of fuel sales or I'm going to increase the cost in the fuel.

And so it kind of buffers that. The other thing is if it does start to if I do end up going over on how much fuel I'm selling, that's something we can make an amendment in the year and adjust that. Because that is income, and so it's being offset with the sales. And generally, I try to stay around 1 point dollars 5 a gallon of charge to try to offset the cost of the equipment, the manpower, and so kind of just equalizing everything the best I can with staying within the grounds of the market.

How do you get to market pricing? Does it change daily, weekly?

So every week, I'll get a price on what the new load will cost me. And so that comes from our vendor for fuel, Titan. And so they're very on Monday, they always send me a new price. And then I also look online. Air Nav is a good resource for what other airports are doing in our area. And so I'll regularly go on there and see, am I still within reason for our fuel so that we don't I want to be fair and equitable to anybody coming in and out of our airport. So

k. I have a recommended motion. But he has any further questions. If nobody has any further question.

Make a motion to approve the request for the budget 2627 to be submitted to the board. Further consideration, we're making the motion that we approve the budget.

Request a second?

No. Verification. You're making a motion to approve the requested budget.

Yeah, not getting to us to approve, which I'm just approving.

It is a little confusing.

I'm confused by the language on that.

This is the awkwardness of

that. Second. Understand.

And then we can vote again. No.

Okay. I have a motion on the floor and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, I call for a vote. All those in favor, signify by raising the right hand. All those opposed, like sign, seeing none. Motion carries. And the last thing on the agenda is a closed session, so, it's easier just to hold it here. So I don't know who all is supposed to be in on this.

I'd

recommend airport director, finance, mister Greg Hershaw, myself.

K. I think Danny would be Is that

gonna take us offline, and we'll be notified.

It's okay to have Danny sit in on there.

Yeah. He's a

Okay. And I yes.

One order. Yes, sir.

Would you please state the NCGS reasoning for this?

This is North Carolina General Statute one forty three dash three eighteen one one a five is what's gonna be discussed in the closed session.

Is this have you made I make a motion to go to closed session.

Second. I have a motion and a second on the floor. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for a vote. All votes in favor, seek it by raising your right hand. Motion carries.