PROCEEDINGS OF THE AIRPORT DISTRICT, PARISH OF BEAUREGARD, STATE OF LOUISIANA, TAKEN AT REGULAR MEETING FEBRUARY 3, 2005.
The Beauregard Parish Airport District Board met in Regular Session on Thursday, February 3, 2005 at 5:00 P.M. The following board members were present: Hollis Ray O'Neal, Chairman; Elton Pickering, Secretary/Treasurer; Wayne Hall, R.M. Simmons and Karl St. Romain. Those absent were Hugh Dubose and Eugene Loftin. Also present were John B. Jones, III, Airport Manager and Lee Lancon, Engineer.
Mr. O'Neal opened the meeting by giving the invocation. He then welcomed all those present to the February 2005 board meeting.
Mr. O'Neal then asked if there were any amendments to the agenda. Mr. Jones replied that he was requesting two amendments. The first was to discuss installation of a restroom on the West Side of the hangar. The second was to discuss the FAA Partnership Conference in Ft. Worth in March. Mr. O'Neal asked if there were any further amendments to the agenda. There were none. A motion was made by Mr. Hall, seconded by Mr. Pickering to amend the agenda as requested. The motion passed unanimously. The restroom discussion was added as Item C under Grounds and Maintenance. The FAA Conference was inserted as Item A under Public Relations.
Mr. O'Neal then moved to the next agenda item which was approval of the minutes of the Regular meeting on Thursday January 6, 2005 and the Special meeting of Friday January 14, 2005. He asked if there were any corrections or additions to the minutes. There were none. Mr. Pickering then made a motion to accept the minutes as written and mailed. Mr. Simmons offered a second and the motion was unanimously approved.
The next agenda item was the Project Status Report under the Grounds and Maintenance Section. Mr. O'Neal recognized Mr. Lee Lancon, Consultant Engineer, for the report. Mr. Lancon told the board that the last two weeks had been very good weather-wise allowing the contractor to complete the sub-grade work on taxiway B before the inclement weather returned. Work has now been interrupted once again due to the weather. Mr. Lancon said that dollar wise the project was slightly over 50% complete. However, from a work standpoint the project was much further along than that. The reason being that the work remaining was the most expensive part of the project. He estimated that there was approximately 6 weeks of work left. The completion date is supposed to be April14, 2005.
Mr. Lancon then addressed the project to reconstruct Taxiway E. He said that the current project which was only for design and engineering was complete. The next step would be to advertise for bids for construction. However, that would be under a separate grant. At present we are in a hold position waiting to see if funding would be approved for the project. Mr. Lancon told the board that a new DBE goal had been established for the actual construction project on Taxiway E. The new goal was 2.5% and all applicable DBE requirements were being met.
Mr. Jones advised the board that since the current project on the design and engineering of Taxiway E was complete the board would need to accept the completed project. He said he would then advise the FAA and DOTD requesting that the grant be closed, if the board so approved. Mr. Hall made a motion, seconded by Mr. St. Romain to close out the project. The motion was unanimously approved.
The next item was a discussion of a new airport communications system. Mr. O'Neal explained that the present high speed internet service was provided by Worldnet. The airport has been advised that Worldnet has been sold to Bayou Internet located in Monroe. Bayou Internet does not intend to continue wireless internet service in DeRidder. Mr. O'Neal said that the choices for high speed internet access were very limited. The problem is that DSL is not available, cable service is not available, and satellite service has proven unsatisfactory in the past. He said that left few options since dial-up service cannot provide the speed required and would also necessitate new phone lines for the 8 computers at the airport. Mr. O'Neal said that he and Mr. Jones had discussed T1 access to provide both voice and data lines to the airport. He then asked Mr. Jones to further brief the board. Mr. Jones said that he had contacted several venders for prices on T1 service. Of those, he had actually received pricing information from three vendors. One of those, Bayou Internet, has only submitted a price on internet service - not telephones. He questioned the actual interest they had in serving the airport since they had eliminated the present service. The other two were well known national providers who would be more likely to be here in the future. Both had been contacted for further information. There was a brief discussion. Mr. Simmons stated that the airport had to have high-speed internet service - not only for the airport but for the tenants and customers. He then made a motion to authorize Mr. Jones to evaluate and accept the most favorable service for the airport. The second was offered by Mr. Hall and the motion was unanimously approved.
Mr. O'Neal then began the discussion on the need to install a second restroom on the East Side of the hangar. He explained that the airport presently has a single ladies restroom and single men's restroom. As the airport had grown these were inadequate and were not equipped for the handicapped. It was true that they were “grandfathered"
in and not subject to ADA guidelines. However, he felt they should be made adequate for all those visiting the airport. He also mentioned the large numbers of people present on Election Day since two voting precincts used the conference room. Mr. O'Neal pointed out that there were sewer connections on the East Side of the hangar. He also mentioned that there had once been restrooms on the East Side. He said that additional restrooms would be especially beneficial when there are large numbers of people at the airport for those working in the hangar after hours, and for the handicapped. There was a lengthy discussion among the members of the board. Mr. Lancon volunteered to look at the space available and advise the board what would be required to make the improvements. No further action was taken by the board.
The last agenda item was the FAA Partnership Conference to be in Ft. Worth on March 9th and 10th. Mr. Jones explained that this was an annual conference hosted by the FAA. He said that he would not be able to attend since he would be on a previously planned vacation. Mr. O'Neal pointed out how important an airport presence was at this type meeting. He said that if at all possible he would plan to attend on March 9th. Mr. Simmons said he would plan to attend also. Mr. Jones said that registration would be made for them.
There being no further business Mr. Pickering made a motion to adjourn. Mr. St. Roman seconded the motion whish was unanimously approved.
Hollis Ray O'Neal, Chairman
Elton Pickering, Secretary/Treasurer