PROCEEDINGS OF THE AIRPORT DISTRICT, PARISH OF BEAUREGARD, STATE OF LOUISIANA, TAKEN AT REGULAR MEETING, FEBRUARY 8, 2004.
THE Beauregard Parish Airport District Board met in Regular Session on Thursday February 5, 2004 at 5:00 P.M. The following board members were present: Hollis Ray O'Neal, Chairman; Elton Pickering, Secretary/Treasurer; R.M. Simmons, Eugene Loftin and Karl St. Romain. Those absent were: Wayne Hall and John Sandlin. Also present were: John B. Jones, Airport Manager; Mike Harper, Beauregard Parish Police Juror; Carlos Archield, Beauregard Parish Police Juror and Tim Cooper, Forestry Consultant.
Mr. O'Neal opened the meeting by asking Mr. Pickering to give the invocation. He then welcomed all those present and noted that there was not a quorum of commissioners present. Therefore, no amendment to the agenda could be accepted and the minutes of the January 8, 2004 meeting could not be approved.
Mr. O'Neal then recognized Mr. Tim Cooper, Forestry Consultant and noted that although no action could be taken until there was a quorum, the timber bids could be received and opened but no bid accepted. Mr. Cooper then opened the 2004 Timber Sale Bids which were as follows:
Broadway Forest Products, Inc. $145,311.00
Cooper Timber Company 123,042.00
Ratzloff Logging 143,300.00
Leesville Lumber Co., Inc. 156,451.34
Fortune Forest Products 161,790.34
At this time Mr. Eugene Loftin and Mr. Karl St. Romain arrived providing the necessary quorum.
Mr. O'Neal then returned to the agenda and asked if there were any amendments to the agenda. Mr. Jones, Airport Manager, requested two amendments as follows:
under Grounds and Maintenance.
2, Modification of Personnel Policy - as Item 1 under Personnel.
There were no further amendments requested. A motion was made by Mr. Pickering, seconded by Mr. Loftin to amend the agenda as requested. The motion passed unanimously
Mr. O'Neal then asked if there were any corrections to the minutes. There were none. A motion was made by Mr. Pickering to approve the minutes as written and mailed. The second was offered by Mr. Simmons and the motion was unanimously approved.
Mr. O'Neal then asked Mr. Cooper to review the bids for the 2004 Timber Sale. Mr. Cooper repeated the bids and recommended that the high bid of $161,790.34 submitted by Fortune Forest Products be accepted. A motion to accept the Fortune Forest Products bid was made by Mr. Loftin and seconded by Mr. Pickering. The motion was unanimously approved.
Mr. Lancon was not present to report on the status of the taxiway construction project. Mr. Jones told the board that discussions and efforts were still underway to find a way to include alternate No. 1 along with the base bid so that the taxiway could be completed except for lighting. These discussions were with both the FAA and State officials.
Mr. Jones then addressed the next item of business which was an update on self-service. He said that he had contacted three different manufacturers of the self-service equipment and had also talked to one company which does install the equipment. He had also contacted other airports and had been advised to make sure that service after the sale was easily available. This had been a problem at some other airports. He suggested that Lassco Pump Service be invite to the next board meeting to answer questions board members may have. Mr. Jones said that if there were no objections he would extend the invitation. There were no objections.
Mr. O'Neal then brought up the next item which was Public Relations. At the direction of Mr. O'Neal, Mr. Jones then made two announcements regarding upcoming events. The first event was the FAA Partnership Conference to be held in Ft. Worth on March 10 & 11, 2004. Mr. Jones told the board that an agenda would be sent to each member. He asked that any board member wishing to attend let him know and the necessary registration/reservations would be made. He encouraged attendance in support of the interest and investments made by the FAA at this airport. The second announcement concerned the Louisiana Airport Managers Association (LAMA) annual meeting to be held in Houma on May 9-12, 2004. Mr. O'Neal reminded the board that the board had sent representatives to the last two conferences and encouraged participation at his one. Mr. St. Roman expressed his interest in attending. Other members were asked to inform Mr. Jones if they were going to be able to attend.
Mr. O'Neal then asked Mr. Jones to discuss the last item of business which was a change to Section 6.0 of the Personnel Policy. Mr. Jones said that there needed to be a minor modification to the recently adopted Section 6.0 of the Personnel Policy which pertained to the vacation and sick leave carryover payout. The adopted policy provided that all accumulated sick leave and all annual leave over ten days and on the records as of December 26, 2003 would be paid back to the employee in either one (1) lump sum payment or 3 annual equal payments. However Mr. Lestage, Airport Attorney, had recommended inclusion of the additional two options that were in the original policy. Therefore, Paragraph c, Section 6.02 - Sick Leave, should read:
Effective will be frozen at the December 26, 2003 amount and payrate.
Each employee will then have the option to receive either one (1) lump sum payment, or three (3) equal annual payments for unused sick leave, one lump sum at retirement, or have the time added to retirement time.
Paragraph d, Section 6.03 Annual Leave will read:
Policy is adopted will be fixed at current value based on employee wages as of December 26, 2003. Each employee will have the option to receive one lump sum payment of three (3) equal annual payments, one lump sum payment at retirement, or have the time added to retirement, for all time over 10 days.
A motion to adopt the policy changes was made by Mr. Loftin and seconded by Mr. Pickering. The motion passed unanimously.
There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made by Mr. Pickering and seconded by Mr. St. Romain. The motion was unanimously approved.
Hollis Ray O'Neal, Chairman
Elton Pickering, Secretary/Treasurer