PROCEEDINGS OF THE AIRPORT DISTRICT, PARISH OF BEAUREGARD, STATE OF LOUISIANA, TAKEN AT REGULAR MEETING, NOVEMBER 6, 2003.
The Beauregard Airport District Board met in Regular Session on Thursday, November 6, 2003 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, Karl St. Romain and John Sandlin. Those absent were: Eugene Loftin. Also present were: John B. Jones, III, Airport Manager.
The invocation was given by Mr. St. Romain.
Mr. O'Neal then welcomed everyone to the November, 2003 Board Meeting and asked if there were any amendments to the agenda. No amendments were requested.
The next item was approval of the minutes of the October 2, 2003 Board Meeting. Mr. O'Neal asked if there were any corrections or additions to the minutes. There were none. Mr. Sandlin then made a motion, seconded by Mr. Pickering to approve the minutes as written and mailed. The motion passed unanimously.
Mr. O'Neal then asked Mr. Jones to brief the board on the fuel agreement with Dumont Air. Mr. Jones explained that the fuel procurement agreement between the airport and Dumont Air provided a discount fuel price for Dumont Air in return for a minimum purchase volume of 12,000 gallons per year. The fuel price was set at airport cost plus 40ยข per gallon. Mr. Jones told the board that the agreement was on an annual basis and was up for renewal for another year. He also informed the board that Dumont Air had exceeded their minimum requirement for the previous year and all prior years. Mr. Jones recommended that the agreement be renewed for another year. There was a short discussion after which a motion was made by Mr. Hall to approve the fuel contract for another year. Mr. St. Romain offered the second and the motion was unanimously approved.
The next item of business was consideration of the Proposed 2004 Budget. Mr. O'Neal asked Mr. Jones to comment on the budget. Mr. Jones reviewed the budget and made reference to the budget letter sent to each commissioner along with the agenda. He pointed out that the carryover projected for the end of 2004 was not as large as in years past. In those years it was very important to have a large cash balance because of the cash flow problems inherent with airport improvement projects. During the project there would be large expenditures made which would reduce airport cash and it could be weeks before the reimbursements were received to replenish the cash. However, now the airport is on an electronic cash transfer system through the federal Dept. of Transportation. This enables the airport to request a reimbursement on one day and receive the direct deposit the next day. Mr. Jones also pointed out that he had reduced the anticipated revenues from timber sales in an effort to conserve the airport timber. Mr. Jones told the board that he had included funds in the budget for installation of self-service equipment for AvGas and a salary increase for employees. He also mentioned that there was going to be a significant increase in the cost of health insurance for employees. As a result, when that occurred he was recommending and would request a budget amendment for the airport to continue to fully fund health insurance for employees. He said that policy changes in the policies pertaining to time off would in future years save the airport funds and these savings could be used to help offset insurance cost increases. There was a brief discussion. Mr. Simmons asked if the fees charged for the annual audit were in line for this service. Mr. St. Romain responded that, based on his personal experience, the charges were reasonable for these services. Mr. Sandlin also asked several questions for his own information. A motion was then made by Mr. Pickering, seconded by Mr. St. Romain, to adopt the 2004 Budget as recommended. The motion was unanimously approved.
The first item under Grounds and Maintenance was a request by Mr. Lee Cook to exercise his option to lease 4 acres for another year. Mr. Jones read the letter received from Mr. Cook and explained that the terms of Mr. Cooks lease provided for four one year options. Mr. Cook was exercising one of the options. A motion was made by Mr. Sandlin and seconded by Mr. Hall to accept the option execution. The motion was unanimously approved.
The next item was a project status report by the Airport Engineer. Mr. Lancon was not present but had sent an E-mail outlining the status of the Parallel Taxiway Project. Mr. O'Neal read the E-Mail. In it, Mr. Lancon pointed out that the bid advertising was presently underway, that there would be a pre-bid conference on November 19, and that bids would be opened on December 4, 2003.
The last item on the agenda was discussion and adoption of new policies regarding compensated time off. Mr. O'Neal reminded the board members that the last audit had included a recommendation that accumulated Sick Leave/Annual Leave be paid off and accumulation not be allowed in the future. Mr. O'Neal acknowledged the efforts put into developing the new policies, thanked those involved, and then reviewed the recommended policies. There was a brief discussion among the board members during which several voiced their opinion the new policies were more practical and still provided more benefits that usual. A motion was then made by Mr. St. Romain, seconded by Mr. Sandlin to adopt the revised personnel policies. The motion passed unanimously.
There being no further business a motion to adjourn was made by Mr. Pickering, seconded by Mr. St. Romain, and passed unanimously.
Hollis Ray O'Neal, Chairman
Elton Pickering, Secretary/Treasurer