ARC 3-20-2019 MinutesCITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS
DAKOTA COUNTY, MINNESOTA
AIRPORT RELATIONS COMMISSION MINUTES
March 20, 2019
The regular meeting of the Mendota Heights Airport Relations Commission was held on
Wednesday, March 20, 2019, at Mendota Heights City Hall.
1. Call to Order
Chair Sloan called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm.
2. Roll Call
The following commissioners were present: David Sloan, Gina Norling, William Dunn, Sally
Lorberbaum, Jim Neuharth, and Arvind Sharma. Absent: Kevin Byrnes.
Also present: Assistant City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson, City Administrator Mark McNeill
3. Approval of Minutes
Dunn noted in 5.d that he had not made the comment regarding “noise sensors in Eagan”. It
should be changed to “It was noted…” Lorberbaum also corrected the plural of “monitors” in
the same section.
Motion by Dunn/Second by Norling to approve the minutes of the January 16, 2019 ARC
meeting. Motion carried 4-0; Sharma abstained.
4. Unfinished and New Business
a. Election of Chair—Sloan called for nominations to be Commission Chair for 2019.
Nomination of David Sloan to be 2019 Chair by Lorberbaum; seconded by Dunn.
There were no other nominations. Sloan was elected Chair 6-0.
Election of Vice Chair-- Sloan called for nominations to be Commission Vice-Chair
for 2019. Nomination of Sally Lorberbaum to be 2019 Vice-Chair by Dunn;
seconded by Sloan. There were no other nominations. Lorberbaum was
elected Vice-Chair 6-0.
b. Turboprop Request—Jacobson distributed a letter that Neuharth had drafted and
dated February 19th, which asked staff at MSP to devise a plan to deal with
turboprops turning out of the corridor and going over the northern part of Mendota
Heights. Neuharth said that it had been as a result of a complaint at the last public
meeting. It was noted that this issue has gone back as far as 2016, and is a result of
air freight operations.
Jacobson reviewed a 2016 presentation, which said that the FAA encouraged
turboprops to leave the corridor as soon as possible, so as to not delay departing
jets. It was determined that the turboprop topic should be brought up proactively
for the April 24th listening session. MAC staff Brad Juffers and Dana Nelson could be
asked to put this on as a “Turboprop 101” explanation. It was decided to hold off on
sending the letter.
c. ARC Work Plan for 2019—Those present reviewed the proposed 2019 ARC Work
Plan, which had first been discussed at the January meeting.
Recommended Changes to the 2017 Work Plan:
Page 1—No changes
Page 2—First section—Change the format for items listed under “powers and
duties” from A, B, and C; to 1, 2, and 3. Also, after spelling out the full name of the
Commission in #1, change the remaining references to the Commission, to “ARC”.
Change “Objectives and Approach”, to “Goals” here, and throughout the remainder
of the document. Where “Commission” is referenced, change to
“ARC”. Change “issues” to “goals” in paragraph under 2019 Goals.
Page 3—Under the second bullet point in Goal 2, spell out “NOC” as “Noise
Oversight Committee”.
Page 4—Add bullet point under Goal 3: “Conduct Joint Meetings with Neighboring
Communities”.
Page 5—Eliminate dashes in second bullet point. Change third bullet point to
“Televise ARC meetings as agenda content dictates”. Add final bullet point to read
”Add ARC Minutes to City Council Agenda for review”. There was also discussion as
to how to better utilize the City’s social media options to better educate residents.
The Commissioners agreed to create a short story after each ARC meeting, for
inclusion in the Friday News. McNeill said that he would check with NDC4 as to
their ability to televise ARC meetings on a regular basis.
It was also recommended that the April 24th listening session be televised.
Dunn moved to accept the 2019 Work Plan, with the discussed changes. Second by
Lorberbaum. Approved 6-0.
d. Discussion of ARC Meeting Starting Time—The Commissioners discussed a possible
change in the starting time for the regular ARC meetings from 7:00 PM to 6:00 PM.
No one expressed concerns about the change. Motion by Dunn, second by Norling,
to have future ARC meetings start at 6:00 PM. Motion carried 6-0. Jacobson also
said that the ARC might consider going to meeting every other month, similar to the
meeting schedule for the Eagan.
e. ARC Meeting Topics—The Commission discussed possible topics for the upcoming
months. Possible guests, subjects and dates included:
• May--Joint Meeting with Eagan ARC
• June—Joint meeting with the City Council
• August--MAC Representative Richard Ginsburg as guest
• September—invite Dana Nelson to do follow-up on the Norlings’ delayed turn
question, which was first brought up in June, 2018
• November--Invite area legislators
• January—review of 2020 goals
Other possible topics were airport security, and inviting air freight companies to
meet with the ARC.
There was discussion as to whether August was to be an off month. The consensus
was to keep it on the calendar, as well as the other months, except December. If
there was no reason to meet, the meeting could be cancelled the week or two prior.
f. Review of Airport Operational Statistics and Statistical Links
Complaints—Jacobson had attended the NOC meeting which had been held
earlier that afternoon. She said that it was noted that the complaints from Mendota
Heights were the lowest that they had been in four years. That was reflected in the
charts.
Turboprop Operations—Neuharth said that the charts showed nothing
significant, except that some control charts were shown to exceed control limits. He
will work with Byrnes to see if explanations for the “exceed” locations can be noted
on the charts, as they had been in previous charts. He will also work with Byrnes to
place the labels of the controls limits on the left side of the charts.
g. MAC Update—Sharma said that the Final Four Basketball tournament to be held the
first weekend of April is expected to generate some additional traffic, but the impact
would be nothing like what had happened with the 2018 Super Bowl. He also said
that total operations were bottomed out in 2017, but edged upwards in 2018. He
also reviewed new and overall destinations.
h. Air Sensors—There was no report on noise monitors.
5. Other Business
a. March 20 NOC Meeting—Chair Sloan reported that the NOC meeting held earlier
that day was a relatively light agenda. They showed the 2018 noise contours, which
were slightly smaller in some areas, and slightly larger in areas in south Minneapolis.
6. Public Comments
No members of the public were present.
7. Commissioner Comments
None.
8. Adjourn
Motion Sloan/Second Dunn to adjourn at 8:29 PM
Minutes Taken By:
Mark McNeill
City Administrator