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ARC 9-8-2021 Meeting MinutesCITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS DAKOTA COUNTY, MINNESOTA AIRPORT RELATIONS COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 8, 2021 The regular meeting of the Mendota Heights Airport Relations Commission was held on Wednesday, September 8, 2021, at Mendota Heights City Hall, 1101 Victoria Curve. 1. Call to Order Chair Norling called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm. The following commissioners were present: Gina Norling, David Sloan, Jim Neuharth, Kevin Byrnes, Arvind Sharma, and Jeff Hamiel. Absent (Excused): William Dunn Staff present: Assistant City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson and Communications Coordinator Sharon Deziel 2. Approval of Agenda Motion by Hamiel/Second by Sharma to approve the agenda. Motion carried 6-0 3. Approval of Minutes a. Approval of Minutes of the May 19, 2021 Regular Meeting No comments or changes were presented. Motion by Neuharth/Second by Sharma to approve the minutes of the May 19, 2021 meeting. Motion carried 6-0. b. Approval of Minutes of the June 3, 2021 Work Session Motion by Neuharth/Second by Sloan to approve the minutes of the June 3, 2021 work session. Commissioner Sloan presented a clarifying change to paragraph 5 of section 2. Strategic Planning Session. Sloan requested that beginning with the sentence “he said”, that the record read, “He said they had organized their own neighborhood ARC. In later years, the city organized what is now the ARC”. Sloan also recommended that beginning with the sentence “in his current Lemay neighborhood”, that the record read, “In his current Augusta Shores neighborhood, the construction and insulation is better”. Motion by Hamiel/Second by Sloan to approve the minutes of the June 3, 2021 work session as amended. Motion carried 6-0. c. Approval of Minutes of the July 13, 2021 Work Session Motion by Sharma/Second by Hamiel to approve the minutes of the July 13, 2021 work session. Airport Relations Commission Page 2 Meeting Minutes 09-08-2021 Commissioner Neuharth noted that his attendance should be listed as an excused absence. Motion by Sloan/Second by Neuharth to approve the minutes of the July 13, 2021 work session as amended. Motion carried 6-0. d. Approval of Minutes of the July 13, 2021 Joint Meeting with the City of Eagan ARC Motion by Hamiel/Second by Sloan to approve the minutes of the July 13, 2021 joint meeting with the City of Eagan ARC. Commissioner Neuharth noted that his attendance should be listed as an excused absence. Motion by Neuharth/Second by Sharma to approve the minutes of the July 13, 2021 joint meeting with the City of Eagan ARC as amended. Motion carried 6-0. 4. Public Comments No public comments were received. 5. Unfinished and New Business a. ARC Strategic Priorities Chair Norling provided a status update of the strategic priorities and noted the version provided in the packet was edited based on feedback and discussion from the July 13 work session. Norling opened the topic up to Commissioners for comments, corrections and further discussion. Commissioner Sloan provided a correction under strategy one, and the action item creating and implementing an ARC Education Program. He noted that the item was to be assigned to Commissioner Hamiel and Commissioner Dunn, and not himself. Commissioner Neuharth asked about the intent and timing of the listed assignments. He understood that the assignments were too be made as the document became a working document. He requested additional time to review the document to gauge his availability in participating in assignments. Commissioners agreed to use the priorities chart as a working document and to plan future meetings and what they would like to accomplish based on the priorities identified. b. ARC Communications Plan Chair Norling opened the conversation noting that a priority for the group was the development of a communications plan, using existing city channels. The City’s Communications Coordinator Sharon Deziel was introduced. Airport Relations Commission Page 3 Meeting Minutes 09-08-2021 Assistant City Administrator Jacobson reviewed the city’s communications tools and highlighted the city’s website, Friday News, Heights Highlights and social media. Jacobson noted that the City’s website includes pages for the Airport Relations Commission and MSP Airport. She explained that the city’s website is limited in layout capability and page design is based on a predetermined template. She discussed the inclusion of funding to redesign the city’s website in the preliminary FY22 budget. Chair Norling clarified that the funding requested in the preliminary FY22 budget was to redesign the whole website. Jacobson affirmed that was correct. The Commission discussed ARC communications. Jacobson asked about the objective of the Commission’s efforts and for them to think about whether the Commission functions as content sharers or content creators. She noted that currently the Commission and City functions mostly as content sharers in regards to airport information. Commissioner Hamiel provided a review of the ARC’s attendance at the recently held city coffee connection. He reported that overall it was a small turnout, with 2-4 people stopping by the ARC’s information table. Brad Juffer from MAC attended and provided an airport map which was a helpful visual. Commissioners highlighted the recent Runway 17 closure information provide the MAC and expressed surprise at the lateness of the notice. Commissioners all agreed that it would have been nice to have more notice from MAC of the closure. Commissioner Hamiel noted that Rick King is a strong advocate of community notification. The group discussed the availability of POLCO, the city’s online survey tool. Assistant Administrator Jacobson noted that POLCO is an opt-in survey tool used by the city. She highlighted the ability of the POLCO system to distinguish resident from non-resident respondents. Commissioner Hamiel suggested survey topics may include questions focusing generally what people think about the ARC; do residents come here or leap over directly to the Airport. It was stated that it appears there isn’t a lot of public interest about what the ARC does. A carefully crafted survey may help the City and Commission understand the needs of the community and provide direction and focus. Commissioner Byrnes stated that being aware of the tools doesn’t mean that the group has to use them. Communications Coordinator Deziel suggested that a photo of the Commission would be beneficial in humanizing the group and would contribute positively to engagement and approachability. The Commission discussed arranging for a group photo to be taken at the November meeting. Airport Relations Commission Page 4 Meeting Minutes 09-08-2021 Commissioners pointed out that MAC listening sessions have had some turnout in the past. Commissioner Neuharth noted that one outcome of a previous listening session was the issue of turbo props. The Commission asked about publication dates of the Heights Highlights. Communications Coordinator Deziel noted that the current issue to be published at the end of September will cover the months of October, November and December. She stated that the next available publication will be after the first of the year. Assistant Administrator Jacobson suggested as a beginning point, inviting the MAC Community Engagement office to a future meeting to explain the changes in the office and availability of information that the ARC can use. Commissioners suggested that discussing complaint data collected by MAC would be useful. Chair Norling summarized the next steps in supporting a communications framework. The Commission agreed to begin with an informational article on the ARC for the January Heights Highlights. Commissioner Neuharth volunteered to help write the article. The potential for a follow-up survey was mentioned as a possibility. Chair Norling and the Commission agreed to table the redesign of the ARC and airport information on the city’s website given the overall website redesign project anticipated for 2022. 6. Acknowledge Receipt of Reports and Correspondence a. Review of Airport Operational Statistics i. Complaint Information ii. Runway Use Information Commissioner Neuharth noted that changes are still likely related to COVID-19. He suggested consider recalculating data when operations get back closer to normal such as 80-90%. The Commission will look again around January 1, 2022. iii. Turboprop Information iv. Noise Monitor Information b. News Articles 7. Adjournment Motion by Neuharth/Second by Hamiel. Motion carried 6-0. The meeting adjourned at 7:14 pm.