ARC 01-18-23 Meeting MinutesCITY OF MENDOTA HEIGHTS AIRPORT RELATIONS COMMISSION
January 18, 2023 6:00 p.m.
City Hall 1101 Victoria Curve
The regular meeting of the Mendota Heights Airport Relations Commission was held on Wednesday, January 18, 2023 at Mendota Heights City Hall, 1101 Victoria Curve. 1. Call to Order Chair Norling called the meeting to order at 6:02pm. The following commissioners were present: Chair Gina Norling, William Dunn, David Sloan, Jim Neuharth, Kevin Byrnes and Jeff Hamiel. Absent (excused): Arvind Sharma. Staff present: City Administrator Cheryl Jacobson and Parks and Recreation Manager Meredith Lawrence. 2. Approval of Agenda Motion by Dunn/Second by Neuharth to approve the agenda. Motion passed 6-0. 3. Approval of Minutes
a. Approve of Minutes of the November 16, 2022 Regular Meeting
Commissioner Sloan asked for clarification on the discussion of the term limits and new
attendance policy that the City Council will implement in 2023. City Administrator
Jacobson responded that staff will be bringing back amendments to the Airport
Relations Commission Rules of Order which will implement the term limits, attendance
policy and some other commission housekeeping items at the March meeting. She
explained the commissioners will have the ability to have up to three, four-year terms,
which results in a maximum of twelve years on the commission. Current commissioners
are “grandfathered in” meaning their first four-year term will begin in 2023. She also
noted that staff will be looking to stagger the expiration of the terms moving forward.
Motion by Dunn/Second by Sloan to approve the minutes. Motion passed 6-0. 4. Public Comments None. 5. Unfinished and New Business a. ARC Work Plan Review City Administrator reviewed the 2021-2022 Airport Relations Commission Strategic Priorities and Work Plan. The Commissioners discussed updating the document and Commissioner Neuharth recommended working on the 2023-2024 work plan at the March meeting. Ms. Jacobson added that the Natural Resource Commission and Parks and Recreation Commission have been developing their respective commission’s plans and she could provide those as a reference.
City Administrator Jacobson asked if a Commissioner wanted to provide an update to the City Council. Chair Norling volunteered to present to the City Council at an upcoming meeting on the work the ARC has done. City Administrator Jacobson noted that her and Chair Norling attended the Noise Oversight Committee meeting on January 18, 2023. Ms. Jacobson noted that a representative from the FAA discussed that MSP will be working to decommission
the VOR program with Area Navigation (RNAV) and Performance Based Navigation
(PBN) replacing the legacy ground-based system. Commissioner Hamiel provided his
thoughts on the RNAV system and Commissioner Sloan noted he thinks the RNAV
system will greatly benefit the residents of Mendota Heights.
b. ARC Rules of Order
City Administrator Jacobson noted that included in the packet are the Commission’s
Rules of Order that were last approved in 2010. She noted she will be changing the
Rules of Order to Bylaws at the March meeting and there will be updated information
regarding terms, term limits, absenteeism, and dates/times of meetings.
Chair Norling voiced her concerns regarding the public comment and public hearing language in the current Rules of Order. She asked staff to clarify this in the new Bylaws. City Administrator Jacobson announced that the City Council approved the appointment of Bruce Bobbitt to the Commission. His first meeting will be in March. c. Resident Question Regarding Airplane Fuel Dumping Chair Norling presented a resident inquiry she received from Councilor Lorberbaum regarding the dumping of airplane fuel. She noted Michelle Ross’ response was well written and helpful. Her only concern was that the response cites a MPCA ambient air quality monitoring report from 2002, which is not recent.
Commissioner Hamiel discussed his experience flying and the rare practice of
dumping airplane fuel. He noted that airlines know if they had to dump fuel and that
data could be requested.
Chair Norling asked how the commissioners would like to move forward with this
resident inquiry. Commissioner Neuharth recommended reaching out to the resident
with the information provided in the packet. City Administrator Jacobson noted that
Councilor Lorberbaum did not have a name or contact information of the resident
with concerns. Commissioner Dunn recommended forwarding the information in the
packet to Councilor Lorberbaum in case she runs into the resident in her
neighborhood again. The commissioners in attendance agreed with this idea. City
Administrator Jacobson stated that Councilor Lorberbaum had already received the response information.
6. Acknowledge Receipt of Reports and Correspondence a. Review of Airport Operational Statistics (link: https://www.macenvironment.org/reports/)
i. Complaint Information Commissioners present reviewed the compliant information.
ii. Runway Use Information Commissioner Neuharth noted some concerns on the 12L and 12 R total
operations charts. He recommended pulling out some segments of the data
that are poisoned due to COVID-19 impacts on the airline’s runway use. He
noted once he pulls out this data from the population the data will be more
normal.
iii. Turboprop Information
Commissioner Neuharth shared that there was no turboprop report to share.
iv. Noise Monitor Information
Commissioner Dunn noted that flights and noise are down.
b. News Articles
Chair Norling volunteered to take over the commission duties related to News
Articles moving forward.
7. Commissioner Comments Chair Norling thanked Commissioner Byrnes for his years of service to the Airport Relations Commission. 8. Adjourn Meeting Motion by Neuharth/Second by Sloan to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed 6-0. Chair Norling adjourned the meeting at 6:57pm.
Minutes taken by Meredith Lawrence Parks and Recreation Manager