HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995-02-22 Airport Committee MinutesAIRPORT COMMITTEE MEETING
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1995 - 4 PM
CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
Present: James Tyler, Chair
Don Soucy, Councilor
Chris Popper, Councilor
Edward Barrett, City Manager
Bob Ziegelaar, Airport Director
Eric Stumpfel, City Attorney
Bruce Schibles, Assist. City Attorney
Absent:
William Cohen, Councilor
The meeting was opened at 4:02 IN. The agenda was handled in the
following sequence:
1. Grasshopper Shop Lease.
The Airport Director asked the Committee to approve an assignment
of the lease with America -To -Go to the Grasshopper Shop, Owned by
Montage, Inc. America -To -Go had advised the Airport, pursuant to
terms in their lease, that it would want to shut down its retail
shop at BGR, as part of a larger national cutback in retail
operations by DFI (Duty Free International, holding company).
Subsequent to that decision, America -To -Go reached an agreement
with Montage, Inc. concerning an assumption of the lease and a
buy-out of certain leasehold improvements. Mr. Ziegelaar ex-
plained that he favored the assignment because the terms of the
lease would remain unchanged and because it would allow for a
fast resorption of sales (and airport revenues) in time for the
comingspring/season. Upon a brief discussion, the
Committee unanimously voted for approval of the assignment.
2. Washington Representation.
The Airport Director explained that he had been asked to raise
the issue of the airport's Washington (legal) representation,
as a result of the larger discussion regarding outside legal
counsel for the City of Bangor. He informed the Committee that
although the airport is represented in Washington by a law firm,
the work is more akin to that of a lobbying representative. The
work performed typically involves the representation of MR's
views regarding a variety of i ranging from interpretations
of existing rules and regulations, t
ointernational traffic
rights issues, the functioning of federal agencies and the air -
part's
-port's eligibility for federal funding programs. Mr. Ziegelaar
referred to several examples of situations where the representa-
tive, Ms. Joanne Young, had successfully argued in favor of
Bangor's position, as a result of which the airport had gained
significant revenues and/or grant monies. He further stated
that while he would not oppose a directive to seek competitive
bids for this type of representational work, he did believe that
Me. Young provides excellent services that would be difficult to
duplicate and that a competitive bid situation would not likely
yield significant cost savings. He explained that, as result of
many years of working with various firms in Washington who repre-
sent other aviation interests, he believed the current firm to
be the most effective for BGR's particular role.
The City Attorney and the Assistant City Attorney pointed out
next that they were troubled by the lack of detail provided on
the invoices received and they suggested that, as presented, the
invoices would not be acceptable incourt setting. The Airport
Director responded by pointing act chat, while he agreed in part,
the work performed was not strictly legal work and that the
individual tasks are itemized but not by "time spent", he re-
f erred to an outline of the past two years of billings to show
that he has been instructing the law firm to reduce its activi-
ties and to not undertake any assignment without specific approv-
al. As a result, reduced expenditures are being budgeted, show-
ing a decrease of 304 when compared against payments of two years ago.
Upon further discussion, the Committee members directed the
Airport Director to establish a "Letter of Engagement" with the
law firm, which should stipulate the manner in which the firm
is to be engaged in which should outline a more defined billing
practice. Mr. Ziegelaar stated he agreed with that approach and
indicated he would discuss the same with Ms. Young in the near future.
3. Hermon Bog
Next Mr. Ziegelaar briefed the Committee about a request he had
received from a private party, Mr. Peter Smiles, regarding possi-
blepeat mining on airport land, in the area known as the "Hermon
Bog". Mr. Bellew appears to have been a major player in the
sludge treatment industry, having developed facilities in various
cities in the U.B. prior to selling his interest to a major U.B.
corporation. Although now semi -retired, he is interested in
setting up a peat processing facility, possibly in conjunction
with Bangor's contemplated sludge treatment facility, for the
purpose of producing landscaping and nursery garden sail treat-
ment materials. The Airport Director stated that he had reacted
Positively to the request, indicating a willingness to support
Mr. sellewPs further investigation of the project, subject to
City, DEP and other governmental approvals. He then requested
input from the Airport Committee.
Upon discussion, the Committee, along with input from the city
Manager and the City Attorney, instructed the Airport Director to
further pursue the project and to seek financial compensation on
the basis of a lease agreement, whereby Mr. Bellew or his organi-
sation would agree to pay the airport a lease fee based an gener-
ated revenues. The lease would furthermore obligate the lessee
to paying applicable real estate taxes to the town of Hermon.
The effort of obtaining all of the proper licenses would
fall to the lessee as well.
4. Other Business.
The Airport Director briefed the Committee of an offer he re-
ceived from Laurel -Ming Entertainment, to accept the donation of
a movie set used in last summer's production of "The Langoliers•.
He stated that he believed that accepting the set, which consists
of an actual aircraft fuselage/cabin, might allow the airport to
generate additional revenues in the future and that, even if
that should not materialize, the salvage value would outweigh
the cost of removal. He further states that he had received
a tentative offer of $40,000 for a part of the set, for a movie
to be shot elsewhere. The Committee voted unanimously to endorse
the donation and refer the same to the city Council for final
action.
As a final matter, Mr. Ziegelaar explained to the Committee that
he had been approached by a consulting firm purporting to repre-
sent 10 Fortune 500 Corporations as well as certain other enti-
ties who desire to seek a change of U.S. policy on Cuba.
Mr. Ziegelaar stated that he was interested in pursuing this
matter further to determine the legitimacy as well as the politi-
cal acceptability of the effort, inasmuch as the airport could
conceivably benefit substantially. He stated that there appears
to again be a Substantial volume of traffic that is by-passing
Bangor because of the current ban on servicing Cuba -bound air-
craft. He stated further that the ban appears to be outdated
inasmuch as European and Canadian interest are making significant
investments in Cuba, with an eye to post -Castro developments,
creating a potentially huge disadvantage for American business.
He suggested it might make sense for the airport to he aligned
with a number of progressive U.S. business firms, providing the
overall effort is properly organized from both business and
political perspectives. The Committee unanimously endorsed the
concept and asked to be kept informed of further developments.
The cammitte voted to adjourn at 4:50 PM