Meetings watch: Civil Aviation Board

The Clovis Civil Aviation Board met Tuesday at the Clovis Municipal Airport.

• Interim Airport Director Cody Mills said work was 95 percent complete on new water line installation for the airport, along with the replacement of a hydrant and water meters. He said the work was expected to be done by now, but has been hampered by recent rain.

• Paul Nelson of the city’s information technology department updated the board on new security cards for people working at the airport.

The city is working to phase out old cards, and Nelson said all prior cards would be shut down on Nov. 20, or as soon as they were turned in for new cards.

When asked about transponders to open the airport gate from vehicles, Nelson said infrastructure for the main gate should read cards within 30 feet. He wanted to make sure the equipment worked before buying additional equipment for other gates within the airport.

Board member Donald Sharer asked if there would be a reminder sent out to people with old cards to update before the deadline. Nelson said updating was a good idea, but the effectiveness lied in whether people had current contact information on file.

• The board took a first look at updates to minimum standards for fixed base and commercial operators and rules/regulations.

Tony Davis of KSA Engineers briefly walked the members through the process, noting that many of the rules were in line with Transportation Security Administration and Federal Aviation Administration guidelines.

“A lot of these regulations are very common sense,” Davis said. “We’re not trying to create a police state.”

Chairman Tom Phelps told members they could have brainstorming sessions when everybody had a free block of time. He asked that a copy be made available to anybody who does business with the airport.

“It’s got to be a document that works for everybody,” Phelps said.

Though Phelps indicated a desire to finish as soon as possible with updates, Mills said there was no particular deadline and the airport can continue to run on current policy. City Commissioner Chris Bryant said it was of the essence to do it right, even if it takes a few extra weeks.

• The board meeting included May numbers from Boutique Air, which has provided Clovis with roundtrip flights to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport since July 15 of last year.

In May, Boutique flew 158 of its 160 scheduled flights with 882 revenue passengers. Since July 15, Boutique has flown 7,794 revenue passengers, and canceled 30 of its 1,652 scheduled flights.

• Mills updated members on an item to be considered Thursday by the Clovis city commission to purchase a new runway sweeper. Mills said the current sweeper was in disrepair, and its age of more than 20 years makes it difficult to find replacement parts.

Mills wants to acquire a sweeper similar to those used by the Public Works Department to make maintenance easier. The $190,000 sweeper would be paid mostly through the federal government ($150,000), with $20,000 matches from the city and the state.

• Mike O’Hare approached the board to see how he could get hangar space at the airport, even if he had to help build the structure.

Mills said he would put O’Hare on the agenda for the next meeting, but told O’Hare to call him any time Wednesday to start the process.

— Compiled by Deputy Editor Kevin Wilson