RENO STEAD AIRPORT ASSOCIATION Meeting Minutes
January 9, 2018
The Reno Stead Airport Association (RSAA) monthly meeting was called to order by President Tom Hall at 5:18 pm at the Reno Stead Terminal Conference Room, Tuesday, January 9, 2017 as follows:
Welcome and Attendance: Tom Hall, President, welcomed all at the meeting. Association Officers, Dave Miller, Treasurer, and Terry Matter, RARA Representative, were in attendance. Jack Buchold, Secretary, was not in attendance. Board member Tracy Rhodes, IT Manager, was in attendance, as was Lin Manning. Board Members not in attendance were: Lew Gage, Alby Redick, Aviation Classics, Dan Ross, and Ken Weigand, Vice President. Guest Member Mike Scott, RTS Manager was also in attendance.
Members/Guests In Attendance: Jan Bishop, Bob McLaughlin, Bob Meurer of RTAG, Paul Richied, and Jerry Thurman attended the meeting. Special Guest(s): Fred Telling, RARA Chairman, Ken Moen, RTAA GA Property Specialist, Laura Robb, RTAA Property Specialist, and Aurora Ritter also of RTAA.
2. Welcome RTAA Trustees: our new RTAAS representative is Shaun Carey, who was in attendance.
3. Minutes of Last Meeting: The Approval of the Minutes of the November 2017 meeting was unanimous. There was no regularly scheduled meeting in December.
4. Financial Report: Dave Miller reported there was $2,495.10 in our account. There was not much activity during the previous month.
We were reminded that The new membership year begins January 1, 2018 and ends December 31, 2018, dues are $20 per year. Dues can be paid: check or cash by mail at:
Reno Stead Airport Association
5499 Alpha Avenue
Reno, NV 89506
or PayPal from the Website (www.steadusers.org), or cash/check to Dave Miller at the Miller Speed Sports hangar.
5. Membership Report: Dave Miller reported that there were 123 names on the membership roster, however, paid renewals were far less, at 63.
6. Program: There was no program.
7. RTS Manager’s Report: Mike Scott, RTS Airport Manager talked about how successful the December 16 Santa Claus Fly-In event was, and thanked both the Commemorative Air Force, and the North Valleys Library for all of their work in making it so. The North Valley Library brought a digital photo booth, and gave out books to kids in attendance.
Mike talked about the ongoing weed abatement program, and the ever present winter maintenance activities. Projects currently include the heavy aircraft parking hardstands, which was contracted to Q&D Construction for the seven reinforced pads, of which two or three will support C-17 weights, and the rest to support C130’s. Concrete work will be done at night, with lighting south of Taxiway A, facing south so as to minimally impact aircraft operations. On the Runway 8/26 rework, bids are due on Tuesday, January 18, and placed before the Board in February for a decision on the almost $21 million project. The previously anticipated start of construction was to be March 1, with major activity completed by September 4, and final electrical and signage after the races. Construction is expected to proceed during daylight hours, there is no change in the size of the runway, and the maximum load bearing capacity will be unchanged as well, except for the reinforced parking pads for BLM aircraft. The whole project should be completed by the end of October, and open for the Air Races in September. However, we will know more about the schedule when the contract is awarded. He said current information will be available through Stead Airport Bulletins.
He also reported that in the next month or so, work will begin to refurbish the restrooms located at the wash rack, the airport had been awarded sufficient funds to repaint the control tower, and during the month or February there will be a tenant/airport management get-together to discuss various projects and the timelines expected. His closing remarks noted that March 4-10 will be NASA drone testing, primarily NW of the departure end of 32. More tenant bulleting and NOTAMS will follow.
He reminded us about the “Buy a Brick and Help Celebrate Our 75th Anniversary” project, a commemorative effort to be held until April, then the bricks will be installed in May by the flag pole.
Mike reminded all in attendance that if you would like to contact him, his twitter feed is @RTSAV8TR
8. RARA Trustee Liaison Report: Terry Matter introduced the new RARA Chairman Fred Telling, who is well familiar with our activities, having served as the very active T-6 class President for a number of years. He is rated in a number of different aircraft types, and said that he was looking forward to the challenge of his newest and latest activities.
Terry said that the flying portion of PRS will be held Saturday and Sunday June 9 and 10, with classroom activities on the Thursday and Friday before. He said that it had been shortened from three days due to runway construction.
9. RTAA Report: Ken Moen said that there were 24 hangars which changed hands in the last year and he expects to wrap up hangar leases and GAMS paperwork by the end of the month. He is retiring effective February 16, and Laura Robb, RTAA Property Specialist will be taking over his work.
GAMS are now available on the RSAA website under the Airport menu item in the top menu bar. At Ken’s request, RSAA President Tom Hall prepared a generic hangar lease available for all RTAA tenants who have sub-tenants renting their hangars at Stead. Please access RSAA website at https://steadusers.org to download a copy. Please feel free to download and edit and customize for your particular situation.
Laura Robb, RTAA Property Specialist introduced Aurora Ritter, who will be assisting in taking over Ken Moen’s work.
10. RTAA Trustee Liaison Report: Shaun Carey reported that the last Board Meeting was preliminary to the RNO Master Plan, with a lot more information to follow. He discussed three other items, the first being the restriction on large aircraft not able to use RNO due to inadequate runway length, and the terrain of surrounding mountains, with summer high temperatures compounding the issue. Second item was the project to increase airport parking capacity, and third was the NDOT long range plan to address spaghetti bowl problems and include adding additional lanes down to Plumb, with two exits to the airport.
11. Webmaster Report: Tracy Rhodes said that the reduction in website traffic is probably due to the weather and the holidays. The most visited page is the one that reflects the “for sale/rent” information. The previous month’s statistics; are noted below, and our address is still https://steadusers.org. The fall newsletter is on our site under “newsletters”, and the hangar sub-lease example is under the airport menu below GAMS.
Work Accomplished Statistics over the last month were: one article was published, 1,170 spam attempts to access the site were deleted, a slight decrease from the 1200 noted last month and the website software was updated nine times. He also answered two questions submitted through the contact from. There were 353 visits by 297 different users, (users down about 100 since last month) 139 (39%) of those visits were by mobile devices. Tracy said there were 1,610 total page views with the most visited pages: For Sale 750, Home Page 242, Join/Renew 20 visits. Tracy is now in the Web Hosting business, if you need web site assistance or a new web site developed, please give Tracy a call.
12. RTAG Report: Bob Meurer noted that the “Operation Santa Claus” activity on December 9, helped 22 families, who each received a Christmas Tree and presents. The Airplane parade had 22 aircraft, with the last being the arrival of the C-130 with Santa Claus and his wife. He thanked all the RTAG, Atlantic Aviation, RTAA and other participants who had made the activity a success. Bob asked that RSAA and RTAG coordinate all event information with each other, which was agreed to by President Hall.
13. Next General Meeting: President Hall thanked all for their attendance and noted that we are starting a bi-monthly meeting schedule, the next one will be March 13 at 5:15 PM, RTAG members are invited as well.
14. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 PM
Jack Buchold, Secretary
With very capable Tracy support
RENO STEAD AIRPORT ASSOCIATION (RSAA) MISSION STATEMENT:
To represent the interests of all Tenants on the Reno-Stead Airport including Aircraft Owners, Fixed Base Operators, Aircraft Repair Facilities, United States Government Agencies and all parties of interest;
To ensure that all Tenants have the opportunity to speak with a united voice to the Reno Tahoe Airport Authority (owner of the airfield facility), the Federal Aviation Administration and the Local Governments relative to safe and affordable flying in Northern Nevada;
To enrich and promote the reputation of General Aviation within our community; and To promote a “Good Neighbor” policy with the Nevada National Guard, support facility improvements that enhance the Tenant experience and encourage affordable services, fuel prices and hangar rentals from all service providers operating at the Reno Stead Facility.
Director’s Meeting of December 12, 2017 Notes:
The meeting was attended by: Ken Weigand, Vice President, Dave Miller, Treasurer, and Tracy Rhodes, Webmaster, as well as Lew Gage, Lin Manning, Terry Matter, Bob McLaughlin, Alby Redick, and Dan Ross. Ken submitted his resignation due to hearing loss issues as well as the long travel requirements coming over from Burney. Other issues discussed were primarily the Annual BBQ, Goals of the RSAA, Members Paid and Unpaid, and WiFi.
A general discussion ensued about the cost and attendance at the Annual BBQ, and it was generally decided to change it to a pancake breakfast to be held on May 19, 2018. Goals of the RSAA group were discussed, and it was noted that we did not appear to have a good representation of all the hangar owners and renters on the Stead Airport property, and therefore might have difficulty being the true “voice” of the Stead tenants. Also, discussion was held concerning the various educational roles that the RSAA might support, including scholarships. Membership is a continuing issue, and although we were previously aware of 123 individuals on our list, only 63 of those were really paid for last year. It was felt that a “get out the vote” type of calling effort needed to be made for the unpaid individuals, the methodology to be discussed further at a later date. One thought was that a merger with RTAG might be valuable, but their RNO and our RTS orientations might not serve each of our best interests. However, a common ground might be established through off-setting bi-monthly scheduled meetings and the addition of an RTAG director to the RSAA Board, with an RSAA Director added to the RTAG Board. To be discussed further at a later date. Spotty and low power WiFi propagation was discussed, ramp coverage is almost non-existent and our sharing the cost with Aviation Classics has not really helped. Alby Redick said that he would discuss it with the carrier, and see if a solution was available, before discontinuance.
The Vice President’s position will remain unfilled for the time being, however, Bob McLaughlin was elected as a Director, to fill the vacancy created by the death of Don Osborne. Bob said that he would get Ben Scott as a program, to discuss the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Speedmail.