Kenai: 06/11/26 Airport Commission Meeting

Any revisions to the agenda?

Seeing none, if there's no objection to approving the agenda as presented, hearing none, agenda is approved. I see we have scheduled public comment. We have HDL.

This is on. I'm just here to give a quick update on construction. As you all know, we have two projects going on. The runway project that's been going on now for the last couple of months, and everything is currently on schedule, and they're getting ready to finish milling the main runway here in the next day or so. And we have been working on preparation for the next phase, which is doing the foamed asphalt stabilized base course, and then we'll be moving into paving here towards the end of July.

Um, the electrical work has been going as scheduled. Um, they have already demolished and have started reinstalling the runway lighting system and some of the FAA navigational aids. Um, and they will be working on the taxiway lighting as soon as that pavement gets removed out of the taxiways here in the next week or so. Um, so that is all as scheduled as well. Um, the remainder of the work, including the culvert replacement in the liner of the storm drain system will be commencing towards the end of June.

And really the big takeaway is everything's on schedule, um, pending the weather continues to cooperate for us. So that's been great. And then the Apron project has also been going on for the last couple of weeks. They're anticipating finishing up here sometime next week. They were able to complete their crack seal work here at the beginning of this week.

And if you've— any of you have been on the airport in the last couple of days, you've probably noticed the apron looks really black now. So they've been started on the north end of the apron doing their rapid seal coat, which seals asphalt, and they're working towards the terminal building. So it's going to be more noticeable to the regular users here soon. And then immediately following that, they put the paint markings back down. So there will be some more work on that for the next week or so, and then they'll be done and out of our hair.

Again, that is definitely pending, uh, good weather for the next couple of days, which we'll see how that goes. But overall, that project as well has been going pretty well as far as I know. Okay, any questions? Okay, thank you so much. No problem.

Thank you, guys.

Okay, any members of the public that wish to speak? Okay, and I take it we don't have anybody on Zoom? Okay, may I have a motion to approve the May 14th, 2026 minutes? Move. Second.

Do we have any revisions?

Are there any objections to approving the minutes?

Hearing none, minutes approved. Unfinished business, we have none.

Okay, moving on to new business. May I have a motion to recommend council approve the special use permit to Empire Airlines?

Move. Second. Okay, may we have a staff report? This is, um, the renewal of a special use, uh, this is the annual renewal of a special use permit to Empire Airlines who flies for FedEx. For the parking of their aircraft on the apron.

They've submitted their special use— special use permit application, they paid the fee, and we have a current certificate of insurance on file.

Any comments, questions? Okay, uh, if there's nothing, then I'm going to ask for unanimous Unanimous consent unless there's an objection. Okay, thank you. May I have a motion to recommend council approves special use permit to the State of Alaska DNR, uh, the Department of Forestry? Move.

Second. Thank you. Can we have a staff report? Again, this is another annual renewal for the State of Alaska Division of Forestry. They are requesting 30,000 square feet for aircraft loading and parking related to firefighting activities at the north end of the apron.

Gliinu fires. They've also completed the application, paid their $100 application fee, and they are self-insured, and we have that certificate, and they will be from May 1st to August 31st. Okay, any comments, questions? Seeing none, I'm going to ask for unanimous consent unless there's an objection.

Okay, moving on. May I have a motion to recommend council approves the second amendment to the agreement for automatic teller machine service. Move. Second. Okay, staff report.

Yes, this is for the ATM machine in the terminal to, uh, Tyler Distributing. It was put out to bid, um, for a period of 1 year with the option to extend for 4 additional 1-year terms. This is, I believe, the first renewal on the contract, and we have all the paperwork and insurance, and he wants to renew under the same terms and concessions.

Any comments? Okay, seeing none, I'm going to ask for unanimous consent if there's no objection.

Mary, can we please have our Airport Manager Report.

Okay, um, Jackie gave you an update on both the projects. We did get the new plow truck with the sander on Monday, so that means we've completed our grant for the acquiring of new snow removal equipment, so we'll be closing that out. The airport master plan, of course, is still going on. The 4 preliminary alternatives are being developed and evaluated, and a recommendation report will probably be sent later this fall. In-house, you probably know that Ellucian gave a 30-day notice to cancel their lease, which was effective June 8th.

The flowplain basin was opened in late May, and yes, the fuel pumps are working as of yesterday. So there's fuel there now. That was quite an intense thing there for a few days. Apparently Chase Paymentech sent emails out last spring to myself and to Derek stating that they were disconnecting the phone system there to process credit cards. Of course, my email was inactive, his was inactive, so nobody got notification.

So when the ops guys went over to turn the pumps on, they wouldn't come on. They thought it was mechanical, and I said, well, let's hold off a minute. They come on if you put a credit card in there, and we're not getting any feedback from that. So Dan Castamore has really worked hard with us the past few days, working with Chase Payment Tech, and we finally got it up and running, and we're processing credit cards again. You would not believe what we've been through the past 2 weeks just to get Chase Payment Tech with OPW, is a fuel management system with the Phoenix software.

Every person we called was— it was a different story. We finally narrowed it down and got it up and running yesterday. May 19th, the individuals from the United States Marine Corps were here. I think I mentioned it before, they want to have an Arctic Edge exercise in the spring with several communities around the peninsula. Debbie's Bistro's last day of business in the terminal was Saturday the 26th.

The airport has an RFP out on the street. We did have a pre-bid yesterday and nobody showed, so I'm not sure what that means. So we'll see what happens. Bids are due June 25th. There has been people that have downloaded the bid package, but we just haven't had any communication with anybody yet.

And Fox Air started service on June 8th from Kenai and back to Anchorage. And we're busy finalizing and closing out our fiscal year '26 budget items and preparing to get things rolling for the new budget year, which starts July 1st. That's my report. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Have you heard anything about, uh, Crowley on the fuel, about them, uh, starting the process of excavating their tanks and, and whatnot and putting up the—. Get, you know, all I know is that Tim assured me that it was going to be done this fall. And I haven't heard anything from him probably in about 6 weeks, but he said it's on schedule.

Why are we losing restaurants?

You know, I'm not sure. Of course, I wasn't here when she came in, but there's been successful restaurants in there. I mean, there's been years where $400,000, $500,000 was in gross receipts.

That just didn't happen with that restaurant. Their grocery receipts were like $68,000 over the past year. Yeah. So we've hit the street pretty hard, going buying lunch different places and giving them the RFP and talking to everybody about it, emailing everybody we can think of about it. Because it seemed like it was more the hours that they were keeping.

It was— they were kind of short. They weren't extending into the afternoon or evening or early morning. So I don't know whether it's the lease rates that there are or whether they just didn't make it. Well, the lease rate was negotiated at the time that she came in at $1,000 a month plus a percentage of gross receipts. Which was 12%.

The $1,000 a month is for maintenance for the, you know, the equipment that's in there. If it breaks down, you know, the wear and tear, then we have money to fix that equipment. I don't think people realize one thing about that cafe is the only utility they pay is gas, and that's only because I split that off during the term terminal rehab and put a meter in there so that whoever's in the restaurant would be responsible for the gas. But as far as the heating and the lighting, all the other power, the airport pays for that. They don't have to pay for parking.

They don't have to pay for snow removal. They don't have to pay for trash removal. There's a dumpster right out behind their door and You know, that's— it asks for $1,000. It's asking for $1,000 again, and the percentage of gross receipts greater than 10%. I would think it was more of a menu issue than a price that we charged.

I think it was. And, you know, the city manager and I met with them after the first year 2 or 3 times and talked to them, and, you know tried to give them some pointers and stuff, and they, they were just, um, real comfortable with their menu. And then they started shortening their hours because they couldn't pay for the help. And then of course that didn't meet the terms of the lease, and then they wanted to, you know, shorten them more. And then, you know, the city manager was not comfortable allowing that when it so varied from the original RFP that was put out.

You know, somebody would say, well, hey, if you're going to do that now, why didn't you do it then? So, you know, once we enter a lease, our hands are kind of tied to the terms of that lease. But if you consider, you know, that $1,000 up front with everything that's, you know, they don't have to cover, I think it's a pretty good deal.

So have we approached any of the people with food trucks that maybe want to expand? We haven't, but we have discussed it because if we don't get anybody to bid on this, I would hate to have nothing available for people in July and August at that terminal building. Yeah, no, if we could approach them, I mean, I don't know how, maybe that would give another source of people that might run a restaurant. Yeah, we've reached out to them as far as the RFP goes. I'm thinking of bringing trucks into the parking lot during July and August.

Now, the city already has, you know, there's code and things that goes with that. I think they have to get a mobile food permit and so forth, but we just, we just haven't had time this past week to talk to legal about it and see if somebody would like to come over and, you know, maybe sit at the car rental lot or something. You know, that, that works. So hopefully somebody will bid. Yeah.

I hope they do. Is there, has there been any thought about just having a grab-and-go type thing, like maybe getting with Three Bears or Safeway or some other that has already prepackaged foods and just have a retail outlet there and just sell that? No, not yet, but I'll tell you, the Fishing Grounds has really stepped up. They're open now in the mornings and they have coffee and they have things from Bekaroo and the Grand Guy. And so they have had a lot available for travelers.

I'd hate to compete with them. No, no. Yeah. And Grant's flying every 15 minutes. People don't have to get to the airport an hour ahead of time or half an hour to get a flight.

So they like to walk in the door, check in, and get on the plane.

But I do know, I remember when Odie's came in there and they did the initial, some remodeling in there. They had soup and salads and their breads. They were very successful. The Brothers was very successful. They expressed interest in, you know, coming back.

They want to expand, they said, so We've, like I said, we've been, we've gone to the Burger Bus, we've hit all the food trucks, we've just, we've been everywhere trying to let people know that because it just doesn't need to, I mean, it could be a destination place to eat, you know, people to come and watch the planes or watch the snow removal. I mean, that used to happen all the time, but you know, since COVID things have really changed. They have, and I think you need a different menu to attract that crowd back again. Well, and not to mention the price of fuel. I mean, oh, absolutely, people are putting, you know, gas in their vehicle instead of going out to eat.

Absolutely. Any other questions for Mary? Thank you very much. Commissioner report. I don't have a report, but I guess I should ask my question.

Otherwise, how are we doing on finding an airport manager? Not that we want you to leave. No, I know you want me to leave. No, no, you want to go fishing. No, anyways, um, yeah, the recruitment— the recruiting, um, closed on June 7th, and we're reviewing applications now to see if—.

Did we get quite a few, or—. Uh, 31. That's quite a few. Yeah, I don't know if they're qualified, but yes. But yeah, okay, nothing else.

Thank you. Uh, we're down to our city council person. Thank you. So you stole my question. I was going to ask Mary how the— um, so I, I don't have a whole lot to report on from, um, the last meeting.

Um, the only thing I can think of that touches on airport interest would be that, um, 81-acre parcel that used to be airport land, um, but it's no longer airport land, and we did a split zone on it. It was zoned conservation, and administration felt like there were, um, 11 acres that could be developed on it, so we split it out and we left the bulk of it conservation, and we rezoned the 11 acres suburban residential. But that used to be airport land, but it's no longer, and the FAA turned it over to the city. So that's all I got. Okay, well, thank you.

I don't think we have any public comments. Our next meeting is July 9th. Will everybody be here? Okay, I might be gone. I might also— it's a definite maybe.

Definite maybe. Okay, I may also be gone, just heads up. You'll be—. I might also be gone. Okay, well, we may not have a meeting.

So are we ready for commissioners' comments, questions, concerns?

We are a very quiet group tonight.

Where did you say the land was that was just the commission, the city council? Um, I didn't. It was the, um, under Princess, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, Princess and Magic, uh, where Princess and Magic come together, and the, um OK, so you know when you're driving out of town towards Kenai Central on the left, there's that slough that comes to the road. And Kenai has that nice big wooden sign that says City of the Year.

I forget what it says. But there's that slough. That's all part of it, of the 81 acres.

I like that one. Princess and magic come together.

Like a Disney movie. We want to know who named those streets. Anyone else have questions, comments?

Yeah. Okay, so information item at the end there, plane pass by Vector Airport Systems. They're using ADS-B data to track airplanes, and that's been an issue over the last couple of years, I believe. Not a very popular thing. People— pilots are not fond of being tracked and then billed for things.

So there's a movement to make that unavailable for this sort of thing. That's a big part of what Vector Airport Systems does. So I recognize the city may have some leakage there, but whatever they're doing to plug this leak may go away. So that's just information, really. This may not be the deal that it appears to be.

Go ahead. I don't like this at all. I—. Dovetailing on to what Jim said, ADS-B data. Originated— the whole system originated with Capstone.

It was sold to the pilots saying that it's going to be used for safety, keep people apart, let people be able to operate in poor weather, be able to be radar identified when there's no radar. It was a real— and we were, we were it. Alaska was the proving ground for ADS-B Capstone out in western Alaska. Proved very successful. But it was still sold as being a safety tool.

There's two different systems that you can use. One is anonymous and one tracks you. So that's a difference there. I don't know how they're going to get around that. There's private mode.

You can actually request your ADS-B data not be made public. You can imagine that there's some very famous people that have some really expensive airplanes that are flying around different spots, and they don't want to be tracked. So I don't know how they would get around that, this company. And the other part is, is that there is pending legislation right now in the federal government because there's a number of lawsuits, especially down in Florida, from user groups. Also, one of the main folks that are funding this legal challenge is AOPA, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

And there's two different pieces of legislation in the House is called ALERT, and in the, let's see, in the Senate it was, I forgot what it was called, it was, oh, I forgot what it was. It was some another type of acronym that was part of that. So what happened was the House did pass legislation 41-46, and it's a bill about Pilot Aircraft and Privacy Act of 2025, called the POP Act. Hopefully you're familiar with that. So, and it does say imposition of fees on general aircraft, the public availability prior to imposing a landing or takeoff fee on general aviation aircraft, the owner or operator of a public use airport as defined in whatever the section is shall be made available to the public all efforts such owner-operator has undertaken to reduce non-assign— whatever.

Anyway, just basically it says that you cannot use ADS-B data to levy landing fees. Says right here, data from automatic dependent surveillance broadcast may not be used by any person, government agency, or other entity to identify aircraft for the purpose of obtaining revenue from the owner or operator of such aircraft. Without the consent of such owner or operator. So that has passed the House, and it's going to be going to the Senate to dovetail onto whatever their bill is. So it's going to— I don't know what the upfront costs are going to be for this system, if there are any, but the city may lose out all of that.

And personally, I am against using a safety-related system that was sold to the pilots, i.e., me, who I installed ADS-B in my airplane. It's not cheap to make sure that other aircraft that are using ADS-B see me. I didn't look at it as being a tool to be used to levy, you know, landing fees or whatever. And how would I even, as an aircraft owner, if I get a bill and say, hey, look, you know, I wasn't flying it. Okay, well, yeah, I loaned it to my friend Joe.

Joe, I didn't tell him he could go to Kenai. I'm not paying this. You know, I'm gonna have to go after Joe. And what about the people out there that don't have a radio? They can come in here.

You know, it's all spelled out in the FARs. If you don't have a radio, you can come into Kenai, no problem. Just have to pre-coordinate. So there's so many different things. It looks nice on the paper.

As far as like, oh, you know, these funnel into here, funnel into there, and all of a sudden just big dollar signs pop up in the city coffers. It doesn't. I just don't see it working that way, and I see a lot of problems. But that is just my opinion. I appreciate your opinion.

We've—. We're aware of this. We've done a lot of research on this the past couple months, and you have— I'll read you a response that Vector sent out concerning this. Vector's response to the Pilot and Airport Privacy Act, PAPA, and other ADS-B legislation. To whom it may concern, Vector Airport Systems is aware of recent legislation related to the use of ADS-B data that has been introduced at both the federal and state levels.

These proposals fall into two categories: one, efforts to enhance airspace safety, and 2, efforts to restrict airports from using ADS-B data to assess or collect airport fees. Both Airports Council International and American Association of Airport Executives have been tracking the Federal Pilot and Aircraft Piracy Act. Their position material— their position materials on this legislation are included below. And then they gave me some links, as, you know, you can always go and get updates. It says, Vector strongly supports initiatives that enhance airspace safety and reject any anecdotal claims that ADS-B tracking incentivizes pilots to disregard any existing safety rules and regulations surrounding ADS-B.

Vector also refutes any arguments that utilizing ADS-B for aircraft tracking and fee collection was not an intended and understood benefit of this technology. VICTOR uses ADS-B data as one of our primary sources to track aircraft and determine when a billable activity occurs. ADS-B provides the most cost-effective method for leveling fees, and using any other method or technology to collect airport fees would simply be less efficient and increase the cost of collection, leading to increased fees. Should state or federal governments pass the ADS-B restrictions despite intense pushback by airports and other stakeholders, Vector will simply pivot to using our reliable and proven camera-based technologies as we have successfully for the past 20 years. While this technology is more expensive than ADS-B, that cost can easily be built into extensive experience equipping airports with cameras will ensure— wait, the bad cost could easily be built into the fee structure and passed on to the aircraft classes for which ADS-B technology is restricted.

Vector's extensive experience equipping airports with cameras will ensure your vital revenue streams are not interrupted, no matter the outcome of ADS-B restrictions.

Yeah, I read part of that from the— also from the American Association of Airport Executives. Mm-hmm. Are you part of that by any chance? I figure you probably should be. Yeah, well, I strongly disagree with their premise saying that that was not the original intent of ADS-B because I was a controller at Anchorage Center, a supervisor there at the time when all this testing was going on.

I was, I was part of the initial testing of all this stuff and all the sales that went out and all the money that went into those aircraft that were out there. There was no talk ever of anything about saying, hey, we're going to track you and start billing you for services somewhere else. Never. So it, it may be their opinion. I'm not arguing with you.

I'm just saying that this is just my, my opinion. The other part is, is, okay, so what are we doing for promoting aviation here in Kenai? Are we really being an effective airport and trying to develop the west side and to be able to have that type of activity going on, you know, all sorts of activities. I don't know. And also, I know that in the city charter, there's a landing fee of $25 per helicopter.

Mm-hmm. Who collects that? It's an honor system. And why $25 for a helicopter? Well, they don't use the runway, for one thing, and it's all an honor system.

And that's what brought this to our attention. In fact, 2 corporate pilots are the ones that brought this PlanePass to our— they came in, they came in, they didn't know where they were, what was going on. So I went down there, said, hey, by the way, we have parking and landing fees. They said, more than happy to come to the office. We ran up the bill and they go, why don't you guys use PlanePass?

We don't have to worry about a thing. It works great. So I'm having a little bit of trouble deciphering. So you're saying they want to fly around and not be tracked, but yet they come to these airports and they don't pay landing fees. That's where our revenue comes.

That goes into the airfield to, you know, I agree for our infrastructure. The pilots of those airplanes are not paying that fee. It's the owner of the airplane. Exactly. And that's, and that's okay.

If we had, like, for instance, I went up to Merrill Field for Memorial Day, went up to visit family, and I went there, parked, and they have QR codes on each parking spot. And, you know, I paid my fee. It's just like, okay, well, there's a parking spot for my airplane. It's kind of like going downtown, parking a car. I'm okay with that.

I parked down there. Tie-down was great. It was perfect. It was clean, well marked. Scan the code.

$10.36 Later, I had a 24-hour parking pass instantly on my phone for my airplane, and it was in a secure area. I'm okay with that. There's no reason why that can't be out here either. You know, if you got a corporate jet, you got your QR code saying if you're here, you know, put in your data, your airplane type. This is what your fee is going to be, and you just do it.

So I'm curious, what is your certified gross takeoff weight on your aircraft? Mine? It's whatever I want it to be because it's experimental, but it's certified. My paperwork says 2,700 pounds. And we don't charge for that.

It's over 4,000. Yeah. Yeah. So you're paying Merrill Field $10 and you're not paying us anything. Yeah, I— but I'm a transient.

I'm expecting to pay that. I mean, I go to Soldotna and you see that's what's going on there, that weathered sign that they have for their transient thing and everything. It's like, I don't see anybody putting any envelope into anything out there. Okay, so they don't only— Vector Systems has 3 agencies they collect data from. And I can't remember the third one.

Flight Radar is one of them. ADS-B and who's—. FlightAware. And yeah, FlightAware. So they contract with these three different companies, but the other two names don't seem to be coming up as much as the ADS-B does.

We ran the numbers. Those are the only two that I'm aware of. Just FlightAware and ADS-B. We would be the first in the state of Alaska. They've been business for 6 years.

They have 123 airports. I talked to 5 airports. They have had absolutely no problems with them. Their revenues have increased. We ran our revenues against reports that they had, and we lost a lot of money.

We're only there Monday through Friday, 8 to 5. And if I'm not out there, or somebody else tracking down that jet that came in, most of them They just leave, they don't pay. Alaska Airlines, they came in here on December 8th, they've never contacted us. We had to send them a bill. That's $100 and $200.

So it's just an avenue that we've been researching to get revenues for the airport. For clarification, on PlanePass, you pay Vector how much for their system? We negotiated this year 12%. They have a 99.6% collection rate. Yeah, I would like to second what these guys have said.

It's a, in my opinion, terrible idea and disgusting, and I'm not a private pilot. Is it terrible because they're being tracked, or is it terrible because we want to get—. You're going to take a safety-related tool that should be used for safety. I work for flight service. We can use this stuff to help save people.

And the net negative that will happen will be people start ripping it out and taking— get rid of it. People won't come to Kenai. You'll lose out. There's a lot more negative to this than you're going to get positive. I guarantee it.

My opinion. There's a lot better ways. The QR code thing, is cheap and easy. You don't have to pay Vector anything. Minimal investment up front to create the service, or you know what I mean, the infrastructure of it.

And since it is on our code system, people are more likely to, you know, when I go to Anchorage to park on the side of the street, I pay my parking fee. I go do my— I know that it's there. I know I'm going to do it. It's not a big deal. And I move on.

If nothing's there, I don't go searching for it, or, you know, and I understand you're only there Monday through Friday and whatnot. We all do that, right? I mean, we all expect to pay. My point is, is you're gonna— the net negatives of this is a lot more broad than I think can be expressed right here, right now, and would be hard to to actually differentiate and put out. But I can tell you just from my experience, it would be bad overall.

And the QR code thing is probably the better way to go if you want to collect that revenue. My opinion.

Okay. So I guess my question with the pushback against plane pass is this is only for aircraft over 4,000 pounds. And what we're really working on capturing there is the transient jet traffic. We did lose more than $140,000 this last year. And I mean, it's significant.

And we— I mean, the only time we see an aircraft or like collect transient landing fees right now is if Mary or I catch an aircraft that's taxiing, taxiing, you know, across by her window. We run out, let them know, hey, we have landing fees. They come into the office. I take a credit card in person, and it's very cumbersome, and it doesn't work well. We're just trying to find a seamless, better system for collecting fees.

And it's not— we're not attempting to target the general aviation community at all. So that was definitely not the purpose in going— and the installation of PlanePass is actually free. There's no upfront cost with it, and it's 2 ADS-B receivers. Like, that's the total summation of the installation of that. Um, but right, I mean, so I guess, I guess we'll see.

But that was just my, my perspective on that. I just wanted to emphasize my point in this was that it may not be the good deal that it looks like because the ability for them to use ADS-B may be going away. That's my only point here. I definitely agree that it should not be used this way, but that's beyond us here. Contracting with somebody who won't be able to deliver what they say because the rules are changing, that's my concern.

Yeah, because the upfront cost was— there is no upfront cost. Right. And they send us the receivers for free. We feel it's like a—. Government infrastructure already.

Right. I'd like to just put a vote in there for the QR code system if we could come up with something like that. So, Paul, where was it? In the parking lot that you were in, was there like one sign with a QR code? Because we've had QR codes on the airport in the past.

No, each parking spot had a sign, and it had the number saying this is your transient parking space 70, whatever it was. And then it just, it was about the size of like a no parking sign, which is, this is it. And so you got aircraft taxiing around all these signposts with a QR code on them? No, they're on the fence.

There's a fence there, they're not signposts. Not like the parking. Yeah, a bunch of it. That would be great transit parking up to make sure you don't hit your tail or your wingtip or something. Because we did, we put a sign at the floatplane basin with a QR code on it that the pilots that fly down can go over there and scan it and tells the trail system and so forth around Kenai.

We have that also on the registration shack.

So yeah, I guess, I mean, I'm trying to figure out why wouldn't somebody want— want not— I mean, who mentioned something about the rich and famous flying around and don't want to be tracked? Why would they not want to be tracked? No, they do get tracked by ATC, but it's not the aircraft owner. The registration for ADS-B, it tells who owns it. And you can go private on that.

Okay, so how does the collection of the fees affect the safety element of it? No, I'm not, I'm not saying the collection— I— that's just a personal opinion of me about the use of ADS-B. That was it. I don't have anything against at all about the, the airport getting whatever they need to do for the transient airport fees. And I'm also with Jim about saying that if the ADS-B legislation does go through, and what does the contract say, is the city going to be on the hook for— yeah, we can quote unquote more expensive camera system.

We can terminate the contract. We already— we had a conference call with them yesterday, and the city attorney was also in the call. Because we were questioning about the legalities of government entities billing for aircraft fees with this system. Yeah, and the other thing too, like I said, you know, there's $25 fee for helicopter. Why?

Well, there you go. So that means that we need to sit there. That's, that's a perfect example because They're coming in there all the time. If I'm not sitting there and I don't make a tick on my sheet or something or know who it is, then I got to go out there and track them down and say, hey, you've been coming in here this date, this date, this date, at this time, time, time, and you know, you owe us money. That takes time.

Yeah, from what I understand, Maritime actually does their own on the honor system. They actually send you money. Is that not true? Maritime does what? Maritime, when they come and use Kenai, they actually log whatever they're supposed to do and they send a check to the city.

I don't know what the process would be, but that's what I heard. I was asking about that. I think it was Derek when I asked him this. I asked him about that. How do you collect the $25?

And he says, well, he said, the only operators that we know that actually do that on the honor system is Maritime. They send us money. We don't even ask for it. Because they—. Yeah, that's news to me.

Well, maybe, maybe they've changed their thing. But I guess my other question is, why is a helicopter worth $25? Why? Who picked $25? Why not $10?

Why landing fee at all? I mean— Well, it's in the code, it's in the fee schedule. I'd have to do some research to go back and look where that came from. Yeah, because I know there's a lot of helicopters that don't meet meet that 4,000-pound criteria. I don't think we apply that certified gross takeoff weight to helicopters.

That's why helicopters is separate, $25.

Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. We're just looking for ways to capture revenue. I'm with you.

And I appreciate it. Now, I will tell you that there is a resolution in the next council meeting on June 17th to award this contract. So if it's on the agenda, so if you would like to come, you're more than welcome and talk to council.

Yeah, I think, uh, the, the mayor is probably pretty well aware of the, the political ramifications of that as well. He's a very active pilot.

Also a pragmatic person.

Well, I just wanted to make sure that you know that—. I'm not gonna be sharpening pitchforks or lighting torches or anything. Don't get me wrong. It's just one of those things. I know.

It's just one. It's like the fuel flowage fee, you know, several years ago. That was a big deal too. So yeah, no, and I appreciate all the comments. Like I said, it was just something that Julie and I found out about just a couple weeks before the budget was due.

And then we— I mean, she's really put a lot of work into this the past few months, and things are popping up. And we did have a conference, we had a kickoff meeting with them, which the city attorney attended. And there is a resolution and a memo in the packet at the June 17th meeting to implement this July 1st. So you're more than welcome to come.

So any other comments?

You're done? Okay, well then we are adjourned.