Kenai: 09/10/2026 Airport Commission Meeting

I guess we're going to discuss the 2026 runway reconstruction. Yes, thank you. Good afternoon. I appreciate the introduction there. Again, my name is Eric Jort.

I'm one of the engineers that works for engineering, uh, HDL Engineering Consultants, and we've been coming to you guys every month to present updates about the runway rehabilitation project. If you haven't been out there in the last couple of months, we've made some really good progress. Things have been going really smooth according to schedule, and right now we're in the process of grooving the pavement that was recently installed back in August. Original schedule had showed this project being complete around the middle of October, and with the way things are trending right now, if the grooving is scheduled to complete itself in 10 more days, and striping follows. It's very likely that we will reopen the runway sometime around the week of September 21st.

Wow, cool. Yeah, so it's been, it's been an exciting summer. I do applaud QAP, the contractor, for a very well-organized project. We're 95% of the way there. There's a little bit of electrical work to do, again, some pavement markings, but ultimately what I expect you'll see and the airport users will see here in the next week is a construction flyer from HDL that will let everybody know to anticipate this runway swap here in a couple of weeks.

And as we get closer to that date and we have it set in stone and we know which night we plan to switch operations from the temp runway to the permanent runway, we'll get notice in place, we'll be sure to get flyers out there, and we'll reach out to anybody we can, including all the air carriers and the general aviation users, just to let them know that, hey, sometime the 22nd, 23rd of September, we'll start using the main runway again.

So that, that in a nutshell is where we're at with the project. I do foresee a small punch list of cleanup items. Um, you know, we will have to do an FAA-certified flight light check to certify the new lights. Um, and I'm sure some of you are wondering and may ask how the instrument flight procedures will play back into the normal runway operations. We've already talked and discussed that with the FAA, who have confirmed with us that we'll be able to use those instrument flight procedures once we do flop the runway.

We'll have a couple of visibility minimum requirements that might change until we can restore the parallel runway. Back to its normal operation. But in a nutshell and in summary, we should be back to normal here in a couple more weeks, and then we're out of your guys' hair.

I'll be happy to answer questions from the Commission if there are any, and we'll certainly be coming back in October to give you guys one final update.

Hey Eric, Paul Monega here. I got a question for you. We discussed this before with the instrument approach procedures and before the special instrument approach procedures were purchased. Talking to that FAA airport specialist there in Seattle said if the taxiway had been designated as an alternate runway, and done all the measurements, we wouldn't have gone through all the stuff with the instrument approach procedure. Do you know if that was done with— in this project, that it was actually measured out so the taxiway, if the main runway does for whatever reason get unusable again, that it can be used as an alternate runway and we can still use those instrument approach procedures that were developed?

Yeah, Paul, that's a really good question, um, and I certainly think it's one I'll get back to and answer. You know, some of the things I can't speak to is the status of those special instrument flight procedures and how long they, they would last or how long they could remain in effect. I would want to talk with those developers of those procedures and, and find out. Um, and I'm also keen to hear what it would take to, yeah, permanently designate temporary or Taxiway Alpha as an alternate or a temporary runway so that something like this in the future could be easily— easier dealt with. But at the time right now, I don't have that specific answer for you.

I don't have to find out and get back to you. Okay, thanks. Yeah, you're welcome.

Any other questions?

I don't see any other. Thank you so much for your report. You're welcome, and thank you for the time.

Okay, are there any members of the public that would like to speak to any item? Not seeing anybody, we will move on. Uh, may I have a motion to approve June 11th, 2026 meetings minutes? Move. Second.

Thank you. Are there revisions to the minutes?

Are there objections to approving the minutes? Hearing no objections, the minutes are approved. Unfinished business, we have none. New business, now we'll get the right engineer.

Storm pollution prevention plan, we have Matt Duro with us.

All right, thank you. Thank you for that introduction. As Glenda said, I'm Matthew Durrell with Nelson Engineering. We are working with Mary and the rest of the airport staff to update our stormwater permitting, which you guys, as an airport authority, you are You are actually— and we are preparing a stormwater pollution prevention plan, which involves all the airport operations and actually all the tenants which are within the airport boundary and incorporates what they do. So we just had a meeting right before this that was open to all the tenants to discuss the plan, the stormwater pollution prevention plan.

And encourage them to provide information so we can make our plan better and allow them to sign on and utilize the same stormwater pollution prevention plan that we are utilizing for the general airport. So that's a service that the city is providing to all those tenants. They don't have to prepare their own plans or hire consultants to prepare their plans for them. Um, And yeah, that's what's going on. We, the Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan allows all airport industrial users to discharge stormwater from their sites based on the state's multi-sector general permit.

So that's what we're complying with.

See, that's, that's really odd. You guys have any questions for me regarding those plans? We will be submitting the plan. We have to submit it before the end of beginning of December. Essentially, we have a couple more months to complete it once we get all our surveys back from the tenants on all their operations.

So I have a question. There's in the Meeting packets said there was 4 tenants that were on the airport. Which 4 are they? I think it said 4.

There are quite a few more than that. I would say there's more like 20. Yeah, the 5 years ago we did the plan, there were 20 tenants listed.

Julie has sent out packets to all the different tenants. With a survey that asks them to report on what they're doing on their sites and what chemicals or fuels or things they have that could become contaminants. And when we get those back, we'll be compiling all that information.

We had, what, 7 or 8 different tenants that were on the call today, before the meeting, to talk about the talk about the plan.

Uh, yeah, I think there's far more than that. I don't know where the 4 came from. We have received a few back, a few tenant surveys back so far, but they're not due till next week. So everyone else is waiting till the last minute, I suppose.

I was mistaken. Sorry. Okay.

Any other questions, concerns?

Okay, thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah, you're good. Thank you.

Appreciate it. Do you have any comments, Mary?

Uh, I have our, um, two, uh, committee reports in the packet. The one I'm committing to the next council meeting, um, Eric hit on the Runway Handle rehab project. Um, the airport master plan is is ongoing. The city has submitted their comments to HDL, and the city has preferred alternative number 4, and HDL is going to move forward now and develop an implementation plan and a financial plan with a presentation that will follow probably in the next month or two. Um, we did award— the council did accept the FAA grant offer for the airport perimeter and it's going to be awarded to CLAP.

They were the successful bidder. And Matt just talked about the stormwater prevention plan. We're also working with the FAA, just transitioning from the federal NOTAM system, NOTAM Manager, to a new NOTAM management system. This process began this summer, so the airport staff, King County Authority, FARMA, anyone who potentially could issue NOTAMs to airmen is going to have to go through a whole new training process and get login ID— login.gov credentials to be able to issue NOTAMs. Right now there's a little bit of a hold on the program, but I expect it to happen in the next couple months.

We've received our first report from Vector Airport Systems. They are billing for the first month for non— July was the first month for billing for non-signatory landing fees. The billable arrival— arrivals show that there are 497 arrivals. They're sending out 54 invoices to collect $16,268. That's non-signatory landing fees.

That's It's unbelievable. It's really surprising how many aircraft come in here that we don't know about. So we're excited about that. We got the second month's report for August, which showed 366 arrivals, 36 invoices, and billable is almost $14,000.

We had another visit from the Marine Corps. The military units are still considering Kenai for their 2027 Arctic Edge event.

They're going to keep us posted as the planning process continues. It could be that Kenai could just end up being part of the fueling and could be based out of Jay Bear, and then we would be refueling for aircraft so we could have 20 to 25 people here. Or if some Arctic Edge decides to have their event here, we could have 200. So they're, they're, they were actually here twice last week, the Marine Corps, so they're pretty excited about it. The airport cafe opened on Monday, September 7th, Jersey Subs.

We've ate there, it's good, really good, so you should stop by and see them. We've also just finished our recruiting for the winter temporary call-out And we've hired 9. Most of them are all returning.

And this is my last meeting again.

So new airport manager starts Monday, Rick Johnson.

Well, thank you for all you've done.

Third time, third time.

Third time. Anyways, I'll be around. I'll be around.

Can we talk to you privately when you get off?

We can do a Hail Mary. Yeah, you can come by the office tomorrow. We're gonna have Seahawk donuts.

Appreciate all your help over the past year and all the years, really.

Well, we thank you. We hope that— it's not that we don't want you back, but you don't have to come back.

Thank you so much. And I don't have any report. I was going to ask about the new airport manager, but My question is answered.

Well, thank you for everything. Appreciate you.

Okay, I guess we're down to our council liaison's report. All righty, so, um, on August 19th, we had our regular meeting. We accepted, um, grant money from— on behalf of the police department for traffic enforcement overtime and drug investment investigation overtime expenditures. We amended Kenai Municipal Code Section 14-.20.030 to add an airport light industrial to the zones and official map. We accepted a $10,000 grant from Meals on Wheels.

This was a grant that was totally unanticipated, um, and the senior center was able to take advantage of that. We authorized a contract for digester pumping and disposal, and we authorized the city to purchase software for accounting, payroll, and human resources. We also entered into a grant agreement with the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District to support Community access to the Kenai High School swimming pool. That's the history on that is they were going to close the pool, the Piranhas were going to take it over, and then the school district decided they could keep it open after all. And we had agreed to pay $46,000 in utility fees for the Piranhas And so the language in the agreement is if the borough— if the school district is getting that money back from the state, which it sounds like they are, then we'll negate this donation for that.

And then we redirected capital funds in the Vintage Point Improvement Capital Project for repair and replacement of windows. And then our next meeting was the 9th or the 2nd of September, and we, um, we passed an ordinance to, um, that will go on the ballot for the residents of Kenai for a $75,000 tax exemption on their primary residence. And We increased the, the fund project for the airport that Mary spoke about, the $3 million. We also authorized a contract award for 6th Street construction, which was going to be partial water and sewer. The contracts came back, the bids came back higher than what was authorized, so that was canceled.

And they also authorized a contract for strategic plan consulting. And I'm open for questions.

Okay, well, thank you so much for your report. Uh, don't— I'm not seeing any additional comments from the public. Our next meeting is October 8th. Will everyone be here?

Okay.

We're looking for commissioners' comments and concerns.

Gosh, we're a lively bunch tonight. I do have a question, surprisingly enough. Thank you, Mary, for everything, for sure. It's been a pleasure, without a doubt. I do have a question about the vector numbers there when it says billable, the invoice is sent, is that— when will they know how many, how many checks actually come in?

And out of that billable, how many, how much of that belongs to the company and how much does the airport get?

12% The same. And we can report it anytime, like, go ahead and tell them, Julie, about So yeah, they, um, all of their reports are available, uh, on their portal, and so we can log in at any time and see who is paid and who has an outstanding invoice. Um, they did say when we we're looking into this, that they collect around 98% of all invoices sent out, or maybe it was even higher than that, but it was like almost 100%, uh, as a company. So yeah, but we can track, um, exactly who's paid and, and if they haven't. So that number, that, uh, the $16,000 and, and, uh Plus, is that minus the 12% or is that with the 12% in there?

That's, yeah, that's total billables. So that our portion would be that minus the 12%. Okay, that's all I got. Okay, just because I'm curious, how enforceable is it? You know, they collect 98%, how How much work or effort do they go into collecting the other 2% or anything like that?

Do you know? Yeah, I'm not sure what kind of effort is expended to get to that percentage that they told us they hit. But most— I mean, most of the pilots that they're working with or companies are responsible.

Any other questions, comments?

Well, yeah, see, Mary, one quick question on the fence project. What is that act— what is the scope of that?

Um, so it is the perimeter fence, uh, gate, and including new proximity fire, new access parts. Couple gates are being replaced, couple gates are being added on the west side so it's easier for us to get moose out. I think we had zero moose in the airport the first time. I heard of 3 couple. Sandhill cranes though.

So I think we're really doing something about the moose. Yeah, believe me, that's a lot of moose. Right next to the gravel. Upgrades to the proximity parks and be openers. Thank you.

I, I walked that fence, um, a couple months ago. I had no idea it was in that kind of shape. Um, it's really unfortunate. Um, I learned a lot about the cemetery there. There's There's graves that are right under the fence, you know, crosses and monuments are leaning against the fence.

I'm not sure, I talked to the city clerk a little bit about that. I guess in one section of the cemetery, the funeral home just comes in and says, hey, they want this spot, and they just take it. And there's kind of no rhyme or reason to you know, the layout. So I'm hoping that with a new fence, there can be some communication with, you know, like the, the funeral home and so forth as to a layout so this doesn't happen. Um, I— we thought about maybe calling some of the families and telling them before that, you know, this is going to happen, you know, do you have any objections?

But we just haven't got that far yet. Is there any type of scope of work that we could look at to see, okay, what are they changing, or what gates are going away, what gates are staying, anything like that? Oh, absolutely. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Okay. I'll make sure you guys can get it. Great, thanks. Yeah. And one other question, Julie.

Is CAP considered a tenant? Because with the wastewater, this wastewater thing, I don't know if we got a package or if we're even included in that. I'm not really sure. Oh, is Civil Air Patrol? Yeah.

Who? Civil Air Patrol. Yeah, they're a tenant. Yeah. Oh, okay.

Okay. You're inside the fence. I don't think we have sent a questionnaire. Yeah, that's why I saw that and I was thinking, okay, who's all part of that? And I don't remember our commander saying anything about it.

Okay, we can certainly get one. Do we need one? Yes. This is the question. Yeah.

We do? Well, I'm not sure. Okay. A lot of it's based on the industrial code. Because we don't do any work per se, we just—.

You don't do any, yeah. It's just—. Even if you could return it and say N/A or something would be great. Okay. Yeah, because we stopped refueling operations a long time ago and so.

I did, speaking of fueling, I did get an update from Crowley on the self-fueling pumps. Oh.

They have been delayed. The pumps themselves have been delayed at the manufacturer due to lack of manpower, is what Crowley told me. They are shooting for September 28th, with the time frame of those, um, pumps being here like October 5th. So there may be, um, several days that those pumps are down. They're going to, you know, make it the least amount of days that they can, but we are anticipating only a couple days, but it may be longer.

But we'll keep you posted. And there'll be, you know, if that happens, we'll issue a NOTAM, and there just won't be fuel available after hours.

You know, they'll be able to give you fuel during the day, but—. Can fuel over at the float pond, though.

And that's, that's working again, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

It has been working all along. Real easy to taxi over. Yeah. Yeah. You can go over there.

I guess that when the runway— runway project with the runways back, make sure you got a working parking brake.

Yeah.

I did get a little scared yesterday. A guy told me that it wasn't working, and I said, well, what do you mean it isn't working? Well, I can't get my receipt. I said, but did you get your fuel? Yes, I got my fuel, and I just sent the guys over there, and just the paper was jammed up in the— I don't know, whatever machine.

So it was— it's still working, doing good, no problems.

Anything else?

Okay, we're adjourned.