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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-15-21 - Airport Commission MinutesPage 1 of 13 AIRPORT COMMISSION ACTION SUMMARY MINUTES OF REGULAR ADJOURNED MEETING Wednesday, December 15, 2021 – 5:30 P.M. _____________________________________________________________________ 1.CALL TO ORDER: Vice Chairman Corcoran called the Airport Commission Meeting to order at 5:30 P.M. and invited Commissioner Feltman to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. The meeting was held via videoconference. 2.POSTING OF THE AGENDA: Posted on December 9, 2021. 3.ROLL CALL: Commissioners Present: Gerald Adams (Palm Springs) Kathleen Hughes (La Quinta) Paul Budilo (Indian Wells) Scott G. Miller (Palm Springs) Todd Burke (Palm Springs) John Payne (Palm Springs) Kevin Corcoran (Palm Springs) - Vice-Chair Jill Philbrook (Cathedral City) Aftab Dada (Palm Springs) - Chairman Jan Pye (Desert Hot Springs) David Feltman (Palm Springs), M. Guillermo Suero (Palm Springs) Ken Hedrick (Palm Springs) Thomas Weil (Rancho Mirage) Commissioners Absent: Patricia Breslin (Palm Springs), Peter Freymuth (Riverside County), Rolf Hoehn (Palm Desert), Gabriel Martin (Coachella), and Jhan Schmitz (Indio) Staff Present: Ulises Aguirre, Airport Executive Director Harry Barrett, Assistant Airport Director Daniel Meier, Deputy Director, Marketing and Business Development Victoria Carpenter, Airport Administration Manager Nadia Seery, Executive Program Administrator Christina Brown, Executive Administrative Assistant Others Present: Bert Garland – Palm Springs Aviation Academy Duane & Tina Pontius – Palm Springs Aviation Academy Tim Ellis - Palm Springs Aviation Academy Fred Bell – Palm Springs Air Museum ITEM 6 Palm Springs Airport Commission Action Summary Minutes of Regular Adjourned Meeting December 15, 2021 ______________________________________________________________________ Page 2 of 13 4.ACCEPTANCE OF THE AGENDA: ACTION: Accept the Agenda as presented. Moved by Commissioner Weil, seconded by Commissioner Hedrick, and unanimously approved noting the absence of Commissioners Breslin, Freymuth, Hoehn, Martin and Schmitz. 5.PUBLIC COMMENTS: None 6.APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: ACTION: Approve the minutes of the Airport Commission Meeting of November 17, 2021. Moved by Commissioner Hughes, seconded by Commissioner Suero and unanimously noting the absence of Commissioners Breslin, Freymuth, Hoehn, Martin and Schmitz. 7.INTRODUCTIONS AND PRESENTATIONS: Airport Executive Director Aguirre noted that the City Manager was absent from the meeting, and he said that a City Manager’s report would not be provided. Mr. Aguirre stated that there hadn’t been any developments or concerns reported for Martha’s Village and Kitchen. Mr. Aguirre introduced Executive Administrative Assistant Christina Brown. Ms. Brown noted that she had 15 years of local government experience, her last position was with the City of Laguna Beach where she was an Administrative Assistant for the Community Development Department, and she had also served as the Planning Commission secretary. She said that she had received a warm welcome from the City and airport staff and that she was looking forward to working with the Commissioners. Ms. Brown informed the Commission that Commissioner Payne had requested that staff set up a single Zoom link that could be used for all future virtual Airport Commission meetings and that the standing Zoom link had been created for the current meeting, and the provided Zoom link would continue to be used for all future virtual Airport Commission meetings. Mr. Aguirre said that Ms. Brown was a great addition to the airport team and that Executive Program Administrator Nadia Seery would now be able to take on some additional responsibilities as previously indicated, and he thanked Ms. Seery for the support that she had provided over the last seven years. Mr. Aguirre noted that the presentation that the Commission would be receiving from the Palm Springs Aviation Academy (Academy) would not require a formal action from the Commission, and he said that if the Commission wished to do so, the Commission Palm Springs Airport Commission Action Summary Minutes of Regular Adjourned Meeting December 15, 2021 ______________________________________________________________________ Page 3 of 13 could request to bring this item back as a future agenda item and that staff could provide a formal staff report. Mr. Aguirre said that he had briefed the City Council based on the information that he had received from the Academy team, and he said that the City Council had voiced some concerns in regard to the noise impact of the up to 200 proposed operations per day. He said that the City Council had requested that the Academy provide a presentation for the Airport Commission’s review, and the Airport Commission could then decide if the presentation should be presented to the City Council. Mr. Aguirre introduced Bert Garland, Palm Springs Aviation Academy partner, and Mr. Garland introduced Duane Pontius, President of Palm Springs Aviation Academy, Tina Pontius, and Tim Ellis, Palm Springs Aviation Academy consultant. Mr. Ellis said that he had spoken with several of the City Councilmembers and the City Manager, and he said that his team had made the decision to withdraw the flight school component from their program to negate many of the take-offs and landings and that they were working on locating the flight school at the Cochran Regional Airport. Mr. Ellis said that they have been in discussions with the College of the Desert (COD) to facilitate the mechanics school and the first two years of flight school and that they have also been in discussions with California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB), Palm Desert campus to facilitate the final two years of flight school. Mr. Ellis said that it had been reported that there would be a need for several hundred thousand pilots in the near future and that the airlines have expressed interest in funding 4-year scholarships, possibly paying salaries during the educational period, and providing 8-year contracts for the students. Mr. Pontius reviewed the aviation education programs conforming to Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Parts 65, 141 and 147, and the benefits of the High School STEM Educational Program. Mr. Pontius referred to the Palm Springs Air Museum, and he said that he believed that there could be an opportunity to create an internship program with the Palm Springs Air Museum for the purpose of historic aircraft restoration. Mr. Ellis referred to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification program, and he said that he believed that the program could be beneficial for Coachella Valley tourism. Commissioner Hedrick inquired about the Academy funding, and he also asked for additional information in regard to the discussions with COD and CSUSB. Mr. Pontius said that the Academy was privately funded. Fred Bell, Director of the Palm Springs Air Museum, said that for 25 years, the museum has been focused on education, and he said that they would be excited to have a partnership with the Academy. Mr. Bell noted that the museum intended on providing funding for a scholarship or funding for the development of an Academy Palm Springs Airport Commission Action Summary Minutes of Regular Adjourned Meeting December 15, 2021 ______________________________________________________________________ Page 4 of 13 program. Mr. Bell asked the Commission to give the proposal careful consideration because he believes that the program makes sense for Palm Springs and for the community at large. Mr. Ellis referred back to Commissioner Hedrick’s inquiry, and he said that both COD and CSUSB were extremely interested in the Academy program and that it was important that the flight school location was secured before any agreements could be made with COD and CSUSB. Commissioner Payne asked if the Academy was actively in business or would the Academy be a startup business. Mr. Pontius explained that the Academy was currently operating with a Part 141 Pilot School Certificate that was under the authority of New York and Long Island and that Palm Springs would be a satellite under the Part 141 Pilot School Certificate. Mr. Pontius also explained that the mechanics school would be a startup business for the Academy and that they may have an opportunity to extend the curriculum from Orange Coast College to COD which would eliminate the need to apply for a new certificate to cover Palm Springs. Commissioner Payne asked if the Academy would include a curriculum for electronic take-off and landings, air taxis, and air buses. Mr. Pontius said that they would potentially have the ability to use simulators to support that part of their program. Commissioner Payne asked if the Academy had reached out to the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP). Mr. Ellis confirmed that the Academy had been in contact with CVEP and other Coachella Valley agencies. Vice Chairman Corcoran asked Mr. Aguirre to review what he anticipated would be coming back to the Commission for additional consideration or approval. Mr. Aguirre said that the City Council had asked the Commission to evaluate the Academy’s presentation and to determine if there should be further consideration for the Academy to come back to the Commission when they have additional detail to provide for their proposal. Vice Chairman Corcoran said that from the Commissioner’s questions of interest, he believed that the Commission was interested in having the Academy return to the Commission when they are prepared to provide additional detail for the Commission. Mr. Aguirre said that airport staff would be working with the Academy team to ensure that the Academy provides all of the necessary plans and documents for the Commission to make the determination on the proposal should be considered by the City Council. Commissioner Adams inquired about the use of airport facilities. Mr. Pontius said that the Academy had submitted a Letter of Intent to PSP to lease the former go cart building and approximately 18,000 square feet of ramp area for their maintenance school and for flight simulators. Mr. Pontius said that they were waiting on the approval of the lease, and he noted that the appraisal for the ground lease was consistent with what they were offering for the lease and that they were also waiting for the FAA to approve the use of a flight line building. Palm Springs Airport Commission Action Summary Minutes of Regular Adjourned Meeting December 15, 2021 ______________________________________________________________________ Page 5 of 13 Mr. Aguirre inquired about the sublease of the CVEP building for the Academy’s simulator program. Mr. Garland explained that they would want the simulators to be at the same location as the flight school which could be Cochran Airport and that it was questionable as to if they would be subleasing the CVEP building. Mr. Garland asked the Commissioners to submit any questions or concerns that they have to Airport Administration Manager Victoria Carpenter or to Mr. Aguirre so that the Academy team could be prepared to address the Commissioner’s questions and concerns. Commissioner Hedrick said that he would need to see a prospectus that includes the Academy’s business plan and financials to feel comfortable enough to make a decision on the Academy’s proposal. He said that he thought that the proposal was a fantastic idea and that it would be great for diversifying the Palm Springs economy, and Commissioner Hedrick stressed the importance of educating the next generation of people in the aviation field and to also provide an opportunity to educate the youth of the Coachella Valley. Mr. Garland thanked Commissioner Hedrick for his feedback, and he said that the Academy team would be providing the requested information at a future date. Commissioner Miller agreed with his fellow Commissioner’s comments, and he said that he believed that the proposal was an outstanding idea and that education is the foremost thing both in the aviation industry and in other industries as well. 8. CITY MANAGER REPORT: None 9. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS: None 10. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT: 10.A. Projects Update and Airport Capital Improvement Program Update Airport Executive Director Aguirre reported that the airport staff had a meeting with the car rental companies on December 6th to discuss the Customer Facility Charge (CFC) rate converting from a daily rate to a transactional rate. He said the car rental companies were receptive to the conversion, and staff was focused on taking the CFC conversion to the City Council meeting on January 13th. Mr. Aguirre explained that the independent audit report that had been received confirmed that Ricondo’s analysis was accurate in stating that the current CFC collection rate would not provide sufficient funding for the estimated cost of the CONRAC project. Mr. Aguirre noted that the car rental companies were not in agreement with the airport staff’s Palm Springs Airport Commission Action Summary Minutes of Regular Adjourned Meeting December 15, 2021 ______________________________________________________________________ Page 6 of 13 recommendation for the CFC rate to be set at a rate that is close to the maximum or at the maximum rate and that staff would continue to discuss this matter with the car rental facilities with the intent of the item going to City Council on January 13th. Mr. Aguirre said that the airport staff had also discussed the CONRAC project with the car rental companies for the purpose of reengaging the concept discussion and to move forward with looking into potential financing for the facility, and he said that the car rental companies were agreeable to reopening the discussions as soon as the new executive director position was filled. Commissioner Miller asked if the Commission would be reviewing the CFC conversion proposal before it goes to City Council. Mr. Aguirre explained that the Commission had reviewed the CFC conversation several times over the last 18 months. Mr. Aguirre reported that the airport staff had met with Ricondo to discuss moving forward with the new airline use and lease agreement, preparing the Request for Proposals (RFP) for concessions, and navigating the Federal stimulus grants. He said that they had also discussed the CONRAC project and the CFC conversion. Mr. Aguirre explained that staff had discussed what the expectations were for the future concession services, and he said that staff had directed Ricondo to reexamine the previous RFP to make sure that the current RFP meets the expectations of the Commission and the City Council. He said that the RFP was expected to be posted during the third quarter of 2022 with the goal of having the agreement signed by the end of the calendar year in order to give the new concessionaires an opportunity to finalize their design concepts, to get their plans checked for their building permits, and to be able to start construction in or around the transition date which is May 1st. Vice Chairman Corcoran asked when Mr. Aguirre anticipated that Ricondo would present the revised proposals for the RFP’s to the Commission to review. Mr. Aguirre said that the airport staff would be discussing the timeline with Ricondo at their next meeting which would be on Monday. Mr. Aguirre presented photos of the concourse gates and podiums, and he explained that every airline has individual gates that are individually hard wired to the airlines network which confines the airport staff to assigning aircraft parking positions only to those gates that the airline is wired with their equipment, and he said that a shared use concept would allow for infrastructure and equipment to be installed to replace the individual airline podiums with one unique podium inside of the Bono concourse and the RJ concourse which would allow the airlines to be able to operate from any of the gates. Mr. Aguirre said that airport staff was working on determining if the customer service positions could be removed once the shared use podiums were operational which could provide more open space in the Bono concourse. He said that the shared use concept would allow for the greatest operational flexibility to assign any aircraft by any airline to any gate. Mr. Aguirre noted that the equipment for the shared use concept could be installed in the existing podiums that are located in the RJ concourse. Palm Springs Airport Commission Action Summary Minutes of Regular Adjourned Meeting December 15, 2021 ______________________________________________________________________ Page 7 of 13 Commissioner Payne asked if airline software was included in the proposal for the shared use concept. Mr. Aguirre said that airport staff would be releasing an RFP to acquire the shared use software, networking equipment, and the podium endpoint equipment. Commissioner Payne asked if the future direction was to implement the shared use concept for the boarding gates and the ticketing counters. Mr. Aguirre said that currently the goal was to implement the shared use concept at the boarding gates and to a limited number of ticketing counters, specifically to the counters that are occupied by seasonal carriers or carriers that airport staff could potentially take advantage of being able to assign multiple flights or airlines throughout the day. He noted that there were some legacy carriers that were not necessarily on board with the shared use concept for the ticketing counters and that the airport staff would have to work through that resistance. Commissioner Payne asked if the airlines were on board with the shared use concept for the boarding gates. Mr. Aguirre confirmed that the airlines were on board with the shared use concept for the boarding gates. Commissioner Miller asked if the infrastructure could be installed even if the airlines did not want it installed so that it could be an available option for future use. Mr. Aguirre explained that the shared use infrastructure had already been installed at the ticketing counters, and he said that the airport had run the network out to the respective intermediate distribution frame’s (IDF) for both of the concourses and that the network would have to be ran from the IDF to the shared use gate positions. Airport Assistant Director Barrett provided an Airport Operations and Maintenance Update for the Commission. He reviewed the number of noise calls and emails that had been received in November, and he noted that the majority of the calls and emails that had been received were due to an airport maintenance event that was from a high engine run-up that had occurred in the evening, and he said and that the event was not affiliated with the airport. Mr. Barrett reviewed the plan of operations for the Christmas holiday parking lot, and he said that airport staff had made the necessary adjustments needed to handle the parking and transportation constraints that were experienced during the Thanksgiving holiday. Mr. Barrett said that ABM Aviation Parking (ABM) would be providing two shuttles and two parking attendants that would be available to assist the passengers, and he said that airport operations staff would also be available to assist ABM. Mr. Barrett noted that the cell phone lot would be relocated to the Taxi and Transportation Network Companies (TNC) area to allow for additional parking spaces. Commissioner Weil noted that it was becoming more difficult to park outside of the holidays as well, and he asked if staff had any plans to adjust the parking to accommodate for the additional airlines. Mr. Barrett said that staff would be evaluating the parking situation to identify options and alternatives for parking throughout the year. Commissioner Payne asked if staff collects metrics by flight for the TNC’s and taxis. Mr. Barrett explained that there was more data available for the taxis which could be loosely tracked and created, and he said that there wasn’t a reporting mechanism Palm Springs Airport Commission Action Summary Minutes of Regular Adjourned Meeting December 15, 2021 ______________________________________________________________________ Page 8 of 13 available for the TNC’s. Commissioner Payne said that he would like to discuss this matter further with the Operations Committee, and he asked Mr. Aguirre if he had knowledge of the TNC data that the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) provides through the App-Based Transportation (ABT) Clearinghouse, and if so, could the information be useful for landside management. Mr. Aguirre explained that the ABT report provides the amount of activity and that the data is not date stamped which is needed to analyze the information. Mr. Barrett reviewed the Airport Capital Program for the Commissioners, and he said that the Bono concourse passenger boarding bridge replacement project has had a slight delay and that the project should be completed in January 2022. Commissioner Feltman noted that he had experienced take-offs between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. on two different mornings over the last 10 days while he was at Demuth Park that were unbelievably powerful, and he asked staff if they were aware of these incidents. Mr. Barrett said that he was not aware of the incidents that Commissioner Feltman had described, and he said that he would look into the departures for the last couple of weeks to see if he could triangulate those take-offs. Mr. Barrett reviewed the PSP Capital Program – Project Delivery schedules for the current fiscal year and the following fiscal year, and he projected that the airport would expend $53 million for capital improvement projects over the next five years, and he noted that he was expecting to add an additional $50 to $100 million for the CONRAC project. Commissioner Payne asked if staff would be seeking to receive any additional funding from the infrastructure bill that was recently passed. Mr. Aguirre said that staff would need to review the FAA guidelines before staff could determine if PSP would be eligible to receive funding from the infrastructure bill. Commissioner Miller inquired about the request from the Commission for staff to meet with the Budget and Finance Committee to discuss the infrastructure plan and a 5- Year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). Mr. Aguirre explained that due to AIP funding requirements, the airport’s 5-Year CIP has to be submitted by the end of December, and he said that the CIP could be updated on an annual basis based on the changing conditions and changing needs and that staff would be working with the Commission on making those changes. Commissioner Budilo asked if PSP had any shovel ready or near shovel ready projects. Mr. Barrett said that the Airfield Hot Spot Study and the Wildlife Hazard Study were shovel ready. Palm Springs Airport Commission Action Summary Minutes of Regular Adjourned Meeting December 15, 2021 ______________________________________________________________________ Page 9 of 13 10.B. Financial Summary Update Airport Administration Manager Carpenter reported that the November 30th job fair was a success and that there were approximately 100 job seekers and 14 airport company booths at the Palm Springs Convention Center, and she said that the airport tenants were continuing to pursue employee onboarding and hiring to fill all open positions. Ms. Carpenter reviewed the financial summary for the period ending November 30, 2021, and she pointed out that the top three revenue generating accounts in Fund 415 were the On Airport Rental Car account, the Terminal Airline Space account and the Leased Parking account. Ms. Carpenter said that staff was anticipating that revenues would surpass the annual budget, and she reminded the Commission that not all revenue was received to date for November and that staff would continue to process revenue as it is received. Commissioner Miller referred to the revenue percentages that were below 40%, and he asked if staff was concerned about not being able to collect the revenue needed to meet the revenue budget. Ms. Carpenter explained that in regard to airport fees that are collected by the airport vendor such as the car rental companies, there would always be a delay in the remittance of the revenue, and she said that she was not concerned about not being able to meet the revenue budget. Mr. Aguirre explained that the airport revenue generally tracks with the flight operations or the number of customers coming through the airport, and he said that July, August, and September are the lower passenger activity months which causes the revenue to be lower at the start of the year, and January, February, and March are the higher passenger activity months which will increase the revenue significantly. Ms. Carpenter reviewed the airport expenses, and she noted that Fund 415 had an estimated salaries and benefits expenditure in the amount of approximately $1.1 million that hadn’t posted to the financial system, and she said that for internal purposes of tracking the expense, the expense had been included as a line item and in the total fund expense balance. Ms. Carpenter reviewed the Capital Improvements Project Fund and she provided an overview of the revenue versus expenditures. She noted that Fund 415 - Airport Operation and Maintenance had a surplus of approximately $2.5 million in revenue and that Fund 416 – Capital Projects had a deficit. Ms. Carpenter said that the FAA had approved $4 million in reimbursements, and the airport would receive approximately $750.000 at the end of this fiscal year. Ms. Carpenter reviewed the Airport Funds Cash Summary report, and she noted that the cash flow for Fund 415 did not reflect the missing payroll entries of $1.1 million. Ms. Carpenter pointed out that the airport has a total obligation to use approximately $4 million of the cash reserves for the ticket wing project to support the local match Palm Springs Airport Commission Action Summary Minutes of Regular Adjourned Meeting December 15, 2021 ______________________________________________________________________ Page 10 of 13 and that staff would continue to use the last of the cash reserves to fund this portion of the project, and she said that staff was anticipating that PSP would receive reimbursement for a portion of the local share over the next few years. Ms. Carpenter summarized the passenger activity report that provided a comparison of this fiscal year to fiscal year 2019, and she said that overall, this fiscal year’s numbers averaged 32% higher than the 2019 numbers. 10.C. Marketing Update Airport Deputy Director of Marketing & Air Service Development Meier provided the Air Service Updates, and he noted that some of the transporter traffic may unfortunately be impacted by the Omicron variant. Mr. Meier provided a comparison of PSP passenger traffic for 2019, 2020 and 2021, and he said that that November came in for another record month which brings PSP to six new passenger records in a row. Mr. Meier also provided an overview of the scheduled departing seats for January, February, and March. Mr. Meier reported that he was exploring participating in the 2022 Indio Tamale Festival, he said that former Palm Springs Mayor, Robert Moon had invited him to provide a community presentation at the Desert Roundtable, and he also reported that he had sent out the first edition of the quarterly PSP newsletter. Mr. Meier said that the link to sign up for the newsletter was available on the PSP website. Commissioner Hedrick inquired about Jet Blue dropping its flights to Boston and Fort Lauderdale, and Southwest dropping its flights to Chicago and Dallas Love. Mr. Meier said that he would have to review the January report, and he said that Jet Blue’s flight schedule hadn’t changed. Commissioner Budilo said that Commissioner Hoehn who was absent from the meeting, had asked him to inquire about Mr. Lamb’s and Mr. Meier’s November presentations that the Commission had requested and not yet received. Mr. Meier said that he would work on getting the presentations sent to the Commissioners. Commissioner Budilo asked if there had been any booking increases or decreases for the legacy airlines when comparing the current bookings to 2019. Mr. Meier explained that booking data information is obtained from the Department of Transportation (DOT) and from the airline monthly reports, and he said that the Commission could review the information in the enplanements and deplanements by airline report. Mr. Aguirre announced that his last day in the office would be Wednesday, December 22nd, and he said that it had been a pleasure and an honor to work at the airport and to lead the airport. He thanked the community, the City, Valley leaders, the current and prior Commissioners, and the tourism and hospitality industry for their support which he said was directly responsible to the success and the growth of the airport. Palm Springs Airport Commission Action Summary Minutes of Regular Adjourned Meeting December 15, 2021 ______________________________________________________________________ Page 11 of 13 Mr. Aguirre said that he was confident that the airport has a very promising and exciting future, he was confident that the PSP team would be able to lead the airport into the future, and he thanked the PSP team for their support. Mr. Aguirre also announced that at the request of the City Manager, Mr. Barrett would be the interim executive director until a new executive director is hired, and he said that Mr. Barrett would be leading the Commission meetings and that the Commissioners could contact Mr. Barrett about Airport Commission matters. Mr. Aguirre noted that the hiring recruitment for the executive director had been posted and that the Commissioners should have received the information from ADK regarding the hiring process. He said that the deadline for applications was December 19th and that the interview and screening process would continue into January. On behalf of the Commissioners, Vice Chairman Corcoran thanked Mr. Aguirre for the effort he had made in his short tenure as the executive director. He said that he and others have commented on how much they have appreciated Mr. Aguirre’s thoroughness, openness, and patience, and he said that he wished Mr. Aguirre the very best in wherever his endeavors take him in the future. Vice Chairman Corcoran said that the Commission looked forward to working with Mr. Barrett moving forward. 11. COMMISSIONERS REQUESTS AND REPORTS: Commissioner Miller inquired about when ADK would be speaking to the Commission about their role in the process of recruiting the new executive director. Mr. Aguirre said that he did not have that information at this time, and he said that there was still a desire and a commitment from the City Manager’s office to reach out to the Commission to get the Commission’s input. Mr. Aguirre said that he did not believe that it was the City Manager’s intent to get the Commission’s input all at once as opposed to a select group of Commissioners and that he believed that the City would be contacting the Commissioner’s after the initial screening of the applicants or when the interview panels are being conducted. Commissioner Miller asked Chairman Dada and Vice Chairman Corcoran to let the City Manager know that there are several interested Commissioners that want to be a be a part of the process and that maybe the City Manager could explain the process to the Commissioners at the next Commission meeting. Mr. Aguirre recommended that any communication with the City Manager on this matter be sent as soon as possible. Vice Chairman Corcoran said that he believed that the City Manager had said that after the closing of the recruitment, he would come back to the Commission to provide direction on the process for both interviewing and the whole process of vetting the candidates and that the City would be asking for a handful of Commissioners to participate in the process, and he said that he would be happy to contact the City Manager to get clarification on the matter. Commissioner Miller said that he really did appreciate the interactions that he had had with Mr. Aguirre, and he thanked Mr. Aguirre for everything that he had done. Palm Springs Airport Commission Action Summary Minutes of Regular Adjourned Meeting December 15, 2021 ______________________________________________________________________ Page 12 of 13 Commissioner Pye said that she had a request in regard to the City Council’s comments about the navigation center, and she said that she was wondering if when the navigation center was done, would the City Council cease directions on El Cielo. Commissioner Pye noted that the City Manager was absent from the meeting, and she said that she understood that the City Manager would address her question at the next Commission meeting. Vice Chairman Corcoran said that he would make note of Commissioner Pye’s question. Commissioner Payne inquired about the coordination of a strategic planning session. Vice Chairman Corcoran noted that he had made the recommendation for a strategic planning session and that he and Chairman Dada had met with the City Manager and Mr. Aguirre to discuss how the Commission could address the issues that did not make the cut for the two priorities, and he said that it had been decided that the Commission would postpone further discussion until the new executive director was onboard to participate in the discussions. Vice Chairman Corcoran noted that the intent was to continue the discussion in February, and he said that if for some reason the hiring of the new executive director is delayed, the Commission could choose to proceed with the strategic planning session. He also noted that it would be beneficial for the Commission to work with the airport staff and the new executive director to get a better understanding of what is on the CIP lists and to go back to the original list to determine what is missing and to see if there were any other projects that the Commission should be advocating for. Commissioner Payne suggested that the Commissioners meet prior to the executive director being hired to layout what the priorities might be and to understand what each Commissioner thinks is important, and he inquired about the meeting schedules for the committee meetings. Mr. Aguirre noted that the Noise Committee meets quarterly, starting in the month of January, and the other committees are ad hoc committees that were created by the Commission to handle specific issues whenever they arise and that the Commission identifies when there is a need to have a meeting. Mr. Aguirre noted that the Finance and Budget Committee meets when the budget is being prepared and prior to the budget being submitted the City Manager for review and to the City Council for approval, and he listed the Chairperson of each of the committees. Vice Chairman Corcoran suggest that the committee Chairperson update their meeting schedules and that the meeting schedules are included in the Commission agendas. Vice Chairman Corcoran noted that there were several new Commissioners, and he said that the Commission would make it a priority to make sure that there is a level set of knowledge for all of the Commissioners. Commissioner Payne inquired about the status of the Commissions request to receive a contact list for the Commissioners. Chairman Dada tried to speak to the Commission, but due to the loss of his voice, it was unclear what he was saying. Commissioner Payne said that he believed that Commissioner Dada had said that the APPROVED BY AIRPORT COMMISSION: 01/19/2022