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Good evening. It's September 11th, 2013.
This is the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority Board Meeting. The first order of business I'll explain
that there's no Ogdensburg Border Station Meeting this evening. So, what we'll do is,
first, we have a special presentation. We have Sal Pisani, with (clearing throat - unintelligible)
with the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. And, we're really honored to have Sal give us a Pace Setter
Award. And, I'll let Sal come forward, and make his presentation.
Certainly, it's always a pleasure to be returning to the Bridge and Port Authority. On the road...(unintelligible)
Congratulations, and congratulations certainly to all the board members here.
The Pace Setter Award. This is, I believe, the seventh one, that the Port of Ogdensburg
has received. And, the Pace Setter Award clearly demonstrates the economic
relevance of the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority, and specifically, it's port.
In 2012, you handled 29,000 tons of export cargo.
And, certainly a lot of windmills, which generate a lot of jobs in the area.
And, certainly it's a credit to the staff here at the bridge an port authority,
and certainly the labor force that you have at the port, the ILA,
and certainly the number of jobs that are associated with that.
I can only requite back, and say that New York State got this one right.
And, certainly the investments that were made in the past, and are continued to be made here at the
bridge and port authority, to advance the port, and it's infrastructure, go a long way.
I don't have to tell this board, if you had to try to duplicate building a port today,
economically, it would be infeasible. It's just not feasible to do something like that.
And, this board, and certainly previous boards, realize the importance
of transportation. The rail, besides the marine, and obviously the bridge,
and industrial park, and your airport. Those are all vital transportation networks that
need to be in place. And, surely, it is an economic engine.
And, it goes a long way in spurring on development in your area.
So, I would like to present this on behalf of our...
administrator, she couldn't be here today. But, Betty does send her
congratulations to you, and to your board, for the Pace Setter Award.
And, I'll certainly look forward to presenting this again, next year. So, congratulations.
Thank you, Sal. Sal, great presentation. (applause - incidental conversation)
I've got a big glare in that window. We'll move that way.
How's this? There we go.
...
(cross talk - incidental conversation - unintelligible)
He told me to take a whole bunch. As soon as I left during the week, I called the man, and said,
you've got to get some pictures for the Seaway Review, and ours, and other things. All right.
Do you want me to do more? Yeah, why don't you get a couple more? (unintelligible) Tisha said she needs something new? Yeah.
I'm going to wait. (incidental conversation - unintelligible)
Sal, thanks so much. (side conversations - cross talk -unintelligible)
Sal, I just wanted to thank you because you gave more credit to the management team, it's more important to credit them.
(cross talk - side conversations - unintelligible)
Maybe more than the bridge and, I appreciate that. You're quite welcome, and it's well-deserved. Thank you very much.
(applause)
(side conversations)
...
It's exceptional, a great feeling there, to see the board like that. And, I think Wade
said the hard working people that work, and did the project, and the people that brought the project here,
made a huge difference in the port, and how that operated in a particular year. Let's...a full meeting
form into order now. Any letters of communications? There's several things I'd like to
draw your attention to, in the purple board read file. First, and foremost,
there is an item that we need to discuss regarding C & S Companies, in Executive Session.
You'll see that there. The second thing in there, is a monthly update, from the
Wladis firm, for efforts on our behalf. The third item in there is a draft
update on the special project feasibility, from McFarland Johnson.
The third item in there is more of an educational item, it is a toll systems description, for
anything, and everything you ever wanted to know about a toll system, and what makes it tick is in here.
That will become important in the future. There is a
St. Lawrence Factory Stores, motion to...
there's a notice, and motion to dismiss. That's in there.
A former employee, who was...(unintelligible)...was kind enough to send us nice article, about...
the bridge, basically, up in Canada. Very interesting stuff, I'd encourage you to take a look at that,
when you get a chance. There's news articles appearing.
There is a confidential memo in there from the Public
Border Operators Association, regarding taxes
in Canada, on the bridge structures. I encourage you to take a look at that, when you get an opportunity.
Our budget was approved on August 14th.
I'll have to go down there, and check on those...(unintelligible).
And, that concludes the general correspondence.
Any comments on this? For Wade? No? Okay.
Oh, there's one other thing that's come to my attention. There was a letter received from the
Longshoreman's Association to board members today. Counsel will be drafting a response, for the board
Chairperson's signature. I'll make sure of that.
We have...in the package, you have the monthly board minutes, from the
August 7th meeting, when you get a chance to read those.
I need a motion to approve. I'll move that. Gavin, do you have a comment? No.
You move it, okay. I'll second. Doug will second.
...(unintelligible)...Any comments or discussions?
Okay.
No more? Not any more discussion. Okay, all those in favor, signify by saying aye?
Aye.
Comments and presentations, we already did that. Wade, I guess we're ready for your report.
You should have a separate packet set up, of course, I'll go through. Briefly, it's been a very
busy month at the bridge and port authority, a lot of good stuff going on. A couple highlights I'd like to bring
to your attention. The toll system description. I'll need you to take a look at
that. Primarily because, we need to know. One is over 10 years old,
it's outdated. We will be learning more about that, going forward.
But, there is a need for one there, and we'll get you up to speed on that. In addition, we will
be contacting at some point in the future, the four other toll systems, so you can understand it, and see how it works.
And, understand just exactly why this thing is as critical as it is, and as
expensive as it is. So, this, kind of, provides you with some education on it. It's just information
on it? Right. Okay. The CFA application for the Market New York Program,
was submitted. That was a 1 million dollar application. I need to send out special thanks to...
St. Lawrence County's grant administrator, and also the Thousand Island's Tourism Council, for their assistance,
and in putting together that tourism application. We're hopeful that we'll hear on that, here
in the near future. I want to...
extend a special congratulations to the authority team here, on the Pace Setter Award for a lot of work that's done.
On all sides of the table here, to get that plaque, is a huge incentive here. So congratulations
to everyone involved. I'm pleased to report our volume incentive
pricing from salt companies was successful. One company will be bringing in at least
3 additional salt ships this year. Which translates into an additional 3400 outbound trucks.
And, we will be serving areas south of Route 3 this year.
This is an area that was not previously served by the Port of Ogdensburg, and extends our reach, and economic
growth, and this is going to be good for us. The authority was successful in its
$130,000 application with security grants. John will have more on that.
We had a unique opportunity with the Army's Corps of Engineers, this past month,
to seize an opening in the schedule. And, in the borings done at the port, potentially is
early as October, or November of this year. And, that's important. Because, that would have been a
barrier later on in the process. And, in my opinion, insures us the process
for about another 6 months, maximum...maximum for the authority. So, we will
engage the US Army Corps of Engineers project team, in the deepening study, later this month,
with a resolution, hopefully shortly thereafter.
On there, the study will go on, and continues. Another very important application, that we put in
this month, was the rail bridge relocation, and Grain Bin Installation. You can see some of the details
associated with that. It's a 2.4 million dollar project. We're asking for...
829,000 for rail bridges, and installation of storage bins and conveyors
system, at a cost of 1.5 million. OBPA is seeking 475,000
assistance from ESD, and 850,000 from DOT's
PFRAP program, that is Passengers, Freight, and Rail Assistance Program. I need to
specifically thank the...the multitude of letters of support,
that we're receiving, from the parties we're meeting with on a regular basis. I'm going to put together
a full list of them. And, we'll talk about that. Because, it's...there are a lot of folks
assisting us, and recognizing our economic developments here. And, we'd be remiss if we didn't thank them.
Several items of note relating to the airport. There's a 3.1 million dollar runway rehabilitation
grant. We've received it, executed it, and returned it to the FAA, for them to file.
We've coordinated a significant amount of effort in this past month,
with the airport engineers, in support of the Airport Master Plan. And, we've put forth
a large amount of effort, to the airport expansion project. And, we'll be talking about
some of that in Executive Session.
Negotiated three transactions for the industrial park expansion project. We'll need
to discuss that in Executive Session. The hotel development RFP is out there,
where as you know, the deadline is the end of October. There has been some initial
hindrance. I'm not sure how that's going to go, we'll see. We will know,
as soon as...at the end of October. Several items,
have been discussed with counsel, and I reached out to several board members this month, on a variety of different issues.
I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have.
Thank you, Wade. Chief Financial
Officer Report? I'm just going to summarize what's here.
We've had quite a few analyses, quite a bit of analysis for different things,
that I've been working on, and to report with this. The...
scenarios involving ILA negotiations. And, provided data, and information for
the grant writing efforts. I participated in ILA
negotiations. I've calculated, and implemented new
health insurance withholding amounts, for arbitrator's accepted methodology.
And, met with TRMI concerning the toll system status. We will,
we are expecting to receive a proposal from them for upgrading our system.
On the next page, page 4, is our financial year-to-date.
I think...at this time
it's 5 months into the year, the revenue, the bottom line revenue is
just about right on, on the budget amounts.
Under expenses, the one that stands out, is the benefits.
And, that has to do with unemployment insurance. We...
we only recognized 3 months from last year, we've got an extra, put on an extra month.
This year, I believe that it looked right, because the unemployment was higher, due to the...wind projects.
So, it didn't look right when I saw this number,
and I looked into why it was higher, and it was higher because of unemployment benefits for the first quarter.
We were actually, the first quarter, the first calendar quarter of the year, which was our
fourth quarter. So, we're recognizing that an extra 59,000 for that period.
And, that 59,000 worked out to be right on with the wages, wages and salaries.
Fred, down on that sheet, obviously we're on another quarter, but the bridge inspection numbers?
Yeah. Is that going to come on later on? Yeah, the bridge inspection was just completed, I believe, this week, Steve, or last week?
The annual inspection is. So, that number will go back to your budget? Yeah. Yes.
Any other questions for me? Just have a question,
probably the same as last month, our bridge tolls looks like they're down again? Yeah. Is that because of the budget, the way we budget it
They're down from the budget; they're up from... from actual. So, from actual, just about
the same? Still the same percentage? These, 1% difference, I think they're up...
I think the traffic, we'll see on the next page, the traffic is up about 6% from the total,
it's about 5%, I believe. The fact that trucks are not, and that's a higher revenue.
So, trucks are down a little bit. So, it's a mix of...I believe that's 65.
But it's down from budget, because I...I tend to put the...I don't budget straight,
equal each month. The next page is the
bridge traffic. As you can see, it was up...the autos were up
4.5%, and the...our rates with the trucks were down, over 6%.
You get a total crossings of that being 3.62. Year-to-date, we're up about 6%.
I did take a look at how we're doing
it's interesting, I happened on to some historical information, and...
just to pass this around as far as they go.
It's interesting to see how we're doing, compared to the past bridge traffic.
And, if we could...I think now, that this month, lowering
our overall percentage, that we are tracking to be just under the record year,
2000, right around 1991, '92, we had 866.
Of...the...vehicles. Last year, it was 807,000.
You can see that it spikes up there, that last year.
Before this last month, and when I did this, in July, it looked like we might break
that record. It's hard to tell. The possibility's still there. Although, the other two bridges in the area
are both, their traffic is both down. So, we're fortunate that ours
is...still up, even though it's up less than...less than maybe before.
How do you look at May? Most years in the month of May, everything was up. What happens there at the end of May?
Victoria Day. Isn't it Victoria Day? Yeah. Middle of the month, or the third week of the month
Victoria Day is huge. Everybody...tourism is up then. (cross talk - unintelligible)
Oh, okay. So, you're going to get a double on that. (cross talk - unintelligible) Yeah. We need more of these. (laughter)
I think it's interesting too, the...traffic has changed...
some of you will remember, the board members, it used to be a rule of thumb those vehicles, we'd expect about 500,000...
about 500,000 crossings a year, about 100,000 trucks. Now, it's up to 800,000.
vehicles a year, with 100,000 trucks. So, basically that's kind of a new...
it sounds...(unintelligible). I appreciate all the numbers here.
Very encouraging, in all the work that goes up, and you know exactly where it's going. I guess, because I'm a numbers guy,
I guess it's just a stupid question, I guess. Why, in 1992,
'93 did we take like 150,000 tops? I'm guessing it has a lot
to do with, and it's only a guess, because I didn't look into it very deeply, I think it has a lot to do with
the exchange rate. Yeah. When the exchange rate is stable for Canadians, you see much more traffic. Yeah.
Yeah, that makes sense. The exchange rate, a lot of that probably corresponds. Yeah, that's what I was, I mean, I was thinking the same thing.
I'm sure it, you already knew that. (cross talk - unintelligible) Okay. But I can,
what I'll do, is add the exchange rate to this table. I'd be interested in that.
I don't know how easily that will be to find through those back years, but I'm sure it exists.
With historical exchange rates...(cross talk - unintelligible) But you can probably get it, I'm sure. Yeah.
I can't get all the exchange rates, but I'll look. No. Probably be expensive. All of it. If you put all of it together, the gas,
the price of stuff. And then, the store over at...going to the stores in Canada,
when I'm over, I go into them and look what I can find. And, you're looking at a pound of butter, 5 dollars.
And you look at, you know, the gas, and you look at the price of coffee, and the price of this and the price of that,
plus, they've raised the thing, how much more the Canadians can bring back across the border.
That store right here is running all the time. I mean, Price Chopper is opening one right at the Thousand Island bridge
they didn't build it there for the town people, they built it there for the Canadians there. If you go in the parking lot,
and just look at it. Plus, early in the morning out here, you'll see 20, 25 cars
from Canada. And, they go in the store, they go in the gas stations, then they go home.
We do business with Canada. Now, for instance, Loews...has
a door. A fiberglass screen door, for $94.
Well, I happened to be over there, so I went into the store to find out if I could get it in Canada.
it was $164. Same at Home Depot.
Same prices. They were comparable in Massena, with the one here, over there,
$164. Over there it's, you know, 70 bucks right there. And, the same door.
The same manufacturer. I mean, I looked at everything, to make sure it was even. So, I think that's a lot to do with it.
People want to continue to come here. And, the more they wish that they could take home, the better it's going to be for us,
over here. I think that's where you're going to find the big business. It's not about getting the
money exchange. Fred, even with the long wait lines up in Massena, if you go shopping in Massena, Hannafords, BJs, in
that area, there's a lot of Canadian traffic. And they just come through with a basket, and cart, and load up their
vans and stuff, and they go back home. And, I think that's got a lot to do with also, getting down in Massena.
Because of that, you know? That's good for us. It makes it good for us. I don't think it's all on the money
That's all I want to share with everybody. You probably already knew that. I like to shop.
(chuckles) You didn't buy it anyways, not for $165. No. I'm buying here. I didn't feel like you did it. (chuckles) I'm waiting for my 10%
discount! Page 6 is the airport activity report. And, you'll see that the passengers
was again, over 1000, in August. That's the second month in history that it's been over 1000.
And, up a little bit higher percentage than July.
It was down...what, 8 passengers, in August, from July.
But, up significantly from last August, bringing us up to about 10%
The emplanement number, the 1773, was not updated. I missed that. So, that
38.3% is incorrect. That percentage would be about the same as the...
as the emplanements. On the fuel, I haven't got August numbers in here yet, but
that's up 35% for the first quarter.
Any questions? Anything in this report,
alarms at all, that we should be aware of? Anything that we should really look at? Or, anything that
in on there? Or it's predictable, and there's nothing that's wrong? Yeah. I'm...
my concern, I would think, is...the fact that the
traffic on the bridge is...and the other two bridges in the area, is down.
It makes me wonder, if that's not going to happen to us.
Our traffic remains strong. It's still up. And...
why is ours still up, and the other two bridges down a little bit?
So, that would be something to watch out for. We might see a negative number.
I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but...in the last two weeks, I've gotten four new
clients from Ottawa, buying real estate in Ogdensburg. So, I don't know if it's
Ogdensburg connected to us, but it's been...it's four, in two weeks,
and that's quite a bit from Ottawa. There's no way of us knowing to prove this,
but I've seen the parking lot, and they had no wait time. Yeah. There's a 25 minute wait time...on to the west of us,
25 to 45 minute wait time to the east of us, and we have a 35 second wait time.
Here at Ogdensburg. We have got the easy traffic stop. How's the truckers
when we had this conversation, why the truckers haven't picked up?
That's definitely my opinion, my opinion. Okay,
Karen, you want to give us your report? Sure. I have worked with Kelli over at C & S,
I know she will come and tell you more about the new ARFF truck, about getting everything finished up to get the money
for that. So, we have these parts there when the truck came. Working on getting some paperwork
together for the Project x670, with Empire State Development.
They are doing everything they need in regards to them. I did by request to...(unintelligible)
to increase our MWBE spending. I don't have that together. I went to Albany for some
New York State Contract Advice training, and I...(unintelligible). Still working on
some insurance stuff with Mr. Fieldman, and Mr. Gallagher.
Because, we are interested to see how things have been going since we switched. I know we talked a couple meetings ago, about
an RFP for banking. I've got one ready for Fred to look at, and I'll wait to hear back
from the Comptroller's Office. One quarter of anything we have to do business with
them, they take, they'll look over our...(unintelligible)...
I did our prepaid sales tax report. And, I'm going to be working on August bank reconciliations
in our actual quarterly sales tax reporting, for next quarter.
Anything else for Karen?
I want to go back, because I was talking to Wade, and Fred and I were talking earlier today about...
working with banks. And I know...we talked about looking for business and stuff in the banking firms,
and it is...(unintelligible). Is there any progress on that?
They could be...the currency change, of course, would be part of the RFP.
Did you get those rates, when we went down there? No, we have to back to the bank. We actually tried calling this afternoon, to get what already
we had been able to find out...(unintelligible). We could get a discount, or a better
rate than...than just if I walked into the bank, and handed them a
20, and exchanged that for Canadian money. You know, that would negotiate
a call back. But, I think it's still, we'd pay quite a fee. I think...it looks like
more fee than we need to...for...
exchange with the Canadian dollars. So far, right now, I believe that our
difference at the toll booth, is 25 cents, on an auto.
But it's about 8%, is making a big difference in our
...in our exchange costs.
I think it is a...big difference.
But, just to be clear, that this is going on the RFP, not just here. Yeah. Okay. I have to touch base
with the lady again today. Okay. Yeah. That's good, okay. But, we can't do it without
that, because that is the Comptrollers account. That he's been monitoring. Yeah. Okay.
I think they can go live over there. Okay.
So, she apologized for the incomplete...(unintelligible)...and that this would be finished up this week. She didn't have...(unintelligible).
John, do you want to present your report? Sure. The...
we were awarded $131,000 Port Security Grant. For your information, that will pay for
the main entrance security gate. Additional security fencing, lighting improvement.
Emergency generator. A lift arm gate, a swing gate with the new metrics, and that's
for passenger speed. Let me stop you right there. Yeah.
I've been truly in accolades to you that...involved here in this process. When did
you start the transit for all the...(unintelligible)...in the political process, yourself?
It was 2, or 3 months ago, I guess. That was pretty good. Yeah.
That's really good. The second one, actually, that one...probably 4 years ago.
Excellent, John.
We've been working with a small Canadian distributor of agriculture fertilizer, really for about 4, or 5
years now. And, he has railed in some product in the past, and discharged it
directly in to a truck, and brought it up to Canada. He's a small player in that field.
He is...we've got an agreement on the agenda tonight,
where he would be unloading 25 rail cars, and putting it in storage, and bagging that product.
And we'll bring it by truck, mostly going into Canada, but we're also at this moment...
trying to develop a market on this side of the border, as well, a market over here.
I would hope that...expands over the years.
We'll be attending Breakbulk Americas. Attending our meetings,
next week, the week after that. There's about 230 exhibitors, and about 4000 attendees.
And, those are all good for meeting some prospects; conversations,
educational as well. It will be good conference for us to be at. We have a kick off
meeting next week with a large local industry, trying to, again...
encourage them to use the port facilities. It's just the initial meeting...
with the IDA there, and Tony Collins, who is the head of the North Country Regional Economic Development Council there, so we'll meet with him
as well. And, that would support any new (unintelligible) in the initial efforts.
We've been outreached to six large agricultural firms.
And, that's part of the fall harvest coming up, so we're trying to encourage them to use the facilities.
And, there's one or two that will hopefully use us this fall.
We continue to work with the two industrial firms that have an interest in Wagner Road parcel.
We placed a small item in Maritime Executive magazine that goes out to about 35,000 people
in the port business. It's something new, and we thought we'd try it.
Some ads in the North Country Now. And, then other ads
on PAC 98.7 and Q Country. I did a lot of site visits
in the last month, to the IDA,
and, a couple of companies that have actually come down and met with local attorneys, to get incorporated, and meet with local
county firms. They are progressing, they're saying now, six months to a year time frame.
Good prospects, and I hope that some of them will materialize into
actual customers. Bookmob, for example, is on there.
It's just a small distributor of textbooks, and that's on the agenda for tonight. It's just a small
office that he's rented. There's some Foreign
Trade Zone information on the agenda, as well. And, this other such matters, is an application for
a local company that just came through my email just a few minutes ago. So, we're looking for approval on that.
I know there's quite a few lease renewals
in there, as well.
I think we'll see, probably in the next...
three months, the space in the park where...what's going on with the
businesses there, and some other interests, where you can see some of that start to fill out there.
Did you ever hear back from the Montreal Gazzette?
Any hits on the ads, did we...anything in response to that? Not directly,
we've been visiting Montreal firms, I don't know that anything came ad, or that particular effort. That stopped a long time ago.
I know that, I'm just saying, I'm just thinking, to see if that was something you wanted to back and revisit,
or something like that? Yeah...I'm not sure about another
publication up in Kanata that I wasn't aware of. it was Canadian Business yesterday.
And, there's a Kanata publication that I looked at, and I was going to up and try that.
We'll see if that market moves, and if we have to go? Well, there's potential
in Montreal, too. And, the IDA has had some success with Montreal firms.
I've got some calls from them, and, there last one, made several calls with that (unintelligible).
Did you hear anything back from Phoenix in regards to the...
Greek yogurt, or the hops from all of them, did you hear anything back from them, anything in that territory?
Just the...two companies
that still have an interest. One that
they want me to get back to them in the October, November time frame. The other one is building a plant
in Maine right now, and how successful that is will dictate if they take the next step. Okay.
Yeah, they have an interest here, but they haven't...(interrupts): So, now they're in a...(unintelligible)...Yeah.
(unintelligible) Talking about the Greek yogurt, Steve, just to give you a little bit of
information on how it's going, and how it's coming. Kraft...just sealed this thing in North Lawrence,
and not going to go out of business. And they're not out of state.
They could put 200 employees in there. To run that assembly line. And, that's a big investment
we've got it, in St. Lawrence County, and the area. So, here recently
we've just picked up the big orders. So, that's going to help them with competing. Them guys need to pick up a
on the Greek yogurts. So we do have the capabilities of companies that want to...
I'm sure. I'm very happy that they're looking for a building.
I mean, they're already there. They're just sitting there in idle situation. It's the same thing we had at ...(unintelligible)...
and that's starting to move...a big expansion there. So, that's good for the North Country.
But, I really think the Greek yogurt is the target that we want.
For the Canadians. If we put a market in Canada, made it here, and put it over there, it would be good if we could have that.
It would help out. I think it would. So, we could be that...
it might not, you never know. But, I just wanted to let you know they are...(interrupts): But, I think it's...want to let the board know that they're still...
it's an ongoing process, the way everything's going. The other question I had where I
managed to choose...New Orleans. Who's going with you?
Wade. I'm not sure. Wade will.
Okay.
Any other questions or comments?
Okay.
Never mind, Steve. I knew there was...that going further.
I'll just touch on a few things. Probably mainly with the bridge and the port. At the bridge,
mostly maintenance activities surrounding the bridge deck repairs, have been completed.
And, Modjeski and Masters, our engineering firm was in this week, and they
completed an interim inspection, which is required whenever some items are listed in our
inspection report. And, just verbally they gave us a passing grade on everything there.
And, they'll write up a report on that. And then, second on our list was
to try and get to some painting of the suspension cables. Some of those are seriously
deteriorated. And, that was listed in our inspection. So, you'll see, if you go out there, that's...a real
point of concentration, is getting those cables painted, and keeping the moisture
out of the cables. At the airport, the new ARFF truck is
in service. And, we went through ARFF truck training with our staff.
And, we will pick times to do the ARFF truck training with other fire departments that are...that have
...a kind of...overseeing our airport. Such as,
Heuvelton, and Ogdensburg. So, we'll work with them, and introduce them to the new truck.
That will...that will be something for them. And, we've received bids for the new snow removal.
It's actually a large snow blower. And, you'll see that in the...
part of the...an agenda item. At the port, most of the activity
this past month has been revolving around road salt. We've received 2 vessels.
Each carrying roughly about 29,000 tons of Morton road salt. We've relocated
all that salt, and as of this week, all the stock piles have been covered.
And, we also shipping out...to local townships, of Morton salt, and North American.
And, we are still, daily, receiving...
grain by rail, and also shipping out by truck.
At the very bottom here, in "other", we've done a lot of work around the bridge administration building.
And, we've completed most of the carpet replacement, and the painting.
And, we're just about done in Wade's office. Probably another couple of days. The 1970
barn board is gone. (chuckles) Pretty nice job there.
That's all I have, Mr. Chairman. One of the questions I had
I mean, with all this storage. I know we talked about a storage plan. Do we need another storage path anywhere?
Yes. That would...Wade, and I have talked, and we've done an initial study
with some designs. And, we've got a couple locations where...with preliminary, we've got
a design for all of that, it's just a matter of funding the construction part of it. Yeah, we've got one and a half
salt pad locations. We know it goes with zoning, we've had that discussion before
regarding the success of the salt contracts. It looks like we're...getting there, based
on what we've already seen. We may have to "pull the lever" on that earlier than we expected. But, obviously,
it was a good thing, because of the jobs as an extra bonus in those reports.
More to come. We did a lot of preliminary work.
Knowing, I think two years ago, we started with raising the tracks out there, to kind of see what we
needed. And then, when we did the lay down area for the turbines, we put in a lot of stone,
as a base there. So, the money really is put...you know, kind of,
preliminary planning toward that. So, it was some effort that we put out there that kind of
...do some work that would help out in the long run. It was interesting what
Sal Pisani said. If you're going to do this for it today...you would have... all the work
and all the things you need to do, liabilities, and environmental things you have to do.
And, have the port dredged and all that stuff that you would need. It would be good for him and that type of situation, and we're very
fortunate in how we maintain our infrastructure and do those type of things, and stay with it. And, you know,
like you say, pay for it. Right. I have a question with
Wade, and we met last week. This is open session, it's your time, anytime. I was on the bridge,
a couple of weeks back. And, Wade and I had talked it over with Modjeski and Masters,
and we talked about it. I was on the bridge, you know where...I call it the gusset section, not the
cable section, whatever you guys want to call it. The trusses. Yeah, whatever you want to call it.
There were seven tractor-trailers on the bridge. And, of course...if there's seven
sitting there, you know, if someone's going the other way...and, I was kind of concerned...
what happens, to all that weight, in that particular section, versus the cable section
if there's a difference of stress? Or, how do you control
that, from this side? And, we talked about if you drop over to the Canadian side, and say hold it.
Okay? And, you guys, you've got too many people...I mean, they're doing their job. We can't tell them to go faster,
then they want to do their job. How do we tell them, or they tell us...that we know there's too many
vehicles on that bridge? Well, we've been through this before. And, a lot of times
the problem was that our old toll booth was backing up on the U.S. side. And, I know
Mr. Carter asked the question...I don't know, Fred, maybe...at least ten years ago
the same thing. And, basically what it is, statistically they...they do a
design based on all kinds of scenarios. I mean, I'll use
one for example. They can rule out that we would have the bridge loaded...
with traffic, trucks...at a forty-five mile an hour wind, at ten below zero.
You can...you know, trucks won't be traveling then, so you don't design for that. Because,
it's just not an event that's going to happen. So...this is some of my old notes here, But,
there's a design factor...(interrupts): Did you know the I was going to ask this question? (continues): Somehow I did.
(laughter) A little birdie told that I would need this here. (laughter - crosstalk - unintelligible) I said, I'm going to do my homework! You knew it was coming!
Yeah. You thought you were out if it? No, no. There's a design factor...
on everything out there. In the main tables, it's 3 times...
what you're rated for. And then, on the other...it's like the structural components,
it's probably somewhere between two, and two and a half. You're only as good as your weakest link. And, I'm told
the...some of the...I believe it's the structural pieces,
that are considered...what everybody designs for.
So...there's certain bridge components, that are designed with a distributed load.
Basically, they say, "All right, what happens if we have all trucks, everywhere on that?"
It's designed...(interrupts): There's a down force there. (continues): Right. There's a design, okay, what happens if we have trucks just in one lane?
Does something tip over? So, you've got to design to take that load just on one side. What happens
...you know, point loading, and different items out there. But, one thing you've got to remember too, is there's
thirty-two different spans out there. So, I believe it's one hundred twenty-seven feet,
on the girder stands, and you have eight on each side. Then on the truss stands, it's at Two hundred thirty-four feet.
So, you know, if you're on the middle of the girder stand,
you're basically on your own little bridge. So, what you need to worry about is just what's right there.
So, what I have there doesn't affect behind me, or in front of me. That's all basically set
to that specific span. And then, when you get up
to the suspension cables, like for example, a suspender rope could go,
but it wouldn't leave you a failure out there on the suspension span. It's designed that way.
You might have to restrict, and get right on it, to repair right away. But, the suspension
cables are what really matter out there. So, there's a number of things,
like, they've got to take in the dead weight, they've got to take in the wind loading, like I said, distributed load...
live load. And then, a balanced load.
So, that's where I'm talking about one lane or the other, with that. But, all of that is
figured in when they design the bridge. And, technically, the bridge can take fully loaded
trucks, all the way across it. In a normal
condition. That bridge could be loaded with trucks, and you can (unintelligible)?
That tells me a lot about how strong that bridge is. Yeah. That's amazing. Because, for example...
(interrupts): I'd like to go through that and test it! (chuckles) And, see how it makes out. (laughter)
(cross talk - laughter - unintelligible) But, for example, they've done, like say, four loaded trucks
came right to the toll booth here, and four came on the Canadian side, you'd have to design for the
fact that four of them could all meet at a certain point on the bridge, and you'd make sure
that it's got to pass. So, statistically, that's where you design to a certain level, where
designing higher than that, the cost is so astronomical, that you've got to take a certain amount of...
"Well this probably isn't going to happen". And, that's the example I used with the cold weather, etc. For example,
yeah, there is things we try to minimize when we're here. We don't like to leave
a lot of it...there. We can keep things moving...we'll try at all costs. But,
sometimes, you know, if you could keep them off the bridge...
and just, kind of meter them through...that's a better scenario. But, there's times
when we're not here all the time, and things like that. But, in no way...do we push
the limits of the bridge. Even though, when you're out there, you may think,
you know, this is quite a load for this. I think it's a testament to the design of the bridge. Well, I'm sitting at the bridge,
and I watch that truck goes by, I'm going, "wow, they're moving!" Yeah. They're moving, they don't look back.
They drive right back in to the back, and the highest design, fast moving, all this utilization.
Correct. And, that's why...
we keep these design components in good working order. We don't want to allow any part of that bridge to be lowered, so that we
don't take a lower load limit on that. So, that's why we're constantly on top of those things.
Now, if we take it a step further...I might be interested...now we have a ninety thousand pound load,
the most that you're allowed, unless you ask for a permit for more. Right. How far can you go up?
Well...you can go up, but what happens is, over a cycle time, it's a
...it's a cost benefit thing. Over times, if you go to one twenty, the life of your bridge is going to drop.
I know, but I mean...so there's a special...I'm trying to think...what was it, Bruce?
...One of those longhorns. Yeah.
So, he had a piece of equipment that was very, very heavy. So, he asked if we...
he asked about it. And, we escorted him across. We escorted him across? Because he was a little wide. Yeah. Well, we've had
things up to...Wade, I think, we've had things, depending on axle weight, up to...
two sixty, two seventy. But, it's a huge trailer. And, just recently, we had
to send all that axle configuration to Modjeski and Masters, and they approve it.
They may say, "Well, you need another...you need an axle here". Or...
it doesn't fit for our bridge. And then, they'll make it work. I think, if memory serves me,
we had something, way back in history, it was a stripped down tank go across the bridge. Yeah.
We approved this, just so, actually, we cross the line from over the bridge.
Nobody knows what kind of bridge...(unintelligible)
Well, thank you for preparing for that answer, because, I'll tell you what, that didn't come off the top of your head! (laughter)
(laughter - cross talk - unintelligible) The notes get in the
way, though. (laughter) I brought out the original final draft there, and it's got
the technical aspect there, but I figured, if I started reading it...(interrupts): Why don't you give me a report on those? (laughter)
Where did you get report on that? No, I did some notes, but I figured if I read it out of there, you'd know
I was cheating. (laughter) Well, that was nice...(unintelligible)
No, Wade was concerned, and it had been brought up before. It's quite a
complicated thing to explain. You know, I try to do the best I can. Well, I appreciate that, I really do.
(incidental side conversation - unintelligible) Okay, I guess we're into...
Facilities Committee met today.
We had six issues at the Facilities Committee.
And, I'll turn it over to Mr. Davis, everything was approved.
And, we bring it to the full board for approval. I guess we'll start with the
finance report? Anything? We would have to give the report next...
meeting that we have. Okay. Do you have anything
that we should report on, Wade? No, not at this time.
We'll need to freshen up on these meetings eventually. for the new...negotiations
at some point in time. But, that's in the future...(unintelligible)
Okay. Any unfinished business? No, Sir. Okay, thank you, Fred.
The next part in the agenda here is, we have Wednesday, October 2nd. As our next meeting
date. I want to ask this question,
I was speaking with a bunch of staff people about, meeting in the morning, versus meeting in the afternoon.
How is it working here? You guys got to let us know on that.
Do we want to stay consistently, at four o'clock? Or, do you want to go back to mornings?
Whatever's convenient for everybody else. Afternoons were better for me, but...as long as I
have lead time. Doug? It doesn't matter to me.
You, Fred? Well, it's a lot easier in the winter time to have the meeting in the morning.
Rather than late at night. I don't have any problem with morning meetings.
But, just a suggestion: could we start them at eight o'clock? And, not have another committee
meeting prior to it? So that we're done by...so people that are working
don't lose their morning, and their afternoon. They'd lose...you know, so it's fair for them. We could do that.
It has nothing to do for me. Yeah. If we we're doing the mornings, that would be great, if we started at eight.
Okay. Then, if we have other meetings, we'll...(unintelligible). Why don't we schedule that for
Wade, eight o'clock in the morning? We'll do eight o'clock in morning meeting. For the Facilities
Committee meeting, if we need one of those, we'll pass it over to 7:30? If that will work?
Because, we generally have things that we...(interrupts): Well, we could do it the day before,
if Fred, and Don...I mean it's on a Monday. 7:30 is fine with me. 7:30?
That's probably the only the meeting that we really need to do that with. The other ones
at a later date. Yeah, because it generally seems like the Facilities Committee Meetings, always
have something that needs approval here. Now it should be prior to. And, we'll only need the half...
move it up to 8:30, or leave it there. Eight. Eight.
So, that's our preference.
Okay, let's have our business items. Now, is that going to be all the meetings, in the future? So, I can
change my calendar now? Say it again, Doug? All the meetings in the future, so I can change my calendar?
All the meetings. Okay, we've got three left. Yeah. Okay, so eight o'clock.
On the dates there.
There's a couple of agenda items, over on page 3. The first is a resolution referring to the use of
New York State Certified Crane Operators on all the bridge and the port authority property. Just a little bit of background there...
(interrupts): If I might back just for a minute. Earlier in our discussions of the..
we had a second, and a third, and...(unintelligible). So, you might want to
further explain about that. That's all. I just wanted to mention that to you.
Because, I don't have a problem, if you've got to change any further meetings I don't know if anybody else does. Without any
notification. Routes doesn't occur until ten four...(crosstalk - unintelligible)...
It's going to be okay. I just wanted to know.
Just to clue everybody in on what we're talking about. There is a unique
opportunity that's coming up to market the airport, at Las Vegas, for the
Routes Conference. That's where airlines go to match up with airports.
And, find new business. And, we...scheduled a series of meetings out there.
The first agenda item is agenda item A1. It's approval of a resolution of New York State Certified Crane Operators,
as I mentioned. The background on this is, New York State requires that to operate
a crane within the confines of the state, you have to be certified. By the New York State...
Department of Motor Vehicles. And, they have a certificate of competence that they issue. The authority
for this dates back many years. But, was actually enforced through general business laws
section 483, back in 2010. We're catching up with it,
and we need to have this in place. And, I do have some information here, if anybody's interested
in seeing what the requirements are. I'll pass that around, if anybody's interested.
But, we do need to have this, we brought it forth to the Facilities Committee, and it was approved to
bring it to the board. So, that means that any Longshoremen, and stuff that are working down there
on a windmill project, or something, they're all going to have to be certified. No, that's not correct. Because,
it deals with the confines of the State of New York. The ship is Longshoreman. The ship is
outside the State of New York. For cranes at the port, that applies
to cranes on the bridge, that applies to the cranes on, hopefully the rail bridge rehabilitation, if we're successful
in the grant for that work. That whole line is within the State of New York. One of the things
with these cranes, Doug, is it's a safety issue with most of the...to make sure the people are certified that's on there.
We don't have any of that out here. So, the state could walk up and see me on there, and if he doesn't ask me, I could be operating that
crane, and something comes up with it, and I'm not a licensed crane operator, we've got a major liability problem.
I agree with that, I like this. A lot of this, to your question, as far as...
this resolution doesn't look at who is what, or what they are, or if they're meeting guidelines.
All it looks for, is the certification, that he can operate that crane. He could be anybody.
But, on the other hand...with the longshoremen...
say, we want to rent six cranes, and we've decided to rent them unmanned, and we've got to
man them, then they're operating the...we give them that opportunity to participate. If they
don't have the licensed crane operators. What the Longshoremen have always done in the past, is they've
gone to the operating unions for that licensed crane operator. Because that's the only place that they could get them.
But, this will eliminate one thing that the bargaining people...
when we're bargaining with these companies, is to sit there, and say we're going to have somebody, standby...
because, if they bring you in, because you're on at the right pay, we've got to put those people in.
This should eliminate that. Eliminate that. I don't believe in that type of operation, to be very honest
with you. I don't believe that we should have standby people on this, doing that work. And, they're not
even qualified to do it, even. Well, that was my next question. If they're certified, do we need somebody standing by?
As far as I'm concerned, if they don't meet these qualifications, I'm not going to pay them to stand there and watch...
you know, as the have the company have to pay them. Or, us have to pay them.
How do you compete in that market? That's why, I wanted to...just say it. A lot of the rental companies
they want to use their own men, on their equipment. There again, I don't know how much
these things cost, but I'm going to guess they're high six figures, or they're low seven figures, and they don't want
some amateur taking care of it. I'll make that motion.
I'll second. Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor, signify by saying aye?
Aye. Any nays? No? Okay, agenda item B2,
on page four, has been replaced with one of the lease...
Approval of lease with Leslie Parish? Oh. scratch that.
My version is outdated, your version is correct. So, what this is, this is a Lease Agreement with
Leslie Parish. This is the ILS/OM facility that we have. We had a lease agreement
with Leslie Parish expires on September 30th. And, we need to renew for a one-year period at $325.
Is this the one that's got
Hayes? Is that what this is? Steve, do you want to describe this? It's a
facility that marks...
marking for the airport that we have to have. And, we integrate that...I believe that's
a mile out. Thank you.
I'll move that. Second, from Gavin. Any further discussion?
All those in favor, signify by saying aye? Aye. Agenda item B2,
is ratification of approval of a grant offer by the FAA Administration. FAA has been great to work with,
they've been extremely helpful. As you know, there's been a dysfunctional federal process this year.
We received a grant offer the other day, for 3.6 million
dollars. It's funded 95% by the FAA, 2.5%
by DOT, and 2.5% by OBPA for the runway rehab. We needed to
turn that around, and get that back to the FAA as soon as possible. When we did that,
and, we're open for ratification of that. I can see a position where we
will get a 3.6 million dollar grant from that. Okay, but this
motion was already...this resolution was already passed. Right? According to the
records here. This resolution...to true everything up, we need to have a ratification
that matches this resolution. In regard to what the facility's put through.
Right. My question was that...that we approved this...
back in early March, or something. We wrote back that the money was not enough, by the FAA,
but we still approved this...this portion. That we're going to have
double motions? See, that's what I'm asking. No. We accepted the bid, pending funding. This is the grant money.
Two different things. So, if this...well, why does it say down there that
I made the motion, and Steve seconded? Because, we had to put somebody in the motion, for a motion to
have a second, to provide a document to the FAA. I recommended...when Wade asked me to expedite this whole
thing, and get it done ASAP. Okay? And, I said, if somebody would put your personal,
Fred, and I sent it to Steve, now we could put it in the outs, okay, just to move that, because the discussion
I had with Steve. So, did we vote on this? No. We haven't done it. We're ready to do it right now. But, you're doing it now.
So, this motion is a tabled motion. No. This motion is a brand new motion,
for the grant agreement that was received last week, that was sent back to the FAA.
Fred, I think if you go back, you've invested, you've vested the authority for these guys to go out and get grants,
into the staff. The trouble is, you'd like to approve them all. They come in,
and you don't meet...in that...the short time frame. So, what you're doing, is you're doing...
not after the fact, but you've vested the authority, so you're now saying, "Yeah, you did it. Now we approve of what you've done." That's all.
That's why it's a ratification. It's a ratification. As opposed to a resolution. Normally, these things would be a resolution.
This is a ratification. We need to make the motion. I will make the motion
again. (laughter) Are you afraid of taking this? (laughter)
But junior there, wanted it! (laughter) I second. (laughter)
Okay. Very good. Any further discussion now? Just get it passed. Now, I'm off the hook.
Yeah, just let's it passed! (laughter)
All those in favor? Aye.
I'm not saying I want to see everything. I wasn't even here! (laughter)
Okay, you have the...(unintelligible)... now we're back to where we need to be. Over on page 6, agenda item B3,
is approval of the...let me back up here.
Order of processes. The first thing we need to do is accept the grant, the second thing we need to do is approve
the engineering design. And, the third thing we need to do is accept the bid. And, that's where we're...we're in the order.
The second thing, on page 3, is approval of lump sum agreement with C & S Engineers.
The cost on this, the cost not to exceed $680,000, on this
is the engineering side of the project.
(incidental side conversation - unintelligible)
Fred, do you want to make the motion?
I'll make the motion on it. All right, thank you. I'll second. Need a second? Doug seconds.
Any further discussion? All those in favor, signify by saying aye? Aye.
Heard all the ayes, that's good. Okay, next up, on page 7, is agenda item B4,
this is approval of contract with Barrett Paving Materials. For Alternate #3,
at $3,278,894. This was a bid that was received on
March 28, 2013. It was held, pending FAA funding.
...
They're the only two? Yes, there were only two bidders.
That was a bid back in March. That was bid back in March.
We did go over that in meetings. Does that meet our standards of them? (chuckles)
Well, the bid actually follows FAA standards. FAA. All right.
Now, if we didn't accept their bids,
back in March, this is from March, am I correct? This is March? Yes, this is the one...
(interrupts): We couldn't ask this to be re-bid, could we? If we thought on that not to accept this bid? Not at this stage,
it's all been accepted. (crosstalk - unintelligible) Mr. Chairman?
This is the second. This is the re-bid of last years. Right. I knew because of the...there was some
things that, Green Island could not meet. Right. And, we had to
discredit that bid for them. We went back out for a bid.
We went back, and these were the two bids that we got. Yes. And, that's why I was talking about the first motion,
was the fall back...the fall back, and Barrett agreed to that. So, that's
why I was trying to make sure that I was getting this puzzle straight. There's three pieces to it. Mr. Chairman,
I would make a motion to accept this resolution, as prepared here today.
I'll second. Ramona seconds, thank you. Any further discussions, comments? All those in favor,
signify by saying aye? Aye. Heard that. Okay, one quick procedural note, in the future,
you will see paperwork come through from New York State DOT, on this project, for the 2.5%. So, there's going to be
a spot on the way, for these...(unintelligible)...on the projects. And, you can see that contributions
page. On page 8, this is
approval of a contract with Kodiak America. The date is August 20, 2013.
We received the bids associated with that, three bids. This is the snow removal
project at the airport. Procedural note to explain here. This would be
accepted, pending FAA funding. FAA is coming up on the end of their fiscal year. They just got to
the process in order to where they can spend money. The contracts are coming out in rushed order.
We don't want to miss our opportunity to get this piece of equipment, should a grant offer arrive. So, this was
why, this one is pending funding by the FAA.
...
Okay, any motions?
I'll make that motion. Okay. I'll second. Gavin will second.
Is this to replace another piece of equipment? Yes, it does. So, do we...
sell the other piece of equipment? Or, do we need it, to we keep it as a back-up?
I think when it comes to that, it really hasn't...that's another one to decide. It's kind of a question...
the Chairman asked me. If we keep it, and it fails,
maybe we'd be better off selling it, and getting some money out of it. Than deal with,
you know, we've been fine with one snow blower all the time. It's a luxury to have two, but...
it's the reason we're getting a new one, is we don't want to just...the reliability isn't there. So, rather than
leave it, and not have it reliable, maybe it's time to salvage it, and send it off.
Have we ever used in an emergency, there's a plane coming and stuff, and we've got to, you know, get out and shovel that?
No. Or, do you just cancel the plane. They just cancel, yeah. Generally, if the weather's that
bad, they really, it just slows right up, we just don't have the...(interrupts): You don't have a port of exit, that type of thing. Right.
Okay. I was thinking if we two, I mean, you say, we've got to go here.
Let's go. But, that wouldn't be the case? No.
Unless you were released on their care. (chuckles) Yeah. Let them go down. (chuckles)
Well, one of the questions we asked at the Facility meeting was about friction tests. And, that's something we're getting to. Yes.
As far as...if there's a piece of equipment out there, that tests for friction.
That's another thing. Any further questions,
comments? Yeah, just one point, I know this is pending FAA funding, what do you think the chance of
our getting those funds? I think the chances are very good. What FAA is trying to do...
they're trying to...get an entire year's worth of funding out the door.
In less than a two month period. They really have to work that out. Is it October 1st, or October 31st date?
I haven't checked that yet. I think it's the end it. (crosstalk - unintelligible)
I know it's coming up really quick. Yeah.
Thank you. You're welcome. All those in favor, signify by saying aye? Aye.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.