Council member moves to approve airport land lease; staff report taxiway, AWOS, auction and fuel updates

An unnamed council member moved to approve an airport land lease offering the best bid at $65.51 per acre — $36,685.60 annually — during the City Council meeting in Alva. The meeting record provided in the transcript does not show a second or a roll-call vote on the motion.

The motion was introduced as the council reviewed several operational updates from airport staff. Airport staff reported completed and ongoing taxiway work, saying: "Taxiway struck phase 1 alpha bravo. We did as of today. We just initiated phase 2 with Bravo 1 And 4 reopened and Bravo 2 And 3 closed." The staff member also said a newly installed jetty tank "is not secured yet, and we're waiting on electrical."

Airport staff described a communications problem with the automated weather observing system, telling the council: "What's AOS update. I am working the problem through the manual on my end to see if I can figure out the issue. I would contact AWOS directly as well as find out what phone line we're using for that. If it's an a a former AT and T line that either 1 needs to be refurbished or or brought back or if we need to look at other telecommunication options for that since it's hard to know we're not using AT and T. I would I can work on that and get back to you with that." The remark indicates staff are diagnosing a line or telecom provider issue; no timeline for repair was given in the transcript.

Staff also reported routine grounds and facility work around the hangar area: "We got with city members and got the area around Round Top Kinged up the hangar, off winged up some sand rod in that area, salt new pipe, as well as, started our mowing operations." The airport manager said financial statements had been supplied but that they could not meaningfully comment until they had been on the job longer.

The council heard about an unsuccessful online auction of airport equipment. As reported, "we put it on our auction site for a month and the highest bids we got was $13,000. Just 14. So, so we're gonna come up with option b." Staff said they were exploring other options to recover funds, including alternate sale platforms and potential trades with other city departments. On that topic one speaker suggested using the truck as a trade: "Is there a, vehicle of some kind that the city needs, that they could use our truck as a trainee?" Staff said they had located a tandem-axle dump truck in Kansas and were exploring payment schedules and trades with the street department.

Fuel pricing at the airport also drew discussion. One council member said the board had proposed a change to fuel markups and recounted recent percentage targets: "I do a great job so far. You got to do work... Honestly. So mayor Parker and I worked a couple weeks ago. Yes. We came up with, reasonable percentages, above what we pay for our gas to set our prices at... I think it's about 35 for jet a, 20% for Avgas..." In later remarks a figure was referenced plainly: "What was this? 15¢ increase in Avgas and a 4¢ increase in Jet A. So That's the reason." Staff said they would calculate the percentages and try to set competitive prices while avoiding pricing themselves out of business.

The transcript shows the motion to approve the land lease was made but does not record a second or the outcome. The meeting moved on to remarks and citizen inquiries afterward.

Ending: The council left follow-up items with staff to continue diagnosing the AWOS line issue, secure the jetty tank installation, evaluate alternatives for auctioned equipment, and finalize fuel pricing calculations. The transcript does not record a final vote on the land-lease motion or a timeline for the remaining staff tasks.