DeKalb Times

City of DeKalb Airport Advisory Board met July 23.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

Chairman Bob Owens called the meeting to order at 7:03pm

Roll Call: Paul Borek, Matt Duffy, Melissa Gallagher, Gary Hanson, Bob Owens, Bernie Pupino, Jim Rhoades.

Absent: N/A

Guests: Mayor Jerry Smith, City Manager Bill Nicklas, Jack Penning, Dan Pape, Yadira Verastegui

APPROVAL OF AGENDA – Motion Jim Rhoades. Seconded by Bernie Pupino. Motion passed.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION –

APPROVAL OF MINUTES – Motion by Paul Borek. Seconded my Bernie Pupino. Motion passed.

OLD BUSINESS – Melissa Gallagher, the new Airport Advisory Board member, introduced herself. She’s a Coordinator: Short-Term Training & Continuing Education at Kishwaukee College.

NEW BUSINESS –

Presentation and Discussion on Updated Airport Marketing Plan

Airport Advisory Board Chairman, Bob Owens introduced Jack Penning from Volaire Aviation to the Airport Advisory Board (AAB). Jack Penning gave a presentation which consisted of updates for the Airport Marketing Plan. In the plan, Jack covered the survey results, brand recommendations, marketing goals and objectives, advertising messages, and tactics and ideal budget.

Jack began his presentation with the survey results. The survey showed that there was a total of 61 responses and only 30 of the responses were complete. The survey covered some of the following questions: “What do you call the airport?”, Who operates the airport?”, “What can the airport do to raise awareness?”, etc. The survey showed a few interesting points that would lead on to the next topic and discussion.

After presenting the survey results Jack went on to give his recommendations. First recommendation was on the name of the Airport. He suggested to remove “Municipal” from the name. This brought up into discussion on potential names for the airport. A few questions were also asked on why not consider “executive” or “regional” as part of the name. Second recommendation was whether to remove or to de-emphasize “Taylor”. Although the name “Taylor” has some ties to the town and the Taylor family, it is not well known outside of the DeKalb community. Some future brand options Jack presented were “DeKalb Airport at Taylor Field” or “DeKalb Airport” with changing the branding but keeping the current name. This topic brought into discussion on what would be best for the airport in terms of the name and how much would it cost to change the name and the length of the process.

Jack went on to present the marketing goals and objectives. First goal was to raise awareness about the airport. This brought up the discussion on why it’s important to grow awareness within the community. Second goal was on transient traffic. Third goal was on the business development; whether it is future energy, low cost land leases, small-scale industrial, agricultural, or future energy. This topic brought into discussion about considering to grow cannabis on airport property as a business development. Further discussion is needed on all the topics covered in the presentation.

City Manager Bill Nicklas commented that the TIF District that the airport is a part of will be closing next year. Projects need to be completed if possible. The airport uses TIF funding for the City’s 5% share of federally funded major airport projects.

AIRPORT MANAGERS REPORT –

Airport Manager Tom Cleveland gave an insight on how fuel sales are going. Jet A sales are going well with the few cargo planes that have been coming in this month. Oshkosh airshow event taking place up in Wisconsin has been helping bring in traffic these last few days with people traveling to and from Oshkosh; so Avgas sales have been doing very well this month.

Balloon Fest recap – estimated number of attendees to the Balloon Fest 1,500 people including volunteers/staff.

MOTION TO ADJOURN – Motion to Adjourn made by Bernie Pupino. Second by Matt Duffy. Motioned passed.

Meeting adjourned at 8:10pm

https://www.cityofdekalb.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_07232019-1659