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| Volume
10 Issue 03 Newsletter
Editor: Will
Herman
OCTOBER 2003 |
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The
Prez Sez
Hi Folks,
Some exiting things
are happening for Mesquite Modelers; I'll start off with the easy things,
and progress from there. Please don't forget that at this month's (October's)
club meeting we need to nominate both the club officers for next year and
the five folks who will form the executive council. I ask that you consider
your nominations carefully and nominate and vote accordingly. And remember
that the council's job is to advise the club officers on really tough issues,
so these need to be very knowledgeable folks.
On 16 September Tom
Fenn, Ray Kervahn and I met with the City Manager and several council members
to discuss the lack of maintenance at Bollin Field. We presented the City
folks with the following paper: Issue: City Maintenance at Bollin
Field, a City Park, has been non-existent for the past year.
Specific Requirements:
Annual Bollin Field maintenance requirements are:
Grading and sealing
the runway. When this maintenance is not accomplished, thousands
of dollars of damage is done to aircraft and engines. This process
is required at a minimum annually, but has only been done one out of the
recent three years. Alternative pave the runway.
Vegetation control
(mowing & spraying). This was accomplished by the City last year, but
not this year. This was accomplished by the members, at their expense.
Insect control (ants)
Again, not done by the City this year. The members had to do this themselves,
after the runway was practically unusable due to huge red ant infestations.
Safety fence maintenance
(insurance requirement). Safety fence is rapidly deteriorating. This
fencing was last replaced four years ago.
Driveway maintenance.
The driveway has a number of yuccas growing in it, and needs additional
gravel. We have asked for the gravel on two occasions, and told there was
no money for that.
East Dake Road (the
City Portion). The City portion of East Dake Road is the only unpaved portion
of that roadway, and with the recent addition of the sewer line, now constitutes
a travel hazard. Whereas before the sewer line the roadway could be graded
occasionally, now the manholes make that impossible, creating a travel
hazard to the City. The dust created by traffic on East Dake Road has often
impacted funerals in progress at the cemetery, and regularly affects visitors
to that facility.
Impact: Bollin Field
continues to stand out as the only City Park not being maintained by the
City. We find that ironic, and we can only surmise that this is because
of it's remoteness and isolation (out of sight is out of mind). We see
no such challenge with the other City Parks, as they appear well maintained.
Other parks also have addressed and provided health and safety items such
as drinking water and shade, while Bollin Field has been ignored.
Potential City Liability
Issue: Most members of Mesquite Modelers (nine out of ten) are over sixty
years of age and in poor health. Working these folks as hard as is required
to maintain Bollin Field (vice the City doing it's job) without proper
shade or water runs a risk of heart attack or stroke. In that situation
we feel that would open the issue of lawsuits being filed against the City.
As a result of this
presentation, the City has accepted two due out issues - the first is that
they owe us a maintenance plan NLT 15 Oct, detailing what they can do and
will do for maintenance actions. Second, within ninety days they will propose
the terms to lease Bollin Field to Mesquite Modelers how about that!
I ask that you carefully
consider these items, as they most likely will have significant financial
repercussions for the Club. The first item will determine how much the
City will spend cleaning up Bollin Field, but also how much we will do.
The second item is a long range proposal to do any and all maintenance
and capital improvements to Bollin Field throughout the period of the lease
(we have told the City that we are not interested in a lease of less than
ten years).
My sincere thanks to
both Ray and Tom for their solid support on these ssues with the City.
I could not have done it without them!
Until next month, make
sure the wheels are pointed downward before landing!
Bill.
Club Meeting
The next meeting of
the MMRCC is scheduled for October 2, 2003 at 7:00 P.M at the Northrop-Grumman
facility. |
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