4/2/2002 LRAPA meeting minutes

The Little River Pilot's Association met at the Little River airport office
from 9 to 10:30am on April 6, 2000. Dave Thorpe, Dick Ahrens, Merlin (Barry
Weiss), Elly van den Bosch, Tim Scully and Roy Trillia attended the meeting.

We discussed a proposal to establish a campground at the airport for air
camping. Although the old fireman's park location is very pretty, we agreed
that a site in the non-aviation area, opposite the new Fireman's Park would
probably be more likely to work. We discussed fencing, liability insurance,
garbage collection, transportation, etc. The idea of renting bicycles was
raised and rejected. In the end, we decided that security concerns
are too high in the post-9.11 world for a campground to work now. We agreed to
keep this idea on the back burner for reconsideration if security concerns
become less of an issue.

We then discussed setting up a pilot shop in the airport office. Dave has
offered to manage this on the days when he has the office open. Dick 
suggested that Dave should get a 10-20% commission. Dave firmly rejected this
idea saying that the idea won't work if any of us are personally paid. It
must be an unpaid volunteer effort. he said that if he were paid, it would
be a conflict of interest.

Dick Ahrens said we'll need a resale license, a County business license and
an airport business permit. As LRAPA treasurer, he offed to do the bookeeping.
Tim offered to do purchasing.

We agreed that the shop would only be open 5 days a week, when the airport
office is open. We disussed building a small display case. We agreed that
we'd sell for cash or checks only, no credit cards. We agreed to mark prices
in round numbers with taxes included, to minimize dealing with coins. A simple
cash box and a receipt book will be used.

Dick estimated overhead at about 12% and asked what markup we should use.
Numbers ranging from 30% to 100% were mentioned but I don't think a figure
was agreed on.

We discussed selling t-shirts, sweat shirts, caps, maps, cups, pens,
pencils and possibly candy bars and/or muffins (from Costco). Postcards,
books on the Mendocino area, hikes, places to go and Mac's glass sculptures
were also mentioned as possible merchandise.

Of course, the big question is, can we get an airport permit for this 
proposed business. Tim took an action item to write a draft letter to
DOT and to circulate it to the LRAPA membership for comments. The draft
letter is appended below.


------------------ rough draft for comment ------------------------

                                Little River Airport Pilots Association
                                Tim Scully
 
Chuck Boyer
Deputy Director
Department of Transportation
340 Lake Mendocino Drive
Ukiah, CA 95482-9432

   Dear Chuck:

I'm writing to you as president of the Little River Airport Pilots
Association (LRAPA). LRAPA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation formed
in 1996 by pilots at Little River Airport. The organization's purpose
is to advance public understanding and interest in beneficial use of
aviation in California and specifically at Little River Airport. We have
completed a number of volunteer projects to help out at the airport over
the years, including filling in for the airport supervisor from time to time,
improving and painting the airport ops building, surveying trees, painting
the posts around the new fuel tank, etc. All LRAPA members are unpaid
volunteers.

LRAPA would like to become more active in raising money to help pay for
airport improvements. For example, we have been discussing the idea of
two webcams, one looking each way down the runway.

We would like to obtain an airport permit to operate a small pilot shop
in a corner of the airport ops building. We propose to do this with unpaid
volunteer labor, with all profits after taxes to go toward LRAPA airport
improvement projects. Dave Thorpe is an LRAPA member and believes he can
operate the shop without interfering with his duties as airport supervisor.
Other LRAPA members will do purchasing, bookkeeping, cleanup, etc. also
on an unpaid basis. The hours of operation would be the same as the 
airport office hours. The "shop" would consist of a small display case,
a cashbox and a receiptbook.

We plan on selling t-shirts, sweat shirts, caps, aviation maps, cups, pens,
pencils (all with the LRAPA logo) and possibly candy bars and/or muffins
(from Costco). Postcards, books on the Mendocino area, hikes, places to go 
and some local craftwork are also possible merchandise.

Do you forsee any difficulty obtaining an airport permit for this activity?
Can you tell me what else we need to do to apply for an airport permit? 

Respectfully Yours,


Tim Scully, Ph.D.
President, LRAPA

---------------------- end draft letter ------------------------------------