Newest North Cedar Aviation Authority member Kamm elected chair

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Doug Kamm sat in on his first meeting as the new member of the North Cedar Airport Authority Wednesday afternoon, but it was a familiar role.

Kamm was also elected as the chair by the other members of the organization, which owns and operates the Northeast Iowa Regional Airport.

Kamm was recently appointed to the position by Charles City Mayor Dean Andrews and approved by the City Council. Kamm replaces Jeff Sisson, who had announced he was retiring from his position as member and chair of the aviation authority at the end of the fiscal year, June 30.

Kamm has been a member of the aviation authority before – he was one of the original three members appointed to the board when it was created in 2006. The aviation authority was formed to replace the previous Charles City Airport Commission to allow Charles City and Floyd County to share in the financial support and representation for the airport.

The original three members of the authority were Sisson and Kip Hauser, representing the city, and Kamm, representing the county. Hauser is still a member of the board.

Kamm served until 2010, when he was replaced on the board because he had moved into an incorporated city in the county and could no longer represent the rural county area according to the organization’s bylaws.

Kamm was later elected a county supervisor that year, and when he took office in 2011 he became the county Board of Supervisors’ non-voting representative to the board.

Kamm is now one of the two Charles City appointees on the three-member authority, along with fellow Charles City appointee Hauser and rural Floyd County appointee Cathy McGregor.

Also at the authority meeting Wednesday, the board:

• Heard reports that the Lions Club Fly-In Breakfast held Sunday morning was a success, with about 30 planes flying in, about 110 airplane rides given and about 500 people served pancakes. Airport Manager Bill Kyle said numbers were down a little from last year, but he appreciates the Lions holding the event at the airport and giving people a chance to visit.

Highlights this year were breakfast sausage from the Ionia Locker and Tosanak maple syrup donated by Floyd County Conservation. Hauser said the Tosanak Recreation Area maple syrup group had produced about 170 gallons of maple syrup from the sap harvested from Tosanak’s maple trees – the largest amount ever, with about 120 gallons being the previous record.

Hauser said Floyd County Conservation would donate syrup to other non-profit groups holding pancake fundraisers as long as they allowed the group to have a table at the event to sell bottles of the syrup. Floyd County Supervisor Dennis Keifer said they sold about $500 of bottled syrup at the fly-in breakfast Sunday.

• Heard from airport consultants that the runway rehabilitation project on the primary 12/30 paved runway was complete and as soon as the project was signed off it would begin a one-year warranty period.

• Discussed the need to begin updating the airport’s layout plan, typically a 20-year plan dealing with all of the airport’s facilities as required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

• Heard the the airport had been tentatively approved for a $30,000 state grant toward replacing the HVAC system in the airport’s main building. Total project cost was estimated at $40,000.