From the Director's Desk

Have you ever attended a "needs meeting" for your airport? Nearly two thirds of Minnesota's publicly owned airports have completed their needs meetings for this first cycle. What is a Needs Meeting you might ask? Well, many people know what a Capital Improvement Program (CIP) is, but in case you aren't sure, a CIP is used to plan and program the projects that will preserve and develop Minnesota's system of publicly-owned airports. Airport Needs Meetings are a larger, more detailed conversation including a wider range of topics than the traditional CIP.

At a Needs Meeting, we'd like to learn the airport sponsor's view on: existing airport conditions, financial support, technical support, community vision, navigation systems and a 20 year future!

The larger conversation involves more participants. This is when we'd like to see representation from the local government including:

• Elected Officials (City/County) / Airport Board Members

• Zoning Administrator and/or Local Planner

• City Administrator or City Clerk

• Airport Manager

• Airport Consultant

MnDOT's office of Aeronautics staff will include:

• The Director (Cassandra) or Assistant Director (Kathy)

• Airport Development Regional Team Member

• Regional Planner

• Aviation Representative

With more people involved in the meeting, and a wider range of topics, it is likely the meeting could take between two and three hours to complete, depending upon the interest of the participants and the complexity of the issues.

The things we can learn from talking to the decision makers in your airport and community will help us develop a more complete picture of Minnesota's airport system needs. We'll use that picture to better inform other partners at MnDOT, the State Legislature, the FAA, and our US Congress.

For those who haven't yet had a Needs Meeting, we look forward to hearing from you about possible days/times to meet with you. Thanks. Have a great holiday season.