11.18.22 Board Minutes

3rd FLOOR BOARD ROOM
November 18, 2022

BOARD MEETING MINUTES

Board members present: Madam Chair H. Hill, C. Salmonsen, Ted Fienning. Mayor Haynie, J. Heyward, R. Jerome, R. Jerue (Proxy), Rhonda Jerome (Proxy), T. Pryor, R. Sanyal, and P. Thurmond.

Staff members and other guests present: E. Summey, S. Pryor, H. Peña, M. Ahasic, A. Bruner, E.. Cavadias, C. Campbell (CVS), C. Connolly, G. Davis (Mauldin & Jenkins), C. Drummond, G. Edwards (CVB), G. Ferguson, A. Goodstein, T. Griffis (SC Biz), B. James, C. Helms, C. Malacara, T. Manigault, D. Mitchell, D. Morrow (via phone), Sachin Patel, B. Query, T. Robertson, S. Smith, L. Turner and Warren Wise (P&C).

1. Madam Chair H. Hill called the meeting to order at 12:35pm
2. The Invocation was given by Chair Helen Hill
3. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Cheyenne Malacara, Social Media Specialist
4. Chair Hill welcomed new Board Member, Ted Fienning, and shared background information with everyone. Mr. Fienning' s complete bio can be found on CCAA's website.
5. MINUTES:
   09.16.21 Board Meeting Minutes
   Ravi Sanyal moved, seconded by Charlie Salmonsen that the Authority approve the minutes of the Board Meeting on September 16, 2021. The motion was unanimously adopted.
6. EMPLOYEE RELATIONS: Spencer Pryor, Deputy Executive Director & COO asked that each department head recognize their new employees: Hernan Pena, Deputy Executive Director & COO introduced Sachin Patel, our new Director of Information Technology; Brian Query has been transferred from Police Department where he served-as Captain and promoted to Director of Airside Operations; Chief Helms introduced Tommie Robertson, our newly hired Police Captain; and Trenlta Manigault Is newly hired as our Public Safety Tele Communicator. Paul Thurmond asked the status of filling vacant positions. Both S, Pryor and leonitta Turner, Director of HR shared the progress made thus far. E. Summey commended the HR Team for their great work ir1 getting positions filled.
7. E. Summey gave the F1Aance Report FY'22 1" Quarter. He shared our new A+ Rating; this A+ rating Is very important because we will need to borrow money for our capital projects, CCAA continues to keep operating expenses low. Shared revenue vs ex_penses: advertising is up 17%; and concessions are up 2%. Also shared enplanements in comparison to 2019. The full presentation is on file.
   Paul Thurmond asked if TSA is caught up with their hiring given the crowds expected during this holiday season. Director Summey: Everyone is worki'ng together with Dave McMahon. Our police department are all working with our curbside attendants. We are ahead of it.
   Paul Thurmond asked if we are back up at 100% with concessions. Director Summey: The goal is January. Austin Bruner, Corporate Counsel Is currently working through some contractual matters. We need to make sure that we can deliver the type of space they need. We hope to announce a refresh In January.
   Chair Hill: One of the great things that has happened is Director Summey and TSA Director, Dave McMahon have formed a partnership. CCAA helping TSA to forecast is good for them and it helps us. Thank you, Chief Helms for always jumping in to assist TSA.
8. B. James introduced Grant Davis, Mauldin & Jenkins A draft update was shared. The final report is 95% complete and will be shared once It Is ready for distribution.
9. Director Summey introduced Mark Ahasic, President of Ahasic Aviation Advisors, LLC Gate Utilization Maximization Study: Findings and Recommendations. As we look at current growth and what's coming, we asked Mark to look at our infrastructure and share findings and recommendations on how do we make the most of what we have now and how do we continue to grow and pull triggers when we need to.
   The full presentation Is on file.
   
   Chair Hill: Shared her appreciation for the Director's hard work and the opportunities now available to CCAA.
   
   Director/CEO Summey: We are going to change how we manage our gates; the real work begins; we need to figure out how to build a new Operations Room. We need a lot of technology from Sachin Patel, Director of IT and how we are going to physically watch and manage these gates. We have the software we just need to turn It on. We also need to build a dispatch room to be able to watch these gates 24/7. When its peak time, we need to create more capacity to increase our business. Madam Chair and Mayors, your roles are to attract people to come here. Flights are full. Breeze has proven that you can start a business in Charleston. They are outperforming what they said they were going to do. In the next several months, we will share small capital improvement projects to build out the back of the house infrastructure that we need to increase our capacity. We have to look at the ticket hall and our TSA cueing area. Discussions are already underway with TSA Director Dave McMahon and Sachin Patel. We will be going out to Washington, DC to meet with TSA to look at new technologies.
   
   Rhonda Jerome: Do you expect any blow back from the airlines?
   
   Director Summey: Sure. It will be uncomfortable for-some but if you go anywhere outside the US, this is the way folks are doing things. It will take months to implement but we want to get started now. We've started conversations with Delta, Breeze and Southwest.
   
   Paul Thurmond expressed the areas in which we still need to be conscientious of: Concessions, parking. TSA, and gates. As we are making these changes, we need to make sure that the consultation includes those areas as well so that we ensure that those experiences are the same. Director/CEO Summey agreed saying that we cannot lose what makes us special.
10. Deputy Director & COO Spencer Pryor -Employee Relations:
    Shared the Annual Workplace Giving Campaign was spear headed again by Deni Mitchell. We were able to raise a combined total of $5,000 for American Red Cross and Trident United Way. We thank all our employees who participated; New furniture In the atrium has been delivered and we will budget for the ticketing area so that we have a complete match; Lastly, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around the airport. All the decorations are up.
    
    Director Summey announced that we have updated our Employee Handbook; Juneteenth has been added as a holiday here at CCAA. This falls In line with all the federal holidays. We are going to adopt a merit-based incentive for employees. It is not in this budget cycle, but it will be in next years' budget.
    
    Chair Hill closed with a prediction that CCAA is going to have a record year.
11. The meeting was adjourned at 1:36pm