- by Gord Price
This is your current Owen Sound City Council. These people were 31 years younger when their predecessors signed binding lease agreements with airport investors. Now, they have exposed the city to a massive legal action for breach of their airport lease agreements and fiduciary responsibilities.
The Owen Sound Billy Bishop Regional Airport was established in 1990 with the aid of substantial Federal and Provincial Government funding. The City owns the airport. This Council is not maintaining the airport adequately nor planning for the future.
Council convinced some investors to lease land at the airport and build hangars on the leased land. In return the investors were given 40-year leases and permitted to store their aircraft in the hangar. The hangar is accessed by means of a runway, the same as your garage is accessed by means of a road. The lease rate was established and is subject to an annual cost of living increase. Taxes on the leased land are paid by the lessee.
Council is responsible for the continued existence of the airport until the leases expire in 2045 and beyond.
This Council is not maintaining the airport and has not planned for the inevitable capital costs.
If you own a house, you plan on an eventual new roof. If you own an airport you plan on eventual runway repaving. There was a fund for runway repaving when that day comes, but the city raided the fund and left it empty.
Instead of maintaining the runway and terminal building they have let them deteriorate. By not funding airport maintenance they are able to paint a rosier budget picture for the taxpayer. This could cost lives.
Now this Council is in a panic. They have chosen to ignore the lease agreements signed by their predecessors and charge their lessors $35 to access their aircraft. This is a violation of the lease agreements. Imagine if you were charged $35 every time you accessed your car.
In addition, this Council has chosen to demonize their airport investors by calling them entitled, boycotters and demanding to know why they won’t pay the $35 access fee since they can afford it! Council members compare the airport to a Yacht Club, which is just plain irresponsible.
The airport is used by the public, military, air ambulance, coast guard and OPP, an onsite aircraft maintenance facility, a flight school and lastly the airport investors (hangar owners). It is the part of the transportation infrastructure which this Council is ignoring.
Because of the $35 landing fee, private aircraft traffic is down 95% from last year and fuel sales have been reduced accordingly. Pilots, just like everyone else, shop for cheap gas. They will not pay $35 to land for gas.
This Council is making wild, erratic decisions. This is very concerning.
The City manager stated that the $35 landing fee will raise an additional $100,000 in annual income. That is sheer nonsense! It has been in effect for 3 months. Where is the extra $25,000?
They lowered the Commercial landing fee to $75 from $150. Why would anyone wanting to raise income, lower these fees?
The amount Council charged for a restaurant lease did not even cover the cost of utilities included.
Council failed to notice that a restaurant tenant had not paid rent for a year before locking the door.
Council failed to have someone clean up the kitchen grease left by the tenant 2 years ago. It is still there.
The last time Council funded the runway crack filling maintenance, the bill was $12,500. Council only paid $7000. The outstanding $5500 was paid by donations from the leaseholders (hangar owners).
This Council just hired a new airport management firm, which will substantially increase the cost of managing the airport.
This Council has set the land lease rate for new hangar construction at $1.56 per square foot instead of the current $0.45 per square foot. The result of that flawed decision is that no hangars have been built for over 5 years.
I personally attended the Council meeting on the 28th of June and made a deputation of behalf of the leaseholders.
In that deputation I asked 5 questions and made 10 suggestions on how to improve the airport operating deficit.
Council members allowed me to speak and even thanked me; however, no one even acknowledged my questions or suggestions.
They did, however, lecture me, demanded to know why I would not pay $35 to land because….” I could afford it” and then they defended their staff’s poor decisions.
All my efforts went right over their heads. I might as well have been speaking to a brick wall.
The airport situation continues to deteriorate. It will take years to repair the damage caused by the $35 landing fee and other plainly questionable decisions.
The following is from the Owen Sound Police Website:
“The Owen Sound Police Service were called to the scene of a collision on Thursday 9 July at approximately 11:30 a.m., where it was reported that a cement truck had collided with a small vehicle at the intersection of 16th Street East and 9th Avenue East, Owen Sound.
Emergency services arrived to assist, which included having to extricate the driver from the smaller vehicle. The driver was transported to Grey Bruce Health Services by EMS and later air lifted by Ornge to Victoria Hospital in London, where the driver remains with serious injuries.“
This story could have been much different without our airport. The weather was below landing limits at the hospital, so the helicopter landed at the Owen Sound Airport, which has a proper bad weather approach system and the required jet fuel.
The Owen Sound Billy Bishop Regional Airport is 5 minutes from the Owen Sound hospital.
Your airport could be a factor in saving your life. How much is that worth?
The election is coming up.
Now is time to consider a more progressive Council. A Council that can see the bigger picture, including the importance of a Regional Airport; a Council of integrity that lives up to their obligations; a Council that responds positively to offers of assistance from stakeholders instead of blindly following bad advice.
