The CEO of a Tampa, Fla.-based aviation management
company said the city of Yakima misunderstood its proposal for taking
over operations and management of the Yakima Air Terminal.
Michael Hodges’ claim comes days after the city of Yakima rejected bids from ABS Aviation, as well as the Yakima airport staff, in favor the airport becoming a department within the city of Yakima.
Hodges said he felt that the city’s decision was based on unclear information surrounding a fee mentioned in its proposal.
While ABS’ proposed $540,000 annual fee included
payment for its services, most of the funds were to be used to cover
labor and personnel costs, Hodges said. The fee was competitive
considering that the airport spent upward of $700,000 annually on
personnel in the past, Hodges said in a phone interview Friday.
Hodges sent a follow-up letter
to city officials to provide additional information on the fee, but he
ultimately felt his company was not given a sufficient chance to flesh
out its proposal. He said he was surprised the decision was made without
any in-person interviews and said it caused him to wonder if the
airport was to become a city department all along.
Yakima City Manager Tony O’Rourke said he solicited
the proposals to see if privatizing airport management and operations
was a viable option.
The selection committee that reviewed the proposals —
which includes O’Rourke, officials from the city, Yakima County and the
airport — asked for additional information from ABS Aviation to clarify
a few points. Other than the follow-up letter elaborating on the fee,
the company did not send any other information, O’Rourke said.
More important, O’Rourke said, was that ABS was not
willing to take responsibility for both the profit and losses of the
airport. He cited a point in ABS Aviation’s proposal stating that the city would be responsible for any financial shortfall.
ABS Aviation “failed the initial test — (it) would
not take any ownership of the profit and losses of the facility.
Period,” O’Rourke said.
Hodges took issue with that claim.
While the proposed monthly fee would provide the
company with some income, the lion’s share of its revenue would come
from a proposed incentive payment tied to reaching mutually agreed
benchmarks on items such as increasing revenues and reducing expenses.
Such incentives were briefly outlined in a cover letter introducing the company’s proposal.
“We had an incentive in that situation to maximize revenue and control expenses,” Hodges said.
Still, O’Rourke believes making the airport a city
department is the right choice. “If we’re going to be exposed to losses,
then we’re going to run it,” he said.
Rob Peterson, interim airport manager, said he
believe the bid process was fair, and the decision to become a city
department was also ideal as most of the staff would likely remain in
their current positions.
“I believe it will be more efficient to streamline the requests for maintenance and operations (to the city),” Peterson said.
Before the airport becomes a city department,
however, the city of Yakima still needs to complete efforts to secure
sole ownership of the 825-acre facility. The city is working out an
agreement with Yakima County, a co-owner.
But O’Rourke knows what he would like to see. Under
his plan, Peterson would focus on day-to-day operations while he would
oversee strategic goals such as air service development and completion
of an airport master plan update.
O’Rourke said he would work on cutting expenses to stay within budget until revenue-generating opportunities come along.
“I’m more than happy to accept responsibility for the profits and losses of the airport,” he said.
Source: http://www.yakimaherald.com
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