Heber City councilmembers convened the evening of Nov. 6 for a special meeting to discuss hangar leases at the Heber Valley Airport.
A hangar is essentially a garage for an airplane. City attorney Jeremy Cook said the meeting was called to resolve some disagreements with leaseholders about the correct form for renting hangars.
City staff couldn’t find a record that the council had formally adopted a standard lease form, and Cook said that needed to change quickly.
“It hasn’t had time to go through a process we think is going to be important in the future,” he said. “We strongly suggest that we follow that process and make sure that we give the AAB time to vet this. But we also think it’s very important to have something in place, because we, right now, have a number of issues about what the form is.”
The rush to approve a new lease agreement came because a handful are running out, and the city needs to figure out how to handle contracts that are ending or need to be renewed.
The AAB is the Airport Advisory Board, and some of its members were unhappy with how the city handled the meeting.
Board chair Jason Talley said he was concerned that the city was moving forward without input from the AAB. He said that was a reversal from his earlier conversations with city staff.
“You asked that we go through and refine the proposed lease, and then we would hold a joint work session with the AAB and the council to discuss our recommendations,” he said. “On Oct. 8, we convened our AAB meeting and went through the lease, page by page and line by line – it was arduous.”
Talley said he scheduled a special board meeting for early December to work with city staff on the lease language and even asked city and airport leaders if that date would be okay. He speculated the closed session directly before the public meeting was a “ruse” to adopt a “potentially flawed” lease form.
“This isn’t even the same lease that we contemplated and considered at the AAB,” he said. “Listen, I don’t like the fact that I’m up here and arguing with city staff. But I’m concerned about transparency, process and honorable government accountability.”
He asked the council to consider several changes, including increasing the lease length from five years to 20, adding the right for hangar tenants to renew their leases, and allowing current leaseholders to renew using the language that was formerly on the airport website.
He also asked the city to remove a section in the lease that would transfer any abandoned “improvements and personal property” to the city’s ownership.
Talley wasn’t the only unhappy local at the meeting.
Jeff Peterson rents a hangar at the airport and was previously on its advisory board. He said he was concerned the city council would vote on the new lease without really knowing what was in it.
“Push it off for 60 days,” he said. “Give a directive to the AAB and to the staff to have it done in 60 days. During that time, you don’t have to accept any new contracts, and so no one is hurt at this time.”
Councilmember Mike Johnston said he thought 120 days would be more appropriate to work out the details, agreeing with a suggestion from Councilmember Yvonne Barney.
“I like some of the suggestions that I’ve heard from Chairman Talley, and I’d like to vet those, and I think it will take longer than a month or two,” he said.
However, city manager Matt Brower said that wouldn’t solve the problem of the current contracts due for renewal, because the city needs to know the terms of those leases.
In the end, Councilmember Scott Phillips made a motion to incorporate Talley’s proposed changes to the lease form. The council also voted to extend the leases that are due for renewal until March 31, 2026.
That will give leaders a few months to make any adjustments to the standard lease form.
Heber City is a financial supporter of KPCW.
