Moses Lake officials ask port to take over municipal airport

MOSES LAKE — Port of Moses Lake commissioners have asked for more information before deciding whether or not to accept a proposal from Moses Lake city officials to assume ownership of the Moses Lake Municipal Airport. Moses Lake City Manager Kevin Fuhr requested that the port take over the municipal airport at a commission meeting Monday.

Moses Lake City Council members approved a resolution declaring the airport as surplus during the Nov. 14 council meeting. 

“The reason we’re coming to you is that we’re not necessarily in the airport business. You guys are,” Fuhr said. “So running it as an airport, I think you guys could do a lot more efficiently than we can. And you have the resources already in place to do, probably, some of the things that (airport leaseholders) would like to see done that we don’t.”

Commissioner Kent Jones expressed some reservations.

“Where could we do it more efficiently?” Jones asked. “That’s what I need to figure out.”

Commissioner Darrin Jackson recused himself from the discussion and left the room. Jackson owns an aviation business based at the municipal airport and suggested in May that the port should think about buying the municipal airport from the city.

The port commissioners didn’t set a timeline for making a decision. Jones said he wanted more information and wanted time to study the information when he got it.

“I want to say, I want to think about some of this stuff a little more,” Jones said.

Fuhr gave commissioners a copy of the 2023 airport operations budget, and Jones said the facility started the year running a deficit of about $65,000. 

“No wonder you guys want to get rid of it,” he said. 

Fuhr said that might reflect a difference in how the city calculates expenses since he didn’t know the port’s budget procedures. 

City officials had the property appraised, which resulted in a valuation of about $2.6 million, according to a summary on the Nov. 14 council agenda. 

“That $2.6 million assumes it’s not going to be an airport anymore,” Jones said.

“The best use of that property, if you were to turn it into commercial, it would be worth $2.6 million. Obviously, it will never be anything other than an airport,” Fuhr replied.

Redevelopment of the property is restricted by the stipulations that came with the donation of the land to the city in the late 1940s or early 1950s, Fuhr said, although he didn’t know all the details. 

“It was given to us as an airport,” Fuhr said. 

    The Moses Lake Municipal Airport as seen from the air in May 2019. The city of Moses Lake would like the Port of Moses Lake to take over management of the facility.
  

Jones asked about leases signed by the tenants, and airport commission chair Rod Richeson said they are of varying lengths. But most are 20 years, with an option for an extension. The challenge the tenants face with the leases lies elsewhere, Richeson said. 

“The problem is there are terms in there that make them unbankable for someone to borrow money to build a hangar,” Richeson said. “So that’s why we’ve had a drought in new construction out there to fill up those empty lots. The lease terms have a 30-day clause that the city can shut it down, pay us all off and we have to remove our hangars. And the banks don’t like that.”

Jones asked why that clause was in there; Richeson said he didn’t know.

“This goes back to the efficiency piece,” Fuhr said. “You guys run airports, you guys deal with leases. We’re kind of building this plane as we fly it.”

Jones also asked about the current state of the property and the future.

“I’d like to know from your perspective, the users out there, what you think needs to be done, what you’d like to see done, and what you might plan to do in the future,” Jones said to Richeson. 

“I need to know what we’re getting into,” Jones continued. “And that means I need to know what needs to be done in the next 12 months, what would be nice to be done, and what’s going to fall apart in the next five to 10 years.”

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.