A federal lawsuit is seeking to halt Marquette County, Michigan, from moving forward with plans to assume fixed-base operations at Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport.
Airport user Mark Hangen filed the complaint in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, alleging the county violated the Michigan Open Meetings Act and substantive due process protections when it terminated Kubick Aviation’s contract and voted to bring the FBO in-house.
Court filings state the county issued a six-month termination notice to Kubick Aviation on Oct. 27 under a provision allowing termination without cause. In November, the Marquette County Board of Commissioners voted to accept a recommendation from the Airport Advisory Board to end the agreement and proceed with county-operated FBO services. The lawsuit says the decision was made without proper public deliberation and without conducting sufficient financial and operational review before canceling the contract.
Board Chair Joe Derocha said the action followed the terms of the existing agreement.
“I think everything that’s been done is within the contractual agreements that have been signed,” Derocha told local WLUC. “The Kubick contract was terminated without cause, and it’s a six-month window.”
Hangen’s complaint asks the court to invalidate the termination and issue an injunction preventing the county from assuming FBO operations while the case proceeds.
County Administrator Duane DuRay told WLUC he is limited in what he can share because of the pending litigation but expressed confidence in the county’s actions.
“Rest assured, we went into this with both eyes open,” DuRay said.
The county has indicated it intends to take over FBO operations May 1 unless the court intervenes.
Seems to be a page from the ever increasing airport takeovers nationwide. Take over the airport, shut it down, sell the real estate. Every developer and “consultant” involved gets a piece of the pie.
Don’t forget about the environmental and the noise issues. That’s the underlying reasons…
I’m local to this and it is another case of Liberal government overreach. A business takes a chance and invests time and money and makes a successful business and the Commissioners see it a s an opportunity to make money themselves on the backs of hard working successful entrepreneurs. This is not China. That is what the communists do. Invite you to open a business then they take it from you…They are soooo arrogant about this as well. We are entitled to do this…
County takeovers seem to be an epidemic in Michigan. KAPN two years ago. Service has gone to hell as you might expect. I can’t say with any amount of certainty but I remain hopeful that the previous FBO will commence proceedings to collect for damages this year. Damages to the previous FBO are extensive. It is safe to say that Marquette was inspired by the misdirected leaders of Alpena. We were all upset when Chavez nationalized the oil fields in Venz. We should all be outraged when county governments do the same on our own soil.
I couldn’t agree more— The government should need to prove there’s no means for the private sector to fill a need before entering into any retail business like this. Police, fire, ambulance, roads, utilities, etc. might only be feasible when managed by a government entity. Taco stands, gas stations, FBO’s, etc. should always remain in the hands of someone other than the government if at all possible. Justification for kicking out an existing private tenant to simply have the government do the same thing they were doing already should need to meet a very high bar before being allowed [period].
I’m not attorney and couldn’t begin to guess the language to describe this, but this sounds a great deal like eminent domain in that the government is taking something of value (the business) from someone and the government should compensate them at minimum. It’s not like they can move up the road and stay in business.
Thank you for your input. Most airports have accepted federal funds for various projects. In doing so they have a contract with the feds. In that contract they made certain promises also known as grant assurances. Because of Santa Monica, and others, airports have gained a sense that they can do as damn well please contrary to the interest of those paying federal transportation taxes. My hope is that these communities will be forced by the feds to repay the last 25 years of federal assistance. In the case of KAPN the county will be bankrupted going back just 3 years. If it isn’t stopped it will spread like wildfire. Unfortunate that these things happen.
Welcome to the United States that looks a lot like Venzuela.