The emergency legislation, if approved, would authorize City Manager Paul Lolli to enter into an agreement with John Hart II, his son, John Hart III, and Start Skydiving to end two years of lawsuits between the Hart family and the city of Middletown.
Missy Knight, the city’s communications manager, said the legislation was pulled because the city was working on the contract.
On Wednesday, Hart II told the Journal-News the dispute will be “resolved and it will be good for the city. Start Skydiving loves the Middletown community.”
Since it’s an emergency legislation, and Mayor Nicole Condrey won’t vote because of her affiliation with Start Skydiving and Team Fastrax, the resolution must pass 4-0. The other four council members, Vice Mayor Monica Nenni, Zack Ferrell, Tal Moon and Rodney Muterspaw haven’t indicted publicly whether they support the settlement.
The city, the Harts and Start Skydiving have tentatively agreed to resolve the four outstanding lawsuits by way of a settlement agreement and new lease for the spaces occupied by Start, according to city documents. The new lease starts once the certificate of occupancy is issued and lasts for eight years renewable for four times for an additional eight years each renewal. So the lease could last 32 years.
In exchange to dismiss the four outstanding lawsuits, the city will pay for the construction of the $1.4 million, 10,000-sqaure-foot hangar at 1711 Run Way at Middletown Regional Airport/Hook Field. Start will continue to pay $1,395 a month for the spaces occupied until the certificate of occupancy is issued, according to the original contract.
After that, the rent increases to $4,500.
But the new contract that was included in Tuesday’s agenda called for the initial rent to be $795 per month.
The Oct. 4 version of the contract said Start Skydiving could sublease a portion of its space to a restaurant. The revised contract said the company could bring “a number of enterprises” to its airport space, including “new ones after the execution of this lease.”
In addition, Start Skydiving, which has operated at the airport since 2009, will be a self-service fueling entity and may purchase its fuel from its source of preference, according to documents. The fuel can be delivered and stored in its 10,000-20,000 gallon containers located adjacent to the city’s existing gas storage location.
Meade said he was against the settlement because it “hands the key to the city over to one entity,” Start Skydiving.
“Approval of this ordinance is not in the best interest of the city of Middletown,” Meade wrote in his prepared speech that too lengthy to be delivered in the allotted four minutes. “It is in the best interest of the mayor, John Hart Jr., John Hart Sr. and Start Skydiving. The city residents are getting the short end of the stick – evidently because the city wants us to.”
Condrey has refrained from involvement in this topic due to her involvement with Start Skydiving and Team Fastrax, the Middletown-based professional skydiving team.
Hart II said Meade was “uneducated on the facts” he made during his comments.
Within two weeks after the agreement is signed, the city and Start Skydiving must file a joint notice of dismissal with prejudice, and take any other steps legally required to dismiss the lawsuits and without further costs or attorneys’ fees to any party.
The agreement also recognizes the “value that Start Skydiving, by its presence and activity, brings to the city of Middletown and apologizes to Start Skydiving for actions that prior representatives of the city may have taken to damage the relationship between Start Skydiving and the city,” according to documents.
“I believe it is in the best interest of the city to completely resolve these matters with such an important partner of ours at the airport and we’ve been working diligently to get this completed,” Lolli has told the Journal-News.
At an earlier meeting, council approved an amendment to the current pay and benefits ordinance (PBO) to include the position of airport manager that had been removed from the PBO. The city has explored the possibility of contracting with a third party to act as its designated airport manager.
Meade indicated the city and officials at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport have discussed CVG potentially taking over management or partnering with the Middletown airport.
Mindy Kershner, senior communications manager at CVG, said in an email: “One of our strategies in our current strategic plan, New Heights, is to optimize the local system of airports. As such, we regularly engage with airports across the region on a number of topics, including optimization. We have had conversations with the city about various arrangements. At this time, Middletown is deciding what they want and how to move forward.”
The next City Council meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. Nov. 1 in Council Chambers and the agenda will be released at the end of October.
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