The Orange County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved 35-year leases for two companies to provide services such as fuel and maintenance for the part of John Wayne Airport reserved for smaller aircraft.
The board approved lease with ACI Jet and Clay Lacy Aviation Inc. to be the full-service fixed-base operators for the northeast and northwest sides of the airport, respectively.
The full-service fixed-base operators provide aviation fuel, aircraft repair and maintenance, charter flights and aircraft wash facilities. The operators also manage the hangar and tie-down facilities.
The vote for the ACI Jet lease was unanimous and 4-1, with Supervisor Don Wagner dissenting, for Clay Lacy Aviation.
Wagner slammed the process, arguing it was not transparent or fair since the board disregarded a protest lodged Monday by Atlantic, a longtime fixed-base operator at the airport that has been elbowed aside.
An attorney for Atlantic warned the board the vote could not go forward because of the protest, which would trigger a review by the airport director and an appeal. But County Counsel Leon Page said the board was voting on the leases, not requests for proposals, so they were not bound by the protest to the RFP. Page also said the RFP even gave the board broad discretion to pick the company it wished.
“We have reviewed the protest,” Page told the supervisors. “We do not believe this has any legal merit. The suggestion that the airport director could veto this selection of ACI Jet and Clay Lacy would be absurd. This board’s vote is final.”
Wagner said it was a “terrible way for government to do business … It may be legal, but it is still wrong.”
Wagner voted against Clay Lacy Aviation when the board approved the RFPs for the two companies in June. He preferred Atlantic keep its contract.
Clay Lacy received a lower score than Atlantic on the RFP, but there were complaints that Atlantic allegedly colluded with another company at the airport to keep fuel prices high.
Board Chairwoman Michelle Steel rejected Wagner’s argument that the process was not transparent. She said the plan for the fixed-base operators was approved last year.
Supervisor Lisa Bartlett added the county has held “a number of open houses” in the communities affected by the flight paths.
“We had a forum relative to the noise… and we had about 600 residents from the community come out,” Bartlett said.
Supervisor Doug Chaffee, who voted against both companies in June, said he agreed to approve the leases because his “philosophy is to move forward.” He said he was pleased that his concerns raised in his voted against the companies were addressed, such as the companies putting up guarantees that they could afford the rent.
“I also felt there should be some restriction on alcohol use,” Chaffee said. “We don’t want our pilots and the like to fuel up themselves besides their planes.”
Chaffee also addressed concerns raised by regional airline JSX, which was invited to take a spot on the commercial side of the airport and would no longer be able to land in the fixed-base operators’ runways as part of the lease agreements.
“My concern with the present operation is they’re not screening the baggage, and someone with a gun could come in and we could have a San Bernardino incident,” Chaffee said.
Newport Beach Mayor Will O’Neill and City Council members Jeff Herdman and Diane Dixon appealed to the board to set a curfew for the smaller planes that matched the one for commercial airliners. But Page said the county does not have the authority — only the federal government can do so.