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Leistiko to Patrick & Harball/Dennis Carver ComplaintTO: Jim Patrick, City Manager Charlie Harball, City Attorney FM: Fred Leistiko, Airport Manager RE: Complaint - Dennis Carver, Goose Bay Equipment Protesting Utility Hook-up fees When I came aboard in July, 2004, Goose Bay Equipment was already constructing a hangar on the airport. The foundation was already poured and the building was being shipped from NUCOR, the manufacturer. The first problem I encountered as the Airport Manager was to approve a building -permit that was already under construction. This was the normal way things were done at the airport. I informed the owner Dennis Carver that I disagreed with the white color of the building and that the Construction Criteria for Hangars at the airport was a written document approved in 2003. I decided to sign off on the building permit after discussions with the former City Manger. When I signed off on the permit the first week on the job, I asked to see Mr. Carver's lease for the piece of property where he was constructing the building. It could not be produced because he had not signed one. I pursued Mr. Carver to sign a lease on the property where he had constructed the building. Of course, he had me at a disadvantage; he had the building already built and nobody had made him sign anything. My relentless pursuit finally paid off, and he signed a lease on October 11, 2004. The lease states that the utilities are the sole responsibility of the tenant, or leaseholder and at their expense. (paragraph 12) At this time, Mr. Carver stated that he would not pay the lease payment until the City provided the utilities he could hook up to. Since we were not on the drawing board with the utility project yet and the project was not approved by the City Council the City had to let the lease payments slide. The City Manager, City Attorney and I met with Mr. Carver and agreed to allow him to put in a temporary propane tank for the winter so he would have heat in his hangar. Also, we agreed to allow him to bury a temporary electrical line so he would have electricity. Both measures were to be removed as soon as the underground utilities were in place. Mr. Carver agreed to this measure and stated that he would be subject to lease payments as soon as the permanent utilities were in place. The utility project was approved by the City Council in November 2004, and we went to work on getting a contract over the winter, and the project was completed in late March 2005. Mr. Carver's company, Goose Bay Equipment, was one of the bidders on the project. The City of Kalispell paid the Windy Ridge Construction company approximately $86,000 to lay in the utility system. This included water lines, sewer taps on existing lines, gas, electric, and telephone lines. Before we could do the project, the City had to pay the electric, gas, and telephone companies advance funds to put their lines in the system. The gas and telephone companies told me that they could recover the costs for the City as the customers hooked on and would eventually pay the money back to the City if it was all completed in less than five years. The City agreed to the rebates. Flathead Electric was reluctant about agreeing to the rebate but finally agreed with the rest of the companies. The building department has a statement that they hand out to all applicants for hangars at the airport that tells them to expect utility hook-up fees. This was not the case when Mr. Carver finally acquired his building permit. Now comes Mr. Carver who is ready to hook up gas, electric, telephone, sewer and water to his hangar. He is protesting the utility hook up fees and has stated the same to me. He called it a scam and a big rip-off on the part of the City. He claims that we knew about the fees all along and didn't inform him that he would have to pay the hook-up fees. He specifically claims that I intentionally did not tell him. I believe the City has been very, very lenient with Mr. Carver in regards to the airport. Since he built before any of the utility contracts were let, of course, he did not get the notification about hook-up fees. However, if he refuses to pay the fees, I do not believe the utility companies will provide him with the services.