Council to explore hangar lease options

City Council voted 4-1 to ask staff to prepare new three-year leases, with a two-year renewal option, for hangars at the municipal airport after their current terms expire in 2023.

Before the vote, Boulder City Airport Manager Marissa Adou detailed three options for airplane hangar leases going forward. As with previous leases, the hangars will revert to the city.

“There’s a month-to-month option; it can be a fair market value rate or a triple net rate,” she said. “Any of these options can be.”

“There is a three-year, two-year contract option we can move forward with and there is another option to do an RFP (request for proposal) where we can seek a property management company or an entity to come in and lease that whole area from the airport,” Adou said.

Councilwoman Sherri Jorgensen brought attention to the fact that lease rates have not increased since they were signed three decades ago.

“The leases, part of our agenda today, the ones expiring in 2023, 2024 and 2028, those are leased at the value they were 30 years ago,” City Attorney Brittany Walker said.

“It’s gone a long time without an increase and that needs to change; it’s not fair market value,” Jorgensen said. “I think they recognize that it has been a nice gift for them for a while and we’re going to have to evaluate that when we do the leases.”

City staff was instructed to appraise the market value of leases for the hangars before signing any new agreements and to raise the rates accordingly.

Also, Mary Ralph, president of Emergency Aid of Boulder City, spoke about the need for more funding for assistance to pay rent and basic living costs of local residents.

“Since the pandemic we have had an increase in rent and utility assistance for our Boulder City residents,” Ralph said. “At this time we have exhausted all our grants that we have been eligible for.”

EABC asked the council to allocate $26,000 in unused funds and reallocate $24,000 unused funds for COVID-19 test kits to give them a total of $50,000.

“I think $50,000 from that amount remaining would be spent well with Emergency Aid,” Councilman James Howard Adams said.

Jorgensen expressed concerns about ongoing funding.

“This is a one-time allocation, kind of like a Christmas gift, and so I worry about the future,” Jorgensen said. “Are there any more grants on the horizon?”

Ralph stated that they will be applying for at least three grants.

“Before the pandemic we have been able to manage with those grants and generous donations from the community,” she said. “Unfortunately, people’s rents and utilities have just skyrocketed and they’re finding themselves in situations that are just mind-boggling.”

The council unanimously voted to increase American Rescue Plan Act funding for the nonprofit by $50,000.

“We are all in agreement that utilizing unused $26,000 and redirecting $24,000 from the test kit and vaccine fund for the total $50,000 that Emergency Aid has requested is appropriate,” Mayor Kiernan McManus said.

Contact reporter Anisa Buttar at abuttar@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401.