Is the relationship between Transwest Air and the City terminal?

Transwest Air COO Garrett Lawless says at the time, the company had been told the cost of the extra space would be covered by the Passenger Facility Fee (PFF).

However, no official confirmation of the agreement exists, leading to what Lawless considers a misunderstanding.

“It puts us in a very confused situation,” he said. “Not an impossible situation, but a confused one.”

Discussions between Lawless, city manager Jim Toye and airport manager Corey Nygaard (none of whom were present at the original meeting deciding the PFF deal), continued for more than a year.

When searching their email archives, Transwest Air found emails which Lawless says, “strongly suggested that all of this was meant to be paid through a PFF increase.” However, he did say the emails don’t confirm the lease payment for the airport terminal would be covered by the PFF.

That uncertainty has sparked the dispute between the company and the city.

Toye said he’s more than willing to meet once more with Transwest and iron out a possible deal before the end of the year.

His point of contention is Transwest threatening to take the matter to court.

“In an email they said, ‘and so we will likely let the courts decide on this,’ so that’s pretty much saying we’re going to court.”

Lawless confirmed that he’d told the city Transwest would let the courts decide the matter.

“Do we want to enter an agreement with a local business when we’ve got an outstanding matter with them and they’re threatening to take (the City) to court?” Toye asked. “We don’t think that’s appropriate.”

Toye said meetings between the two parties seemed to be making good progress during the year, but things eventually fell apart.

Making sure not to point any fingers, he said, “You can go to these meetings with the spirit of working together but sometimes things are said at these meetings that we may perceive or did perceive as inappropriate. That’s when we want to step away and say, ‘Is this in the best interest of the city?’”

Lawless says the emails sent to the City state Transwest wanted to talk to legal counsel before making a decision. “The city may be right, but it doesn’t feel right, which is why we’re questioning it.”

Toye said anything’s possible, and they could still reach an agreement.

“I can only go with the information that is here and I’m not about to do a smoke and mirrors thing and take something to city council that I’m not 100 per cent sure is correct.”

Lawless says, during a meeting, the City offered a verbal contract which asked Transwest to pay half of the original $15,000. Lawless took that to Transwest’s owner, who said he needed to contact legal counsel of his own to find out what they could or could not do.

“We all think we know what was right,” Lawless said, “but the city’s right, we don’t have anything on paper that says (the PFF) was actually the agreement.”

The lease ends Dec. 31, giving Transwest Air a month to remove their operations from the terminal building. Lawless said there’s only two effective work weeks in December, making their move from the facility difficult.

Transwest Air has previously had disputes with the City of the lease for their two terminals at the airport.

Unlike before, Lawless said he made sure he wasn’t angry and writing letters like he had before because he believed it was just a misunderstanding.

“If our request, demand—I guess, to talk to our lawyers before making an agreement to pay the city would lead them to kick us out of the terminal, I would take exception with that and respond vigorously. But I’m not convinced that that’s what’s happening right now.”

Toye said there were other options for the leased space that the city was looking into. “(Transwest) has the opportunity to carry on business as usual with their current hangar, so they have a decision to make.”

Both parties said that anything is possible, and they don’t want to leave the situation up in the air.

ssterritt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit

by Spencer Sterritt

Is the relationship between Transwest Air and the City terminal?

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