The City of Glenwood Springs will be turning management of its municipal airport over to a newly-formed nonprofit on May 1, after approving a near-final version of the Airport Lease and Concession Agreement during their April 4 regular session. 

The lessee, who will soon be managing part of the nearly 64-acre Glenwood Springs Municipal Airport, is KGWS Sumers Airpark, a group of pilots and airport supporters represented by former Airport Commission Chair Gregg Rippy. The city did not provide the number of acres the nonprofit will be managing before press time)

“We’re very excited about it,” Rippy said. “It’s been a long time coming, and the pilots and a lot of the neighbors are excited the airport is going to get the attention it deserves.” 

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In December, the group announced that it was undergoing a registration process with the secretary of state to be recognized as a 501(c)4 nonprofit, which Rippy said is in the final stages of approval and should be finalized before they sign the lease as a legal entity. 

Rippy said the group opted to become a 501(c)4 as opposed to a 501(c)3 nonprofit because the designation would allow them to receive grants from CDOT for future projects and airport maintenance. 

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Aside from grant funding, a major difference between the two types of nonprofit designations is that a 501(c)4 nonprofit allows for unlimited political lobbying and contributions to political campaigns. However, Rippy did not indicate politics as a motivation for this designation.

The name “Sumers” in KGWS Sumers Airpark is taken from the name of the family that originally donated the majority of the land for the airport in 1936, according to Rippy. 

“I contacted them to see if it would be okay to incorporate their name into the name of our entity just as a way to recognize what the Sumers family did back in 1936,” he said. 

The lease states an initial term of 20 years, with the opportunity to renew the agreement twice, each for a period of 10 years. This means that, with the lessee’s first right of refusal as granted in the lease, they could manage the airport for up to 40 years before any renegotiations.

The lease would also permit KGWS Sumers Airpark to sublease airport land and hangars for commercial and noncommercial aviation-related activities. 

The city approached Rippy about creating a nonprofit to look after the airport approximately one and a half years ago. 

“I think that in government, things do move slowly, and I think we always have to remember that when concern is presented, solutions need to take time in order to come up with the best-case scenario for how we move forward,” Glenwood Springs Mayor Ingrid Wussow said. “This is an idea and a concept that’s a long time in the making … I sat back and thought, ‘How best can we nurture and maintain that space when running municipal airports is not usually in the purview of small towns?'” 

“The airport is not going anywhere,” Attorney Richard J. Peterson-Cremer said. “How do we make sure that it is a well-functioning and valuable amenity to the community and isn’t neglected? An idea (was), how about the airport users put some skin in the game and not just be there on the board telling city staff how it should be done, but actually implementing their vision for it?” 

Revenue share and net profit

Between the initial drafts of the lease and now, a few substantial changes have been made: 

One of the bigger changes in the lease includes revenue shared with the city of Glenwood Springs. The lease states that the nonprofit must award the city 1% of its gross income from the activation of the lease until 2030. From 2031-2035, the percentage of gross income paid to the city will grow to 5%, 7.5% from 2036-2040, with the payment capping off at 10% from 2040-2044. This money would go into the city’s general fund. 

“Historically, this was an enterprise fund,” Wussow said. “Enterprise funds are not perks in the city. They are self-sustaining businesses … There were quite a few updates and amenities over the years that they had to come to the city and say, ‘We don’t have the money to be able to do this.’ This structure will hopefully allow them to invest in improvements.” 

KGWS Sumers Airpark will also be required to repay a $200,000 general fund loan awarded by Glenwood Springs City Council to “improve the Premise for Airport operations.” The general fund loan will be repaid with an interest of 3.5% each year until the outstanding balance is zero, which the city anticipates will be around 2030. The money for the loan repayment will come from 50% of the airport’s net fuel sales (minus credit card fees). On the other end, the lease also outlines expectations for a depreciated repayment in the case of an election to close the airport. 

The airport’s anticipated revenue will largely come from existing fuel sales and rent income from the hangars, according to Peterson-Cremer. 

According to KGWS Sumers Airpark’s pro forma, the group’s net income is estimated to be around $2,755 in 2024, with the city receiving $2,845 of its $284,500 total revenue. Once the general fund loan from the city is paid by approximately 2030, the airport’s net profit is predicted to jump from $2,490 in 2030 to $32,184 in 2031. By 2033, their fund balance will be at $157,095, and they will be paying the city approximately $21,863 per year. 

“I hope we do better; and it’s more than hope — I anticipate that we’ll do better,” Rippy said. “If we do better than that, that’ll just accelerate that general fund repayment.” 

Rippy said the exponential increase in their net income following the general fund repayment increase will go into general reserves for future improvements and maintenance, as the nonprofit’s bylaws and articles of incorporation state they can’t use revenue funds outside of the airport. 

“As we start, we will have no reserves for things such as taking care of the infrastructure,” Rippy said. “We’re fortunate in that it’s in a good place and that we don’t see anything in the next five years that is going to require capital outlay. As you go out in five years, it’s going to take capital outlay.” 

South Bridge provisions

New provisions have been added to the lease for the consideration of the construction of South Bridge. More specifically, the lease states that “in the event of an airport closure for the construction of a tunnel under the runway, the term of this agreement shall toll for the period of such closure.” The provisions are meant to account for current uncertainty about the alignment of South Bridge, which could “interfere with the operations of or shorten the runway…” 

An additional provision has been added to ensure that the lessee does not “engage in opposition to any governmental regulatory process relating (so) South Bridge, including but not limited to that occurring under the National Environmental Policy Act…” 

The lease also states that the lessee shall “reserve one seat on its board of directors for a City representative to be appointed by the City Council.” Wussow said Councilor Erin Zalinski will serve as the city’s representative on the board. 

“We want to make sure that there is representation from the city in discussions,” Wussow said. “We did ask Councilor Zalinski if she was willing to serve in that position. The airport board also asked for her, so it was a really easy alignment to have her and we’re grateful for her service on this board.” 

The city’s current Airport Board, which has handled the management of the airport, will dissolve once KGWS Sumers Airpark takes over management. Zalinski currently serves as the council liaison for the city’s Airport Board. 

The nonprofit will sign the lease with a list of incorporators, or the original board of directors. After May 1, Rippy said the board will have a meeting to elect the new board of directors, which will be made up of seven people, including Zalinski. 

Rippy said that once the transition occurs, he does not intend to run for a position on the board. 

“I will probably consult to them, knowing what I know about how we got to where we are today, but it’s not my intention to be a part of the board of directors,” he said. “I’ve got a full-enough plate. This has taken a long piece of my life here in the last couple of years, and I think we have some very motivated people.” 

Residents interested in becoming members of KGWS Sumers Airpark will be required to pay a yearly fee of $100 according to Rippy. The board of directors election will be a private election within the nonprofit and its members. 

“We have over 60 planes based there. I’m hopeful that the majority of those become members of this new organization,” Rippy said. “We have a lot of support from non-pilots (too) … What I wanted is to be able to have a mechanism in which non-pilots, but supporters of the airport, can participate in this organization. And so that’s why it’s a 501(c)4 membership organization.” 

Rippy said the board hopes to hire an airport manager by late June, and that they already have a person in mind. Past work session discussions have brought up $40,000 as a potential salary, though an exact number hasn’t been solidified. In the meantime, Rippy said he’s confident the group will continue to run the airport smoothly, as it has run in the past year and a half without an airport manager. 

City council votes to approve the airport lease

Glenwood Springs City Council passed the Airport Lease and Concession Agreement with a 5-1 vote. 

The airport agreement acknowledges the city charter as it currently exists, which states that the airport can only be closed with a public vote. A public vote to close the airport would terminate the lease agreement and absolve the city of any liability for the closure, according to City Attorney Karl Hanlon. 

Councilor Jonathan Godes, who voted “no,” said he voted against the resolution for three main reasons: He felt the initial term of 20 years (with the opportunity to expand to 40) didn’t grant the city enough flexibility were they to want to re-negotiate lease terms, he felt there could have been a better outcome for the city through an open-market competitive bid for management of the airport, and because he felt the city only receiving a 1% share of the revenue was not a fair number.  

“The $3,000 a year is not a good return to the resident of Glenwood Springs,” Godes said. 

“To not have the ability to periodically review and make sure that the operators and the community are aligned on how the airport is being operated is concerning,” he added. “But the will of council was to move forward with this, and I respect council’s decision.” 

The city is currently working with Rippy for a smooth transition of management. 

“There’s a lot of excitement around it,” Rippy said. “I’ve been having people reach out to me and say, ‘Where can I send you money? I’m so happy that it’s going to be pilot-controlled.'” 

“I hope that the community that is particularly paying attention to this issue can see that good faith operation and collaboration between two parties to come (up) with a solution that is really fair and equitable and acceptable to both, and I think that that sets a really nice standard,” Zalinski said.