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Prime Air lease called into question
Village, company disagree over rent, tax payments

The long and winding history of Prime Air’s involvement with the Pemberton Airport has taken a serious turn. After an in-camera session at the Sept. 16 Village of Pemberton Council meeting, the mayor and councillors voted to direct the Village solicitor to proceed with appropriate actions to terminate Prime Air’s long-term lease for the airport terminal.

Village officials say that the company is in default on its lease because of non-payment of rent and taxes that were due this summer, and that it has a history of late payments.

But Wayne Koch, Prime Air’s chief financial officer, said the company has made all the necessary payments. He said officials put the money into a trust fund administered by lawyers and notified Village officials that the payments were there.

From Prime Air’s perspective, the payments have “definitely” been made, and the Village is acting in a manner inconsistent with past behaviour and treatment of others, Koch said.

Lawyers for both parties have been engaged, and Koch said Prime Air officials want to resolve the disagreement because they do not intend to walk away from the facility in which they have invested more than $2 million in improvements.

“A lot of people have invested a lot of money in the asset that’s there,” Koch said, and it should not be taken away based on what Prime Air officials consider to be an interpretation that’s inconsistent with how the Village has acted in the past and treated other parties.

But Councillor David MacKenzie, chair of the Pemberton Regional Airport Authority, said Prime Air has a history of not following the normal terms of payment on its lease.

“They have a history of late payment or extremely late payment,” he said. “The Village is not a bank.”

MacKenzie said he too hopes the dispute can be resolved in a mutually beneficial way, because it’s in everyone’s interest to work things out, and he would like to see things happening at the airport.

“Going forward, we’d certainly like to see something there,” MacKenzie said, noting several other businesses have expressed interest in operating at the Pemberton Airport, and perhaps they could negotiate something with Prime Air.

Councillor Mark Blundell, former chair of the Airport Committee, said the Village has had to pursue Prime Air for payments before, and this time Council is taking a firm stand because of what he says is non-performance on the lease agreement.

“We go through this every year where we’re always chasing them,” he said.

Koch, who has been involved with Prime Air for at least 12 years, said the company feels it is perhaps being singled out. Prime Air’s investors — which he said includes several local residents — don’t want to see their investment disappear because of an attempt at a heavy-handed action, he added.

“There is some inconsistency in respect to treatment,” Koch said, adding that the company is confident it has met all requirements.

Pemberton Mayor Jordan Sturdy said the Village Council is taking a stand now to get results.

“Enough is enough, and we intend to fully enforce the terms of the lease in the future,” he said.

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