May 28--Rocky Mountain FBO, a longtime private air charter service, has filed a lawsuit in Pueblo District Court to force the city of Pueblo to let it take over the 20-year lease previously held by Flower Aviation at Pueblo Memorial Airport.
The dispute centers on Flower Aviation and its financial problems earlier this year. According to the suit filed on May 20, Flower had fallen behind in lease payments to the city for its building and airport rights.
The city ultimately terminated the lease in May, indicating it would put out a notice for bids on the
former Flower building and operations.
The suit claims that Flower had the authority to assign the lease to other parties and chose Rocky Mountain FBO before the lease was terminated.
Rocky Mountain attempted to pay $70,000 to the city to take over the lease, but City Manager Sam Azad and Aviation Director Mark Lovin indicated the bid process was going ahead.
The lawsuit is an attempt to block that bid process and make the city accept Rocky Mountain as the lease holder.
The suit says the city failed to follow the formal process for terminating the lease that was described in the original 2005 agreement.
Copyright 2014 - The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.
