BRENHAM AIRPORT FBO SAYS IT WILL NO LONGER SELL FUEL

  

The owner of the Fixed Base Operator (FBO) at the Brenham Municipal Airport says he is planning to stop fuel sales at the airport.

In a Facebook post late Thursday, the page of Aviators Plus, owned by Brent Nedbalek, said, “Due to city council our FBO fueling will be closing soon.”  The post did not indicate when the FBO would stop selling fuel.

Nedbalek’s post comes after a contentious Brenham City Council meeting on Thursday, which involved workshop discussion on a skydiving operation potentially coming to the airport.  It also comes after the council unanimously approved a lease agreement with Mindy Canion of Canion Kountry Bakery to lease the restaurant portion of the terminal building at the airport, after Nedbalek asked the council to table the agreement and discuss it in a work session.

 

A lease agreement between Nedbalek and the city for the full terminal building has come before the council several times, most recently in April, but was never finalized.  The proposed agreement would have had Nedbalek annually paying $2,500 in rent, plus a yearly donation of $2,000 for airport enhancements and landscaping.  Per the agreement approved with Canion on Thursday, her annual rent for just the restaurant will be $6,000 for the first year, going up to $6,000 plus 3 percent of net food and beverage income in future years.  The initial term of her lease will be for one year, with the option to renew in one-year increments automatically for two years.

Nedbalek claimed he was to be paying the same amount of money, allocated in different ways, as the new lessee over a longer period of time.  Development Services Director Stephanie Doland disputed that.

 

An additional agreement stipulation proposed in April by Councilmember Adonna Saunders, but not approved, asked for Nedbalek to complete a certain dollar amount of improvements to the terminal building within one year of the lease being executed.  The rent would increase if that unspecified amount was not met.

Nedbalek said he did come to terms on a lease agreement with city members that were “sub-council,” but not with the council itself.  Councilmember Shannan Canales responded that the council did not agree with Nedbalek’s proposed hours of operation for the restaurant, which were Thursday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.  The lease agreement with Canion states her restaurant will be open five days a week for eight hours a day.  Canales also added that Canion will be operating the restaurant herself, whereas Nedbalek planned to hire someone to run the restaurant.

Nedbalek concluded by saying the council needs to treat business owners with respect and provide them the same opportunities, and that he feels he has “not had that fair shake at this city council.”

KWHI has reached out to several city officials to obtain more information on the situation.  Interim City Manager Carolyn Miller has confirmed to KWHI that the city is aware of the social media post, but has not yet indicated how the city is planning to respond.

Click here to view the agenda packet for Thursday's meeting.