Rudderless at the county helm

Good Monday morning, friends.

A moment of silence for Lu the hippo, who died Sunday. We were roughly the same age. I'm trying not to think much about that.

I'll have more on Lu later this week. Today, we're going to talk a little about the Inverness Airport and the shabby treatment of fixed-based operator Andy Chan.

Chan owns Right Rudder Aviation. Since 2018, he has run the airport on the county's behalf. He's two years into a five-year lease extension.

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Citrus County thinks so highly of that commitment that they’re tossing Andy out on his ear. His contract is terminated, and he has until the end of this month to clear the premises.

You may wonder, what terrible act did Andy perform for Citrus County officials to suddenly cancel the contract? Surely, they had a dynamite reason.

Answer: None. In fact, most didn’t even know this was happening.

Let’s get into it.

First off, I’m no aviation expert. I don’t know a good lease from a bad lease. I mean…are the planes landing and taking off safely?

But I’ve written about both the Crystal River and Inverness airports for quite some time. Crystal River always carried favored status; Inverness was an afterthought until Right Rudder took over in 2018.

The aviation and business leaders in Citrus County are unified in their belief that the Inverness Airport’s success today is directly related to Right Rudder.

Yet…there’s always been a political undercurrent about Inverness. It certainly felt that way in August 2023 when the county begrudgingly extended Chan’s five-year lease for another five years.

Chamber president and CEO Josh Wooten was aghast when Commissioner Rebecca Bays recommended a one-year lease extension.

“They’ve done all the things we’ve asked them to do, and more,” Wooten said at the time. “I’m loyal to the people who brought me to the dance.”

Commissioners eventually agreed to a five-year extension. County Administrator Steve Howard said he was looking forward to a continued relationship with Andy.

So, what happened?

In August 2024, commissioners decided County Attorney Denise Dymond Lyn didn’t have the aviation expertise to review FBO leases. They hired an Orlando attorney, though with no clear direction other than to review leases.

The lawyer was on the county’s dime just a few months before he sent the first of three default letters to Chan, saying he was violating provisions of the lease.

Now. I’m gonna stop right there.

I read these letters. It’s nickel-and-dime stuff. The kind of thing that smart heads come together in a room to figure out in an hour.

We see right away the county’s position is adversarial. Why?

I don’t like quoting from lawyers, but Andy’s attorney summed it up nicely in one of his replies. He said the county is “merely skimming the agreement for flimsy excuses to drive my clients away from the airport…”

So, on May 30, Right Rudder received a notice of termination from the Orlando attorney. Chan has until the end of June to clear out and hit the open skies.

From all indications, this termination letter was sent without the knowledge of either the county attorney or County Administrator Steve Howard. At least one commissioner didn’t know. My guess is it’s more than one.

So, when the letter serves as “notice of the County’s termination of the FBO agreement,” I have to ask…just who from the “County” signed off on it? If neither Lyn nor Howard directed the action, who did? I can guarantee you it’s not a mid-level county staffer calling the shots. He's getting marching orders from...somewhere.

Someone much higher on the food chain is clearly pushing to rid the Inverness Airport of Right Rudder. Since contract performance is not an issue, we don't know what's really going on. It would certainly seem they have someone in the wings. I guess, what, we're just going to hand the airport off to another company without talking about it first?

We have an Aviation Advisory Board. I’m guessing they’re clueless on this as well.

The Orlando attorney has earned $38,486 birddogging pesky airport leases. No idea what else he’s up to other than making Andy’s life miserable. There have been no such demand letters written to the Crystal River Airport FBO.

Andy Chan is not always warm and fuzzy. He can rub politicians the wrong way. (Right Rudder Aviation has been a JWC advertising sponsor since nearly the start.)

He’s also a businessman who has spent and pledged millions of dollars bringing life to an airport that had no life until he came along. For his efforts, someone high up wants him tossed to the curb.

It’s wrong, man. If the county has an issue with these leases, sit down and work it out. If it can’t be worked out, then we go to the next step. Publicly.

Time for this nonsense to stop. 

Have a great Monday, friends.

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