SAN BERNARDINO: Scot Spencer’s airport management to end
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KURT MILLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Scot Spencer, listens during a July meeting of the San Bernardino
International Airport Authority and Inland Valley Development Agency.
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The San Bernardino International Airport Authority was poised to
retake control of the airport’s management as of 5:01 p.m. Friday from
Scot Spencer, the focus of an FBI-led investigation into possible
wrongdoing at the airport.
Spencer’s company, San Bernardino Airport Management LLC, had until Friday to sign a contract with a third-party airport manager since the last one, AvPorts, severed its ties with Spencer after not being paid. He didn’t, so the contract was terminated. Bill Ingraham, the authority’s aviation director, would assume management oversight of the airport.
“In 10 minutes, it’s my airport again,” he said shortly before 5 p.m. The authority has agreed to pay Spencer’s management employees through Dec. 30, though, as it works on a more permanent solution to managing the airport, Ingraham said. The authority has always covered the cost of Spencer’s management payroll but in this case, his employees will report to the airport authority, not him, for one week. What will happen to Spencer’s employees in the long-term is unclear.
Tim Sabo, legal counsel for the airport authority and the related Inland Valley Development Agency, said Spencer could choose to keep the employees at his own cost but they wouldn’t have any role in the airport’s management or operations. If Spencer laid off the employees, the airport could choose to rehire them, possibly through a temporary employment service, Sabo said.
Sabo said it was unfortunate that the employees had been caught in the middle. The only event that could prevent Spencer’s management agreement from being dissolved would be if Spencer’s company filed for bankruptcy or another legal action. As of Friday afternoon, it wasn’t clear if any legal action had been made by San Bernardino Airport Management.
In September 2010, the airport authority transferred 23 employees to Spencer’s San Bernardino Airport Management LLC which had hired Virginia-based AvPorts to oversee day-to-day operations where there are no scheduled commercial flights.
Spencer whose role at the airport expanded since 2003 as the companies he managed went from renting space to being the landlord of a hangar, to developing the airport and managing it – was also the focus of a critical San Bernardino County civil grand jury report that raised questions about how the airport was being managed and Spencer’s role.
Norton Property Management Services LLC, the company that has been the landlord of one of the largest hangars at the airport, filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 7, the same day that Spencer’s role with the company was terminated, according to bankruptcy filings. Spencer’s vice president or co-manager in other ventures, T. Milford Harrison, is listed as the company’s sole manager.
Harrison, a former Loma Linda city councilman and mayor, led the airport authority and Inland Valley Development Agency for years before joining Spencer’s companies. The FBI and other authorities conducted a search of airport offices on Sept. 21 and Spencer, Harrison and others were named in the search warrant.
Spencer remains the manager of San Bernardino Airport Management, though, which owns 100 percent of Norton Property Management.
San Bernardino Airport Management, in turn, is owned by Norton Airport Investment LLC. Among the investors listed for Norton Airport Investment are Millionaire Development Company LLC (27.5 percent share), SBD Properties LLC (27.5 percent), Tristar Norton Holdings (25.27 percent share) and Omni Enterprises LLC (8.61 percent share), according to the bankruptcy filings.
Norton Property Management had until Dec. 21 to file necessary financial records with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court or risk the case being dismissed.
In the filings, the company says it has $1.04 million worth of personal property including its security deposit to rent the airport’s hangar worth $108,000, improvements it made to the hangar worth $507,082, an unknown amount of rent from another company managed by Spencer and a $192,500 proposed settlement agreement with tenant AeroPro regarding disputed rent payments.
The company lists $1.32 million worth of liabilities including a $540,000 loan from Spencer’s San Bernardino Airport Management to Norton Property Management.
Spencer’s company, San Bernardino Airport Management LLC, had until Friday to sign a contract with a third-party airport manager since the last one, AvPorts, severed its ties with Spencer after not being paid. He didn’t, so the contract was terminated. Bill Ingraham, the authority’s aviation director, would assume management oversight of the airport.
“In 10 minutes, it’s my airport again,” he said shortly before 5 p.m. The authority has agreed to pay Spencer’s management employees through Dec. 30, though, as it works on a more permanent solution to managing the airport, Ingraham said. The authority has always covered the cost of Spencer’s management payroll but in this case, his employees will report to the airport authority, not him, for one week. What will happen to Spencer’s employees in the long-term is unclear.
Tim Sabo, legal counsel for the airport authority and the related Inland Valley Development Agency, said Spencer could choose to keep the employees at his own cost but they wouldn’t have any role in the airport’s management or operations. If Spencer laid off the employees, the airport could choose to rehire them, possibly through a temporary employment service, Sabo said.
Sabo said it was unfortunate that the employees had been caught in the middle. The only event that could prevent Spencer’s management agreement from being dissolved would be if Spencer’s company filed for bankruptcy or another legal action. As of Friday afternoon, it wasn’t clear if any legal action had been made by San Bernardino Airport Management.
In September 2010, the airport authority transferred 23 employees to Spencer’s San Bernardino Airport Management LLC which had hired Virginia-based AvPorts to oversee day-to-day operations where there are no scheduled commercial flights.
Spencer whose role at the airport expanded since 2003 as the companies he managed went from renting space to being the landlord of a hangar, to developing the airport and managing it – was also the focus of a critical San Bernardino County civil grand jury report that raised questions about how the airport was being managed and Spencer’s role.
Norton Property Management Services LLC, the company that has been the landlord of one of the largest hangars at the airport, filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 7, the same day that Spencer’s role with the company was terminated, according to bankruptcy filings. Spencer’s vice president or co-manager in other ventures, T. Milford Harrison, is listed as the company’s sole manager.
Harrison, a former Loma Linda city councilman and mayor, led the airport authority and Inland Valley Development Agency for years before joining Spencer’s companies. The FBI and other authorities conducted a search of airport offices on Sept. 21 and Spencer, Harrison and others were named in the search warrant.
Spencer remains the manager of San Bernardino Airport Management, though, which owns 100 percent of Norton Property Management.
San Bernardino Airport Management, in turn, is owned by Norton Airport Investment LLC. Among the investors listed for Norton Airport Investment are Millionaire Development Company LLC (27.5 percent share), SBD Properties LLC (27.5 percent), Tristar Norton Holdings (25.27 percent share) and Omni Enterprises LLC (8.61 percent share), according to the bankruptcy filings.
Norton Property Management had until Dec. 21 to file necessary financial records with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court or risk the case being dismissed.
In the filings, the company says it has $1.04 million worth of personal property including its security deposit to rent the airport’s hangar worth $108,000, improvements it made to the hangar worth $507,082, an unknown amount of rent from another company managed by Spencer and a $192,500 proposed settlement agreement with tenant AeroPro regarding disputed rent payments.
The company lists $1.32 million worth of liabilities including a $540,000 loan from Spencer’s San Bernardino Airport Management to Norton Property Management.
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