UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Safer Medical of Montana and George 

Ackerson 

Complainants, 

v. 

City of Fort Benton, Montana and Chouteau 

County, Montana. 

Respondents. 

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FAA Docket No. 16-15-12 

COMPLAINANTS' REPLY TO REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

AND NOTICE OF EXTENSION OF TIME 

Comes now, Complainants in the above entitled matter, and file their response to the 

FAA's Request for Additional Information as follows: 

REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

I. LEASE INFORMATION. 

As the Respondents have already stated in their Reply, neither the County, the City, nor 

the Board can find a copy of the current site lease for Taylor Aviation, Inc. at the Fort Benton 

Airport. Respondents also do not know what the terms of that lease are, although they know that 

Taylor Aviation continues to pay rent as required. However, Andy Taylor informed 

Complainants at one point that he currently has a 75-year lease. Additionally, Mayor Richard 

Morris, the City of Fort Benton's Mayor, stated in a recent deposition that he had heard the 

Taylor Aviation lease was a 75 year lease. 1 If true, Taylor Aviation has a lease with extremely 

favorable terms that have not been offered to any other lessee of a site at the Airport. Every 

other current site lease, whether for an individual or a company, is for 10 years. Complainants' 

lease is similarly only for 10 years. If Taylor Aviation's lease is a 75-year lease, the term of that 

lease is for 65 years longer than any other lease. 

Additionally, Taylor Aviation has made improvements since 1998. In particular, Taylor 

Aviation has constructed at least one entire new hangar. Since Respondents cannot find a copy 

of Taylor Aviation's current lease, it is also unclear whether the current lease covers the same 

property as the pre-1998 lease. Although there is no dispute that Taylor Aviation had a site lease 

prior to 1998, it is unknown whether additional sites were later added to the lease. 

1 The transcript from that deposition has not yet been obtained, but Complainants are happy to provide a copy when 

it is complete. 
II. EFFECT OF THE 1998 AGREEMENT ON EXISTING LEASES. 

Respondents admit that Taylor Aviation's lease is essentially a perpetual lease. Under 

the terms of the 1998 Agreement, Respondents believe that they have the right to renew the 

Taylor Aviation lease every time it expires, although perhaps that will not occur for a very long 

time. Meanwhile, Complainants' lease can never be renewed. Thus, while Complainants will no 

longer have access to their hangar once the 1 0-year lease term expires, Taylor Aviation will 

continue to lease property and operate its business right next door. The terms of the 1998 

Agreement have created a situation where one lessee has a perpetual right to lease property at the 

southwest portion of the Airport and his neighbor does not. More importantly, Complainants 

invested a considerable amount of money in rehabilitating their hangar without any knowledge 

of the 1998 Agreement and with every right to assume that they were entitled to the same 

treatment as Taylor Aviation. Complainants' hangar is concrete and it would be prohibitively 

expensive to even attempt to move it to the newer portion of the Airport. It is Complainants' 

understanding that Taylor Aviation would similarly face prohibitive costs if required to move its 

buildings. 

Dated this 1st day of September, 2016. 

Adrian A. Miller 

Michelle M. Sullivan 

Michael A. Monson 

HOLLAND & HART LLP 

401 North 31st Street 

Suite 1500 

P.O. Box 639 

Billings, Montana 59103-0639 

ATTORNEYS FOR COMPLAINANTS 

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I hereby certify that I have this day caused the foregoing to be served on the following 

persons at the following addresses by U.S. Mail and by electronic mail: 

Office of the Chief Counsel 

FAA Part 16 Docket Clerk, AGC- 600 

Federal Aviation Administration 

800 Independence Avenue SW 

Washington, DC 20591 

9-A WA-AGC-Part-16@faa.gov 

Brian Lilletvedt 

Bosch, Kuhr, Dugdale, Martin & Kaze, PLLP 

335 Fourth Avenue 

P.O. Box 7152 

Havre, Montana 59501 

Attorney for City of Fort Benton 

blilletvedt@bkdlaw .org 

Mitchell A. Young 

Montana Association of Counties 

2717 Skyway Drive 

Suite F 

Helena, Montana 59602 

Attorney for Chouteau County, MT 

myoung@mtcounties.org 

Dated this 1st day of September, 2016. 

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