By BILL McMILLEN Mohave Valley Daily News | Sep 2, 2025 Updated 4 hrs ago
BULLHEAD CITY — As far as the Mohave County Airport Authority Board of Directors is concerned, the feud with the Mohave County Board of Supervisors has been a colossal “waste of time.”
“I hope it’s over,” said MCAA Board President William Osborne. “None of this benefitted the airport. None of it benefitted the county.”
Don’t expect that to end anytime soon. At Tuesday’s meeting in Kingman, the Mohave County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to enlist outside counsel “for Mohave County Airport Authority related matters.”
According to the MCAA, a nonprofit corporation that oversees operation of Laughlin/Bullhead International Airport, the ongoing kerfuffle stems from a desire by the county to sell vacant airport-leased land. Supervisor Rich Lettman confirmed that intention last month during a workshop with the Bullhead City Council.
When Don Laughlin donated land for the present airport to the county decades ago, he did so not only to provide property for the airport itself but also to provide revenue to support the airport’s operations. That revenue is realized through lease agreements between the authority and businesses on commercial property surrounding the airport.
The authority leases the land from the county; current leases are in effect through 2049. The authority receives payments from businesses such as Home Depot, Sam’s Club, Chili’s and others who have located in the airport corridor on Highway 95. The county, while not part of those lease agreements, does take yearly tax revenue from the buildings on county land, a figure that Airport Executive Director James Scheller placed at more than $300,000 a year for 2025.
Vacant land that is part of the lease generates no fee — for the authority or the county — until it is leased by a prospective tenant.
“That remaining vacant land is what we’re concerned about,” Lettman told the Bullhead City Council, adding that the BOS sought new lease agreements and a change in leadership on the airport authority board more aligned with making that happen.
But Osborne said that wouldn’t accomplish the county’s goals. The land could be turned over to the county, but proceeds from the sale still would have to go to the airport authority, not to the county’s general fund.
“The BOS’ real intentions are to sell off parcels of land that are currently leased to the MCAA for the benefit of Mohave County capital projects,” Osborne said.
“All of the land leased by MCAA is encumbered property per the FAA,” Osborne said, because of grants authorized by the FAA for airport projects over the last 30 years. According to the FAA, vacant land currently managed by the authority cannot be sold unless that petition first satisfies the FAA. Part of that petition process requires a business plan for what would be done with the land and how the sale would benefit operation of the airport.
“Even if approval were granted and the land was sold, the proceeds from such a sale must remain with the airport and not the county,” Osborne said.
That isn’t just the interpretation of the MCAA board. It came directly from the FAA and a review of its revenue-use policy for airport property.
If sold, “all proceeds from disposal remain subject to the federal airport revenue-use restrictions,” said Gabriel Mahns, acting assistant manager of FAA Airports’ Western-Pacific Region. He wrote that “we (at the FAA) concur with the conclusions of the authority’s external counsel.”
Nicholas Clabbers, attorney at Kaplan Kirsch, is the authority’s counsel for FAA matters. He spelled out the steps that would be required for the authority to seek a formal release and the conclusion that “any proceeds from the sale would remain subject to the revenue use statute for federal aviation and not the county’s use of that revenue” with the further emphasis that the revenue “must be spent for airport purposes.”
Osborne traced the beginning of the feud to an inquiry last year about selling vacant land for investment purchase. He said a representative from Marcus & Millichap, a real estate investment service, contacted Scheller last October about the availability of vacant land at the airport.
Scheller said he explained to Spencer Berkley the FAA encumbrance on the vacant land. He said in subsequent conversations, Berkley persisted, referred to Lettman by name and at one point mentioned a $10 million sales figure, insisting “You have to sell that land.”
In April, Scheller said, he told Berkley he no longer was willing to talk about the matter because it was a request the airport authority couldn’t legally authorize. It was after that, he said, that the authority turned down requests from the BOS for an airport presentation and any discussion about the leases that Lettman termed “one of the worst deals executed” by Mohave County.
Osborne said a lease revision certainly isn’t in the best interest of the airport authority. Scheller agreed.
“We have to preserve our rights,” he said.
The sooner the dispute is over, the better for both parties, MCAA officials contend.
“We want to get back to the business of the airport,” said MCAA Treasurer Frank Steponzgi.
