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MARSHALL -- This week, the Marshall City Council approved a new long-term lease agreement with Midwest Aviation at the Marshall airport.
Under the lease, Midwest Aviation will continue to serve as the fixed-base operator (FBO) at the airport.
"Midwest Aviation has been operating as our fixed-base operator since 1974," Marshall City Administrator Sharon Hanson told council members. "They really help the city serve our airport customers by providing essential airport services. So that could be things like aircraft fueling, temporary hangar storage, and passenger ground handling."
More than half of Minnesota's public-use airports use a private commercial company as an FBO, Hanson said.
City council members voted to approve a proposed lease agreement at their regular meeting Tuesday. Hanson said the city's existing lease and FBO dates back to 2015. That lease agreement ran through December 2024, and both the city and Midwest Aviation had been in talks to renew it, she said. In 2025, the city and Midwest Aviation worked out a short-term agreement while discussing the new long-term lease.
"Most of the language is somewhat similar," Hanson said of the new proposed agreement. Under the lease and FBO agreement, Midwest Aviation would cover the Marshall airport on a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week basis.
The term of the new lease agreement would run through Dec. 31, 2031.
"We do have an option to renew up to four additional five-year terms," Hanson said.
The lease agreement had a proposed annual total rent of $125,036, for a total of four hangar buildings.
"We're keeping the rates constant for 2026 through 2027, and then we rely on an adjusted rate based on the annual CPI starting in 2028," Hanson said.
Council members voted in favor of approving the lease agreement.
"This is a big deal. A lot of people have worked hard on it, including our (airport) tenants," said council member Craig Schafer. He said there are a lot of things that the FBO provides for pilots who may be traveling through the area. For example, he said, the FBO can help provide hangar space for an aircraft having mechanical trouble, and assist pilots in getting the repairs or service they need.
"There's a lot that happens at that airport that most people don't really see, and the FBO is a critical piece of that," he said.
In a separate action, council members also voted to approve a short-term lease agreement with Midwest Aviation for use of the airport's WPA hangar space. Hanson said there was an aerial agricultural applicator business that was interested in subleasing space in the hangar. The lease runs through June 30, 2027.