Huntington Beach Air Show Settlement Agreement
After fighting its release for over a year and now faced with imminent enforcement of a court order, the City of Huntington Beach and Michael Gates were forced to release the full and unredacted Settlement Agreement between the City and the operator of the Pacific Airshow.
The belated publication of the Settlement Agreement is a victory for Huntington Beach taxpayers. Gina Clayton-Tarvin sued in June 2023 under the California Public Records Act to force the City and Gates to publish the Settlement Agreement, which details the spending of millions of dollars of public taxpayer funds and has raised transparency and corruption concerns since the public learned of its existence. It is a victory for the residents of Huntington Beach, who now know where their taxpayer dollars have gone, and for all Californians, who are entitled under the Act and the state Constitution to full access to government records.
As a teacher who serves as Clerk and former President of the Ocean View School District Board of Trustees and long-time resident of Huntington Beach, I have issued the following statement:
Having now reviewed the full Settlement Agreement, I can definitively say that our longstanding concerns – my concerns, and the concerns of the Huntington Beach community – on the wasteful and political Agreement were well-founded. The entire Agreement is a shameless giveaway to Pacific Airshow LLC and Code Four CEO Kevin Elliot, who has made political donations to the current City Council majority. And while the City and Gates had previously claimed that this was only a $5 million settlement, we now know the truth – the waste is much larger than that. The terms show:
• At least $6 Million in special event fees that the City has waived in advance by giving Pacific Airshow/Code Four the exclusive right to hold the Airshow for the next 40 years, and untold additional amounts as costs grow over time.
• At Least $6.3 Million – and untold additional amounts – in parking concessions that Pacific Airshow/Code Four can collect from its exclusive rights to 3500 parking spaces.
• At least $500,000 for costs to pay for the CEQA study to ensure that Pacific Airshow/Code Four can have this event for the next 40 years.
• Pacific Airshow/Code Four can take the first $2 Million the City gets in any lawsuit against Amplify Energy. That means that between Attorneys’ fees and costs, the City needs to recover more than $3.5 Million from Amplify Energy before the taxpayers of Huntington Beach see a dime. The City waived $450,000 in special event permit fees; nearly $200,000 that the Pacific Airshow/Code Four already paid for the 2021 Airshow (2 days of which happened, and that Pacific Airshow/Code Four can and should recover from Amplify Energy), refunded $150,000 for the 2022 Airshow, and waived $110,000 for the 2023 Airshow.
• Approximately $250,000 in interest for which the City will be liable on the $5 million cash payments.
Thus, the sad truth is that the Settlement Agreement will cost Huntington Beach taxpayers AT LEAST $20.5 Million. And, of course, we do not actually know how much will really be spent because there was no financial analysis done of this egregious secret agreement.
What’s just as troubling is that this secret Agreement deprived other potential Huntington Beach and California businesses of a fair chance and even playing field to compete for Airshow economic opportunities. The Agreement gives Pacific Airshow/Code Four the exclusive rights to conduct the Airshow for the next 40 years. There will be no competitive bidding to attempt to find out if other operators even non-profit operators could provide greater value to the City.
I, like many residents of Huntington Beach, strongly support the Airshow. But, like all government business, our Airshow arrangements must be conducted in the open, with public input on how the government spends our taxpayer dollars, and with equal chance for all Huntington Beach residents and businesses to participate and benefit – not via secret deals between back-room political allies. For this reason, I am proud to have brought – and won – this Public Records Act case.