City of Worcester, MA

City and Massport Develop Final Agreement for Airport Transfer

For Immediate Release: 6/10/2010 2:30 pm

Worcester, MA (May 25, 2010) - The City of Worcester and the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) have developed the final Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the transfer of the Worcester Regional Airport (WRA). This MOA defines all the various terms and conditions to effectuate this transfer, to include the value to the City of as much as $17 million in cash payments and permanent land transfers.

The City's goals have been to structure a deal with Massport that:

• Adheres to all applicable law and governances.
• Absolves us of all City debts, covenants and grant assurances (past present and future) of WRA.
• Recognizes the resources the City has dedicated to the WRA and, upon consideration of these resources, allows the City the flexibility to apply these proceeds as determined to be in the best interest of the community.
• Retains strategic parcels of land currently within airport boundaries to instead remain within the City's jurisdiction.
• Provides a reasonable level of future community involvement over WRA.
• Ensures WRA will continue to be an asset for integrated transportation and economic development initiatives through partnership with Massport.

The terms of the MOA must be approved by the FAA and the Massport Board of Directors. The City Council will be required to vote approval of the transfer of the property and approve a reorganization plan eliminating the Airport, including the Airport Commission, as a department of the City. The City's Airport Commission must also vote to approve the transfer of the property.

This is a complex transaction that has taken well over a year of negotiations to reach agreement. Massport, the Governor and Lt. Governor, the State Administration, the City and the FAA have all been intimate to these proceedings. The overarching goal to all this was that the City and the region need a thriving Worcester Regional Airport, integrated with all other transportation means, to fuel our long term success - but this effort and long term ownership was best left to the experts in aviation and airports - Massport, all with reasonable community oversight. This landmark agreement achieves this main goal, and all the other articulated goals - and it absolves us from all encumbrances, debts, present/future liabilities, grant assurances and other costs associated with WRA. It is important to note that this is a first for the City to have negotiated retiree costs in their entirety as part of a transfer of a City asset.

Gratitude must be extended to Thomas Kinton, Massport CEO, and his team, the Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary Mullan, Congressman McGovern, our Statehouse Delegation, the FAA and the City Team - City Solicitor David Moore, Chief Financial Officer Thomas Zidelis, Assistant City Manager Julie Jacobson - for their collective efforts to get us to this milestone.

The complete Memorandum of Agreement may be viewed by visiting the following link:

• Memorandum of Agreement for the transfer of the Worcester Regional Airport (579KB)