Tulsa city officials said a claim by IC Bus of Oklahoma and their parent company Navistar that the City of Tulsa threatened to evict them from their local facility is false.

According to a Tulsa press release, “The City of Tulsa has no intent of issuing an eviction notice as the city is currently under agreement with Navistar to negotiate and sign a new lease with IC Bus of Oklahoma and has been moving forward with good faith efforts to negotiate a new lease.”

City officials offered a summary of actions they have taken over the past two years to get IC Bus and Navistar to pay for “substantial maintenance issues at the (city-owned) plant.”

The release also states, “The City of Tulsa remains committed to partnering with our largest employers in Tulsa, and to leverage public assets and resources in a fiscally responsible manner.”

 “The City of Tulsa is currently negotiating the renewal of a lease on one million square feet of industrial work space owned by the citizens of Tulsa,” said Mayor G.T. Bynum. “The tenant has leased that space for two decades at a total lease price of one dollar. The only thing required of the tenant under their contract is that they properly maintain this taxpayer-owned facility so it is safe.

“A public relations campaign launched (recently) grossly mischaracterizes these negotiations in an obvious attempt to politicize them. My response: the citizens of Tulsa will not be played for suckers.

“I remain confident we can identify common ground to secure jobs and properly maintain this facility. We’ve done so with great success during my time as mayor with other tenants, and I see no reason why this case would be any different.”

In 2017, the City of Tulsa and Tulsa City Council adopted the city’s first Strategic Plan, known as the AIM Plan. Under AIM, the city proposed to “develop and implement a plan to revitalize Air Force Plant 3 (AFP3) and industrial land surrounding the airport.”

City officials and public trust authorities have invested in public financing and support private investment in the hopes of job growth. They take credit for American Airline’s commitment to invest $550,000,000 in its Tulsa Maintenance Base and Spirt AeroSystems plan to invest $80,000,000 in their Air Force Plant 3 facilities.

In October 2018, the city started talks with IC Bus of Oklahoma and Navistar to remedy maintenance issues.

• In January-July 2018, the city came up with a list of capital improvements at the plant. That plan called for public funding for infrastructure through guaranteed revenue bonds.
• The Tulsa City Council passed the AIM Plan.
• In August of 2018, the proposals were completed and Bynum decided to meet with Spirit AeroSystems and Navistar/IC Bus to explain his plan.
• On October 29, 2018, the city made its presentation to IC Bus officials for $16 million in electrical repairs, as identified by Ghafari Associates (paid for by Navistar.) Plant officials agreed that the electrical infrastructure was “extremely aged and obsolete…” and that their failure would pose a risk to production.
• There was a follow-up call on November 9, 2018, from Navistar and they asked about renewal of the $1 lease.
• There were follow-up communications January 23 and February 8, 2019. The city described Navistar as “non-responsive” in a request for help in fixing the problems.
• On February 14, the city sent a formal letter to Navistar telling them that a third party would assess the situation.
• On February 18, 2019, the city notifies Navistar of plans to begin city-funded improvements. Navistar asks if the “grant” comes with strings attached. City staff says no, but the lease still calls for maintenance and repairs. That’s repeated in a formal letter on February 22.
• On March 7, Navistar agrees to send maintenance records by the April 30, 2019, deadline. On April 30, the Navistar sends an overview that the company spent an average of $1.4 million over the last eight years and projects that average to rise to $1.5 million for the next five years. The message said the company spent $800,000 a year on maintenance.
• On April 30, the city asks for maintenance details and got no answer. The city then asks for details about roofing, fire systems, asbestos, capital improvements, IT upgrades, road work, parking lot upgrades and security system upgrades.
• In August of 2019, Cyntergy does an assessment of the Air Force Plant 3 facilities and Bynum approves a contract for electrical upgrades at IC Bus for $1,576,647.
• Then, on November 18, 2019, the City of Tulsa sends a “letter of default” to Navistar.
• On January 15, 2020, Navistar staff and Tulsa staff meet. Two days later, the city sends a “notice of termination of existing lease” to Navistar and sets a February 14 deadline to sign a newly negotiated lease.
• On February 13, the City of Tulsa and Navistar enter a “standstill agreement” and commit to “good faith negotiations” for a new or amended contract. Negotiations begin in February and continue through March.
• On April 15, they extend the timeline for negotiations until May 29. The next day, the city gives the company a schedule for the city-funded electrical improvements. Work is supposed to star on May 1.
• On April 21, the city and the company host a video conference to talk about maintenance. There is compromise and disagreement.
• On April 28, Navistar sends back the revised lease contract with comments. Tulsa promises to send by a response by May 6.

Then Navistar issued a press release.