Redmond Municipal Airport Director Zachary Bass quietly left his post last week amid accusations that he illegally favored a national airport concessions firm to take over food and beverage sales following the completion of a $180 million airport expansion in 2027.
Aviano RDM LLC, the airport’s current concessionaire, filed a complaint in Deschutes County Circuit Court on July 30 after losing a bid for the food and beverage contract under the expansion. The complaint alleges Bass and other airport staff had “close personal relationships” with a larger national firm, Tailwind Hospitality, and that Bass improperly met with a company executive behind closed doors and violated Oregon public contracting law by creating an uneven playing field.
Bass, who served as airport director for 11 years, abruptly resigned effective Sept. 4 without an announcement from the City. His resignation was first reported by the Source. The City did not respond to questions about whether it was planning to announce the resignation publicly. In a statement, the City said Bass was, “taking off for his next career endeavor,” and touted growth in passenger and air service during his tenure.
Bass did not respond to phone calls on Friday or on Tuesday. The City declined to comment on the complaint, citing pending litigation.
Aviano’s complaint requests an order, “remanding the matter to the City for corrective action,” along with attorney’s fees and $25,000 to compensate for costs in responding to the City’s procurement process.
The Redmond City Council approved Tailwind’s contract on June 9.
In December, the City issued a Request for Proposals for companies to apply to run food, beverage and retail services at the airport. The request, also known as an RFP, comes with legal rules that aim to ensure fairness when governments select companies with which to do business.
The expanded concessions area at the Redmond Airport will add 6,000 square feet of food and beverage space as part of a $180 million expansion set to double the size of the terminal. Tailwind, a national company with headquarters in Delaware, runs concessions in about 50 mid-sized airports across the country. Their proposal was to bring local favorites like Bend Brewing Company, Sparrow Bakery and Sisters Coffee to the airport, along with a grab-and-go market.
Aviano is described in the complaint as a local, family-owned business. It’s headquartered in Albany, Oregon. Aviano proposed to bring Bend’s Thump Coffee and a restaurant and grab-and-go market. It has run concessions at the airport since 2009, including the Avalon Aeropub, a restaurant and bar on the second floor of the Redmond terminal.
According to agenda materials presented to the City Council June 9, a selection committee included airport staff, Bend and Redmond economic development staff and one Redmond city councilor. They graded proposals on background and experience, concepts and design, management and experience, customer service, financial proposal and capabilities, Bass said at a May 26 City Council meeting.
But Aviano alleges the City’s process was set up to favor Tailwind. That started when Bass met with Jerry Brienza, then the vice president of business development with Tailwind, behind closed doors for “an extended period of time” during a pre-proposal conference on Jan. 13, according to the complaint. Meanwhile, the City directed all contract-related questions to be submitted through an online platform to avoid improper communications, according to the complaint.
A few days later, Aviano wrote to the City that the meeting may have violated public contracting rules around one-on-one meetings. But the City described the communications as “personal in nature” and declined to take action, according to the complaint.
“The City made no effort to mitigate prejudice to Aviano (or any other prospective bidder) arising from Mr. Bass’s close, personal relationship with Mr. Brienza,” the complaint reads.
At an early open house meeting with prospective vendors, the City displayed pictures of Tailwind’s current restaurants as examples of desirable proposals, the complaint says. After proposals were submitted, the complaint says the City asked, “substantive and relevant” questions of Tailwind while Bass asked “unfairly critical and largely irrelevant” questions of Aviano. The complaint also alleges the City unfairly designed the RFP to include a large capital investment more easily covered by Tailwind. Aviano proposed $2.2 million in construction investment while Tailwind proposed $4.7 million, according to City Council agenda materials.
According to the complaint, Aviano also made a public records request for other communications between the City and Tailwind, but the request came back empty. Tailwind did not respond to our inquiries by press time.
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