The local investors interested in privatizing the operation of the area’s two airports recently launched a website where they intend to lay out their plans for public review and solicit input before a formal proposal is made to Toledo City Council.
The website, www.toledoairports.com, launched Nov. 26. Titled “A Vision for Toledo Airports,” it also contains a summary of their qualifications and experience, frequently asked questions and a contact form.
“At our newly created website, the public will be able to see documents — including our full business plan — as we release them,” said Dock David Treece, who is working on the proposal with his father, Dock Treece, and brother, Ben Treece.
“The release of our documents will be staged out over a period of several weeks to allow the public to study each of them separately. Our primary goal in posting documents like our business plan online is to provide as much transparency as possible. We also want a platform for receiving and addressing questions as they arise.”
The first document, a marketability study, is set to be posted Dec. 6, Dock David said.
Put together with the help of consultant Michael Hodges of Airport Business Solutions, the study “details all the opportunities and strengths of both Toledo Express Airport and Toledo Executive Airport that we aren’t currently taking advantage of,” Dock David said, describing Hodges as a world-renowned expert in aviation operations and airport privatization.
Dock, a Tennessee native who has lived in Toledo since the mid-1970s, is president of Treece Investment Advisory Corp. and his sons are both partners in the family-owned and operated Toledo firm.
The Treeces are also Toledo Free Press contributors. Dock’s wife, Cynthia Treece, is also listed as an investor on the website.
The Treeces would operate the airports as two new entities: Toledo Airport Operations Company and Toledo Airport Facilities Company. They have been researching the feasibility of their idea for the past three years, but started to get more serious this spring, Dock David said.
Both airports are owned by the City of Toledo and have been operated by the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority since 1973. Under its current lease, the Port is set to operate the airports through February 2023.
“I hope people will take the opportunity to visit the website, study the document and provide feedback,” Dock David said. “We want every-
body in Northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan — particularly Lucas and Wood counties — to have the ability to see exactly what we want to do and who is involved before we start going through City Council.”
Among the documents the Treeces plan to post in the coming weeks are their full business plan and a 10-year financial forecast, Dock David said.
“This is not something we have done on a whim,” he said. “We want to be as transparent as possible. We don’t want people to hear selected portions. We want them to have access to everything.”
