For the second time in three years, a local restaurateur is complaining of unfair treatment from the city of Redmond.

Early in 2010, David Shurtleff, owner of Coyote Ranch Restaurant in south Redmond, protested the city’s plan to allow Deschutes Brewery to open a bar in the newly expanded airport terminal, citing expectations that the city should have solicited requests for proposals.

Shurtleff, who eventually opened a pub inside the airport, now says that former Redmond City Manager David Brandt promised him in 2012 that changes could be made in his contract, changes that have not materialized. “It’s a trust issue,” Shurtleff told the Redmond City Council on Feb. 5. “The bottom line is, the city’s responsible to be a partner with the business community.”

Interim City Manager Sharon Harris cited for councilors the basics of Shurtleff’s 10-year contract: a minimum annual guarantee, or MAG, rent of $25,000 a year — with allowances that minimum rent would rise with sales — and requirements that menu prices would not be above 10 percent of prices in local establishments beyond the airport.

Staff were unaware until recently of Shurtleff’s requests and conversations with Brandt, Harris said. The restaurateur asked Brandt if his contract could be changed to freeze the MAG at $25,000, while still paying a sales percentage if that was higher than the MAG, as well as for longer operating hours, more seating space and removal of the menu price cap, she said.

According to Harris, the city has since installed more tables and chairs in the public area adjacent to the pub and allowed slightly longer operating hours.

“The $25,000 was an estimate for that first year; we had no barometer to gauge what sales would be,” she told the council.

The contract allows for increased rent if sales go higher than the MAG, which is recalculated every year and set higher if sales warrant.

Calculations are based on percentages of sales, such as 10 percent of food sales and 15 percent of alcohol sales.

The city’s quest to fill the airport with desired concessionaires has been difficult. Originally the city put out RFPs for a restaurant in the nonsecured area of the airport, but none were received. Officials then reached out to Deschutes Brewery, tentatively agreeing to allow a bar inside the secured area as an alternative.

Shurtleff contended that a new RFP process should have taken place for a bar-only concept, and the city reconsidered, eventually deciding to put out an RFP for a single proprietor to open both a restaurant outside security and bar inside security.

For the second time, no proposals were received.

By that time, Deschutes Brewery had opted out of consideration and Shurtleff was the sole bidder on an eventual bar-only proposal. Coyote Ranch Pub opened in October 2010.

Airport manager Kim Dickie said her concern is a possible impact on other concessionaires should the city accede to Shurtleff’s request for a flat lease fee. Since the language in Shurtleff’s contract is standard to other airport agreements, changes could create expectations that they’d all have to change.

Shurtleff’s request for a flat MAG is based on his concern that market conditions — including an airport coffee shop that was not in place when the contract was agreed upon, and fewer flights — may cause his pub to earn less than what the MAG requires.

The MAG for 2012, $32,856, is set again for 2013. According to Kathy Walter, Coyote Ranch Pub’s accountant and manager, $45,000 in rent was paid in 2011 and $37,000 in 2012, because the percentage of sales overall was higher than the MAG.

“Right now we’re struggling with Allegiant gone,” she said. “We’re just hoping that this year, sales will be at least the same as last year.”

According to Harris, the contract does not allow a lowering of the MAG, even if annual sales drop below that amount. The MAG was dropped by 3 percent when air carrier Allegiant curtailed Redmond service in 2012. The expectation, she said, is that sales will gradually increase with time, barring any economic crisis. Keeping that requirement is in the best interest of the city, Harris said.

City Councilor Camden King agreed that the contract needed some “cleaning up” but stressed that he thought it was fundamentally fair. “No one is trying to screw you over,” he told Shurtleff. “We want you to be successful.” He also cautioned Shurtleff to “let go” of any perceived promises by Brandt, since the City Council has to approve all contracts, regardless.

After the meeting, Harris said the contract’s fiscal terms were used to find a margin between the MAG and percent of sales that is narrow enough that both the city and concessionaire can budget reliably. In the 26 months of the contract, Coyote Ranch Pub has been paying a percentage of sales, not the MAG, because the former has been higher, she said.

“It’ll take a few years to get a good history for that and right now we’re having growing pains,” she said. “You have to remember that the players in this — city and airport manager, accountant and concessionaire — are all new to our roles.”

Shurtleff’s concern about revenue falling below the MAG is understandable, Harris said. “The council is open to a discussion of real-time changes,” she said. A renewed conversation about the contract could take place then, Harris said.