County Acts to Recover Property Lease : Battle: Officials are taking legal action to evict Tallmantz Aviation for failure to pay rent at John Wayne Airport.

Frustrated by a long-running battle with one of their leaseholders at John Wayne Airport, county officials are moving to take legal action to evict the firm.

The county counsel’s office will ask the Board of Supervisors next week to authorize the legal action against Tallmantz Aviation, documents filed with the board Thursday indicate. That action, if successful, would allow the county to take back its lease on the airport property and turn it over to a new buyer, said Airport Manager Janice Mittermeier.

“This is an action that we have to take if we’re going to get that property back,” Mittermeier said. “This is the end of a long process and a lot of legal maneuvering.”

Battles over the property go back years and involve one of the county’s most powerful political insiders. In 1985, Corona del Mar businessman Charles C. Seven bought Tallmantz Aviation, a fixed based operator at the airport that maintains corporate aircraft, sells aviation fuel and rents space for parking private planes.

Seven and the county agreed to extend Tallmantz Aviation’s lease in 1988, provided that Tallmantz build new hangars and offices on the property. Within a month of the new lease agreement, however, Tallmantz had fallen behind on rent payments and the county was threatening eviction.

Seven, who had hired county lobbyist Frank G. Michelena to help him, eventually declared bankruptcy in 1989. Last August, a federal bankruptcy judge ordered both men to pay fines for abusing federal bankruptcy laws.

In the midst of the legal battles, the county has pressed to recover its lease, and next week’s action will put that matter before a judge.