EDITOR:

With Bob Randstatler’s and Robyn Morrison’s resignations as the airport management team, the Commissioners of Delta County, exception being Commissioner Vanginhoven, have once again failed the aviation and traveling community of this county. Current and previous commissioners always viewed the airport as an afterthought. They want(ed) it to provide large airport services on a meager budget. County commissioners have allowed the non-statutory and impotent Airport Advisory Board to go through four managers and five assistant managers since May 2018! This is lunacy. When the current team was finally hired late 2023 they were expected to work 60 plus hour work weeks, at 40 hour per week salary, in order to pull the airport from the brink of disaster with the FAA. They are simply burned out with zero support or gratitude from Advisory Board or Commissioners. That team brought the airport from the brink of decertification in 2024, fixing problems that were at least a decade in the making. And why so many problems? Because current and past commissioners, and advisory board members, never bothered to peel the onion back one layer so see what was not happening. Finally, in June 2023, when the then manager Andrea Nummilien had to resign is when the years of neglect were finally uncovered. As a retired Navy officer, I learned early on you “expect what you inspect.” But none of that happened. The excuse, particularly from Advisory Board members was always “well, we’re so busy with our day jobs!” Commissioners, again, with input from the Advisory Board, failed to even define what they want this airport to look like. The airport mission/vision statement is pure pablum lifted from elsewhere. It has not one actionable item in it to make this airport stand out as unique. When commissioners and advisory board members cannot define what the airport should be, and support it with adequate funding and managerial staffing, it’s no wonder that disaster continues to strike.

The ultimate blame for this leadership fiasco is the Airport Advisory Board itself. Specifically responsible is the Board Chair, Brian Herioux. Current and past airport managers have begged him to take their case to the county commissioners for better funding and staffing, and he failed to do so. For any actionable items, his excuse is always “I’m too busy.” It has been 14 months since Bob Randstatler took over, and 19 months since Robyn Morrison was hired. In that time, they could not even get a job performance rating and appraisal done by the Advisory Board, a requirement for all departments. It is time to eliminate this unnecessary, ineffective board and have the county commissioners and administrator do their jobs as the actual chain of command for airport management.

Dennis L Hopkins

Captain, U.S. Navy (Retired)

Bark River, MI