WESTFIELD—In order to bridge the gap between managers, the city has appointed a temporary management firm to oversee Barnes Municipal Airport.
The city brought in AvPORTS, a Dulles, Virginia-based airport management company, to perform the tasks of the vacant airport manager position. They will be in the position until the airport selects a new manager, which Mayor Brian Sullivan estimated would be in mid-November at the earliest.
The company is accustomed to Barnes Airport, since they were utilized the last time there was a vacant manager position.
“They were here before Brian Barnes, so we feel comfortable with them in the short-term,” Mayor Brian Sullivan said about the company. “They can basically run the day-to-day operations and that’s what they do.”
Sullivan said that Lee Lancaster will be the AvPORTS employee who steps into the managerial position. He will be there from Tuesdays to Thursdays, and Sullivan said that he would help maintain FAA compliance, airport meetings and winter preparation, including snow removal.
“Nothing is changing,” Sullivan said, “actually all we’re trying to do is stay level while we’re selecting the new manager, kind of like picking the school superintendent you let the new person have time in the position.”
Regarding a new airport manager, Sullivan said that there have been eight applicants screened by the selection committee and approved for interviews, but two had dropped out of the process. The remaining six are interviewing for the vacant manager position.
