[JYO] National Search Planned For New Town Airport Director


from Leesburg Today...
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href="http://www.leesburg2day.com/current.cfm?catid=1&amp;newsid=7284";>http://www.leesburg2day.com/current.cfm?catid=1&newsid=7284</A>
 
 
National Search Planned For New Town Airport Director
<A style="FONT-SIZE: 7pt; COLOR: #1f1f1f" 
href="mailto:andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx";>Andrew D. Parker</A> 

Jun 13, 
2003 -- Town Manager Robert S. Noe plans a nationwide search to find a 
replacement for Douglas B. McNeeley, who resigned last week to pursue other job 
opportunities after two years as director of Leesburg Executive Airport. 
“[H]iring is among the most important functions in government and I believe 
it pays to take the time necessary to find the right person,” Noe said. The 
town plans to advertise in an American Association of Airport Executives 
publication. In the best-case scenario, it will take about 90 days to find a 
replacement, according to Noe. 
McNeeley’s resignation comes on the heels of Deputy Town Manager Phillip L. 
Rodenberg taking a job as the city manager of Fredericksburg. Both Rodenberg 
and McNeeley will leave the town at the end of the month. Thomas Balch Library 
Manager Jane Sullivan is also leaving the town after nine years of service. 
Certificates of appreciation for all three were presented by the Town Council 
at 
a meeting Tuesday night. 
McNeeley said he is considering three other job opportunities. He downplayed 
questions about a recent argument with Airport Commission Chairman Stephen H. 
Axeman over whether a pilot could fly an experimental “Gyro-copter” at the 
airport, saying it or any other disputes over airport operations did not have 
anything to do with the resignation. 
“Good people are going to disagree,” McNeeley said, adding public debate 
and 
discussion of issues involving the airport is healthy. The “Gyro-copter” 
issue will be discussed at the next Airport Commission meeting at 7:30 p.m. 
Tuesday, according to McNeeley. 
Axeman said the airport director has been in the best position to address 
individual concerns about airport operations, adding 90 percent of the time the 
director and the Airport Commission have agreed on management decisions and 
airport priorities. Disagreements are settled by the town manager or Town 
Council, according to Axeman. 
“Disagreements happen and we resolve them when they arise,” he said. 
McNeeley noted that three plane crashes into Leesburg subdivisions over a 
nine-month span was very difficult for the whole staff as well as the entire 
community. Mayor Kristen C. Umstattd noted Tuesday that “Doug was out there 
for 
hours on end,” on the scene after each of the three crashes. 
The National Transportation Safety Board has ruled that the airport was not 
implicated in the first crash in July 2002 and all indications are that the 
airport was not involved in the other two more recent crashes in March, 
McNeeley 
pointed out. 
“Yes, it was stressful,” he said, “but it had nothing to do with my 
decision 
[to resign].” 
When former Airport Director Juan Rivera left the town in January 2001 to 
become the airport director in Manassas, an interim director, Cindy Martin, was 
appointed until McNeeley was hired in May. Some roles of the town’s 
department 
heads are being shifted to cover Rodenberg’s responsibilities, and Noe is 
still figuring out what will be done about the airport director vacancy. 
But the Airport Commission will likely not be involved in the selection 
process. The commission has been included in previous evaluations of airport 
director candidates and Axeman has asked for the panel to help select 
McNeeley’s 
replacement. Noe says that might not happen, noting that consulting with 
advisory 
panels on hiring “has not been my most recent practice.” 
Both Noe and Axeman said a successful candidate will have to work well with 
the Federal Aviation Administration, the Virginia Department of Transportation, 
the town and the Airport Commission. They added that a new director will have 
to build a rapport with the airport’s neighbors and smaller clients. 
“[It should be] somebody with the expertise to deal with big corporate wants 
and you have to deal with the little people,” said Airport Commissioner 
Stanley F. Caulkins. An estimated $3 million expansion to the airport terminal 
has 
been named after Caulkins, a pilot who has served on the commission for about 
25 years. 
Another major aspect of the airport director’s job will be overseeing the 
continued expansion of Virginia’s second-busiest general aviation airport. 
Four 
capital projects were finished during McNeeley’s tenure, he said, along with 
the beginning of the terminal expansion project. 
McNeeley pointed to the need for additional administrative staff at the 
airport, describing a “crushing workload” at times for the airport’s four 
employees. He praised their work and said the town will want to look at hiring 
more 
staff soon. 
Axeman agreed that with the terminal expansion, more employees will be 
needed, but said, “As for the administrative staff, I am not convinced any 
additions 
are necessary. When the new director is in place, we will be looking closely 
at determining if an administrative assistant would be necessary. Given the 
current fiscal constraints, I don’t see [how] the town will be able to add 
one 
this year even if necessary,” he said. Town directors submit staffing 
requests 
to Noe and are considered for funding during the Town Council’s budget review 
each spring. 
“One of Doug’s real strengths was his affability and dedication to 
promotion 
of the airport throughout the community. That commitment to community 
outreach is something that I think we should continue to foster,” Axeman 
said. Noe 
praised McNeeley for getting “a lot of good things accomplished,” including 
the 
capital projects, which McNeeley said was one of his main goals.

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