14 on list to become director of airport
County staffers, with the help of some experts, hope to cut it to two or three candidates by January.
By MICHAEL SANDLER, Times Staff Writer
Published November 10, 2003
CLEARWATER - One candidate began his aviation career flying fighter planes in Korea. Another now teaches aviation to college students in Miami. A third offers South Florida billionaire Wayne Huizenga as a reference.
What all three men have in common is a desire to lead St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport through the next 20 years. They've all made the first cut, joining 11 others vying for the open airport director position.
Whoever is chosen immediately will step into a high-profile job overseeing an evolving airport that has attracted plenty of attention in recent months.
Some people consider the airport a vital economic engine that will bring jobs to Pinellas County. Others see it as a growing nuisance that will bring more air traffic, noise and pollution.
The job pays well, with an annual salary ranging between $79,257 and $122,848, and comes with the responsibility of overseeing 69 full-time employees.
The position opened in July, when David M. Metz resigned to take a job with the city of St. Petersburg. His departure came weeks after he presented a $223-million expansion draft plan for the airport, its first master plan in 25 years.
Since then, county officials have conducted a national search as they fended off critics, mostly residents from neighboring Feather Sound and Safety Harbor who fear more noise will accompany any expansion.
More than 50 people applied for the job. Assistant county administrators Keith Wicks and Jake Stowers sifted through the pile and this month narrowed the pool.
All of the remaining candidates are men. They come from eight states. At least 10 now are managing airports, from Ithaca, N.Y., to Chico, Calif. Two of the candidates served as Broward County executives supervising Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
"What I have told the personnel people," county Administrator Steve Spratt said, "as they screen the applicants, is that we really want an airport director who has rich experience in managing an airport that is at least the size of ours."
The search for a director comes at a time when Spratt says the airport is in demand, part of a trend in the industry in which low-cost airlines are seeking out smaller airports.
He said that in July, 84,427 passengers flew in or out of the airport, according to Florida Skies Aviation News, an industry trade newsletter. That's a 72 percent increase from July 2002, the newsletter pointed out.
And the airport expects to offer scheduled flights to four new cities by December.
Airlines have been asking for more ticket counter space, but Spratt said airport officials have been unable to meet those demands.
"We are experiencing tremendous growth rates in passenger traffic, even with no expansion," Spratt said.
Wicks said he and Stowers hope to begin interviewing candidates in December. They intend to produce two or three finalists for Spratt to interview in January.
Spratt is not relying solely on his staff's expertise to help find the new airport executive. He's brought in two experts to help his two administrators.
Louis Miller, executive director of the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, and Bruce Drum, assistant director for operations at Miami International Airport, have volunteered to serve on the interview panel.
Some candidates already are supervising major airports.
William Sherry, director of aviation in Broward County since 1997, applied. A large part of his job includes overseeing Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Included with his resume was a letter of reference from Huizenga.
He will be up against William Rankin, Broward's deputy aviation director from 1998 to 2003. Rankin has worked the past year as an assistant professor of aviation at Florida Memorial College.
Sherry and Rankin both are from South Florida. Spratt, who was an assistant county manager in Miami-Dade County before he took the top administrator position in Pinellas in 2001, said he does not know either candidate.
Daniel Runyan has never run a commercial airport. But as chief for current operations and plans at MacDill Air Force Base, he was in charge of all flight activity from 1997 to 2000. He also was an Air Force pilot.
Tom Jewsbury, who has been serving as interim airport director at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport since Metz left, made the cut, as did Steve Nash, the airport's former assistant director who left in 2002 to become director of public safety in Lake County.
- Michael Sandler can be reached at 445-4162 or sandler@sptimes.com
North Pinellas headlines
14 on list to become director of airport
Carving his niche
Redesigned Walk of Stars sparkles
Say aloha to a new Hawaiian barbecue restaurant
Sizing up West Oldsmar, again
Letters: Importance of living wills has never been greater
© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111
|
|
