DeVore resigns as airport manager

De-icing plan will move forward in his absence

County manager Matthew Birnie accepted the resignation of airport manager John DeVore last Thursday, February 7. Birnie attended the Friday, February 8 meeting of the Gunnison Valley Rural Transit Authority (RTA)  to assure them that a transition plan is in place and a de-icing plan for the airport will still move forward under the leadership of assistant county manager Marlene Crosby.

“Marlene Crosby will be overseeing operations at the airport, and she and I will be working with Jviation, our airport engineer, to get up to speed on all the open [Federal Aviation Administration] grants and construction projects that are slated for this year,” Birnie said.
Birnie explained that there are three requests for proposals in progress, including one for a fencing project, one for an airport engineer because Jviation’s contract is set to expire, and one for the development of the airport master plan.
“We’d prefer to defer the master plan for a few months until we have a new director to start that process,” Birnie said.
Birnie has already been in touch with two executive search firms and plans to move forward with a search firm to find a new director. In the meantime, Crosby will work on implementing a de-icing plan for the runway. Birnie’s best-case scenario would be to have someone hired for the position within two to three months.