Delta County searching for new airport manager

ESCANABA, Mich. (WLUC) - The Delta County Airport is without a manager right now as Andrea Nummilien resigned last Friday.

She spoke during the public comment portion of Tuesday night’s Delta County board meeting and criticized some of the board members’ leadership, saying they’ve lowered the county’s standards. Nummilien only had three minutes to speak, so her mother Terry Nummilien finished reading her statement.

“The final insult came with the hiring of the new county administrator and then after reviewing the credentials of the other candidates, it’s impossible to understand how they were passed by for someone who was less qualified,” wrote Andrea Nummilien.

Nummilien praised the airport board, which Commissioner Steven Viau serves on and after Tuesday night’s county board meeting, Viau said he saw this resignation coming as Nummilien seemed to be overwhelmed.

“She is a talented young lady that I thought was going to move us forward for years to come,” said Viau. “I’m new on the board, but there has been a lot of good communication with me and her staff personally.”

Viau said with such short notice of Nummilien’s resignation, the county board was concerned the airport may have to shut down. The board held an emergency meeting last week and Viau said new Delta County Administrator Ashleigh Young is helping keep the airport open.

“We have a 90-day lead way to get somebody trained with the airport certification so our airport can stay open,” said Viau. “Actually, our administrator is going to be holding office there until we get our newly hired assistant administrator up to speed in the next couple of days or weeks.”

On Tuesday night, commissioners approved posting the airport manager opening and the board even signed off on hiring an assistant airport manager, Robyn Morrison. At the meeting, the county board also addressed public comments on the Escanaba Township annexation debate. Viau said there is a lot of misinformation because the board doesn’t have any official notification on moving forward with the annexation.

“There seem to be basic issues that won’t qualify for us to vote on it, but we have no criteria to follow so we don’t know what we are doing with it yet,” said Viau. “That’s why we didn’t talk much about it.”

TV6 will continue to provide updates as they become available. The next Delta County board meeting is June 20th at 5:15 p.m.

If you are interested in more information about the airport manager position, click here.

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