Airport committee eyes staffing changes

Current manager seeks to make the position casual, part-time to save county cash

At the June 6 Airport Committee meeting, Fred Ebert, the manager of the Taylor County Airport proposed to move the airport’s managerial fulltime position to a casual position starting January of 2024. Along with this, Ebert asked the committee to consider bumping up his wage from $28.25 to $32.59 for the remainder of the year so that he could commit to retire in January of 2024 and help the airport ensure that everything is in place to make the change at the beginning of next year.

Ebert stated that this proposal was inspired by the county’s desire to make budget cuts and estimated that this change would save the county about $50,000 which would add to the $150,000 in savings that the county’s Budget Review Committee recently came up with. Making the position a casual one would not only save the county wages but would also completely cut the benefits that come with the full time position.

It is important to note that if the position changes it will become a casual See AIRPORT on page 3 position and not a part time one. Rachel Ogle from the county’s human resources team explained that a part time position would still be eligible for benefits and would have scheduled hours while a casual position would not be eligible for benefits and would not have a set schedule.

“We’ve been waiting for 10 years for the airport business to pick back up again,” Ebert stated when explaining why the airport should switch to operating part time. This would mean that the airport would run about 20 hours a week instead of the usual 40 which Ebert believes would still leave time to complete all of the duties that come with coordinating the airport.

“Well obviously you’re not spending 40 hours managing the airport. You’re a working supervisor, working manager, so you’re mowing the grass, plowing snow. So if we took 20 hours away, are those things going to get done?” asked Airport Committee member Mark Hoffman. Hoffman’s concern stems from the fact that there is no guarantee that the next person to become the airport’s manager will be as knowledgeable and diligent as Ebert when it comes to running the grounds. With Ebert’s plans to retire in January of 2024 the county will need to hire someone else to fill his position even if Ebert would be interested in coming back to the casual position at a later date.

In response to Hoffman’s concerns, Ebert assured the committee that with the lack of traffic at the airport and the extra help from a part time worker, 20 hours a week should be more than enough time for the next manager to get all of the necessary duties done. While some members of the committee were still concerned that the next manager may not be as capable as Ebert, they still agreed that the airport does not need to be staffed full time.

“I think it’s going to be a tough sell there,” said Chuck Zenner about bringing the proposition to the county’s finance and personnel committee. Zenner stated that while he thinks that the committee would be more than happy to make the full time job a casual one, they would not agree with giving Ebert the $4.34 raise for the remainder of this year. Zenner was not the only one with this concern and the committee was very adamant that the raise would not and probably should not be approved.

“From an HR perspective, that increase too, will not be a recommendation from HR. That’s an exception that we have not made for others at any point,” stated Ogle before explaining that due to some recent conversations and situations with county employees, approving this raise would most likely have a negative impact on morale.

“I wouldn’t ask the county board to consider paying the current manager more money for the remainder of the year so that current manager would go to a part time, semi retired,” Hoffman added to the conversation before suggesting that instead of moving the airport’s managerial to a casual position, the county should utilize their resources and split up the manager’s job between departments instead of killing time at the airport when there is nothing to do. This was well received by some but there was a question on whether or not there is a need in the county for that type of position.

By the time the discussion of Ebert’s proposal concluded the committee agreed that they were not ready to make a motion. Instead, the committee agreed to create a complete description of the airport’s managerial position and edit Ebert’s proposal before bringing it to the finance and personnel committee.

The committee also discussed the description of another casual airport position and agreed to take away the previous requirements of a high school diploma or GED and a CDL license.