ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Just over two years ago, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launched an investigation into administrative issues at the Delta County Airport. While the situation has improved, the FAA says changes still need to be made to solve longstanding, systemic problems.
In response to the FAA’s direction, the County has created a job description for a field operations manager. That individual would be responsible for maintaining compliance with Part 139, which involves requirements for airport operating certificates.
On Thursday, the County Board of Commissioners held a joint meeting with the Airport Advisory Board to discuss what that would look like.
The change would involve alterations to Airport Manager Ashleigh Young’s wages. Because the field operations manager’s duties would no longer be part of her job description, some of her current salary would be reallocated to the new position.
When Young took the job in the spring of 2025, the County offered her a starting salary of $80,000, as well as a $5,000 increase after she completed Part 139 training. According to County Commissioner Kelli Van Ginhoven, members of the County Finance Committee initially suggested salaries of $67,000 for both positions.
“What I said was that if we did the $67,000 and our current airport manager left, there would be no feasible way we could get a new airport manager in here for $67,000,” she said. “… If we go with what we’re suggesting right now, which I believe was the $75,000 for airport management, $65,000 for the operations… we’re going to have to eat out of the general fund from the airport $86,000 per year.”
However, that number is expected to decrease.
“With what Ashleigh has identified as actual revenue that has been secured, that takes that $86,000 minus $47,199 down to $38,800,” said Commissioner Christine Williams. “… That’s not an ideal situation. We recognize that, and of course our airport manager recognizes that as well… [Young] had also identified the pending revenue that she thinks can come in, so that’s not actual at this point. It’s pending… The ideal situation is that the airport manager is granted the ability to have the time necessary to do this work, which means that the Part 139 is on someone else’s shoulders and, in addition, the board takes on more responsibility for its board role so that there’s less for the manager to be doing relative to the board, so that she can spend those hours capturing this additional revenue.”
Van Gin Hoven said that revenue could come in the form of grant funding and advertising opportunities, which previous administrators did not have time to fully pursue.
“Our last airport manager really focused with the FAA, getting us into compliance and giving us a clean airport inspection, which did happen,” said Van Ginhoven. “However, then he wasn’t able to focus on the revenue generation side of it. It was very difficult for him to keep up just with day-to-day tasks, and he told us that all the time. He knew that that had to happen, but we weren’t willing to take the money out of the general fund. Now, the FAA is saying, ‘Enough is enough. You need to do this, and you need to figure out a way to do it.'”
The Airport Advisory Board expressed concerns about decreasing Young’s salary.
“I am concerned about the employees—the manager and the other positions here—if they’ve been thoroughly consulted on how they feel about this, because there’s potential of losing some of these people,” said Advisory Board member Steven Viau. “… Especially when you cut their wages, I’m not really fond of doing stuff like that once they’re in a position, but if we’re restructuring what they do, will they be happy with that?”
Van Gin Hoven told Viau that Young was involved in discussions about the new position and provided suggestions about the restructuring.
“Just know that it was a very conducive and collaborative effort,” she said.
An official wage for the positions has not yet been set.
Some Airport Advisory Board and County Board members exchanged opinions about how communication has been handled throughout this process. The boards plan to schedule another meeting to further discuss the issue.
