Glens Falls Pilots and Owners Association

There have been several rumors and other ideas floating around over the past few days.  Here is what I have heard and my

knowledge/opinion:

1)       Rumor: Marshall is leaving the airport. - I have accepted a

position as the Deputy Executive Director of an Authority operating four airports in the Harrisburg, PA area.  This is a career opportunity for me, but I leave here with a heavy heart.  I have enjoyed working with all of you, and I still believe GFL is a great facility with enormous potential.

2)       Rumor: The Warren County Airport Committee has been disbanded

– Disbanded is the wrong word; absorbed is a better description, and this happening is not at all related to my departure.  Since last summer, the Board of Supervisors has been looking for ways to reduce the number of Committees from the approximately 40 that they had to something more manageable.  The Warren County Department of Public Works had 5 or 6 committees for its functions, one of which was Airport.  In an effort to streamline government operations, they have combined the separate DPW committees into one Public Works Committee with nine members.  Lou Tessier, the former Chair of the Airport Committee, is on the new Public Works Committee, so the airport's interests are well represented.  The decision to reduce the number of Committees was made last December, but the Board Chairman did not publicize the new Committee assignments until the first week of January.  The timing of this change and my departure are purely coincidental.

3)       Rumor: Bill Lamy (the Superintendent of Public Works) will

take over running the airport: The Airport Manager has always reported to the Superintendent of Public Works, so Bill has always had authority over the airport during his tenure in that position.  Bill and I have met for several hours over the past two days discussing my departure, and he acknowledges he has neither the expertise nor the time to manage the airport day to day.  I recommend, and he verbally concurred, that Warren County should hire a new Airport Manager.  I'm sure that Bill would be involved in any transition.

4)       Rumor: The County plans to privatize the airport: - The

Public Works Committee has scheduled a meeting for Monday, January 14,

2008 at 9:30 in the Board Room of the Municipal Center to discuss my departure and how to move forward with the airport.  This is a public meeting, and all are invited to attend.  Part of that discussion will include options on management of the airport.  This discussion has happened before, and I suspect it will happen again.  The Supervisors are taking a hard look at any and all expenses, and the airport is not immune to that look, nor should it be.  Privatization is not as simple as a Committee decision; the County is obligated by grant assurances to the safe and efficient operation of the airport (Tom C. may remember these from his days in the County Attorney's Office).  Again, my recommendation is to simply replace my position and keep moving forward.

History shows the difficulty of the airport privatization concept.

Since 1997, when the FAA, through Congressional authorization, introduced the pilot program to allow for the privatization of up to 5 airports, only one, Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, NY, has successfully made it through the application process, which takes years, and only 5 other have applied.  Of the other 5 applications, one is in process, one is on hold, and the other three have been withdrawn.  Even Stewart is not technically privatized anymore; the Port Authority of NY/NJ took over operation of the airport in October of 2006.

There is all the information I have, straight from the horse's mouth (or what ever end of the horse you consider me).  It has been an honor to be associated with the Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport for the past eight years.  I still have family roots in the area, so I'll still be around from time to time, though I'm not sure I'll make it to the Balloon Festival at 4:30 in the morning any more.

For those of you that I might not see before I go, best wishes and good flights!

Marshall B. Stevens, A.A.E.

Airport Manager

Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport

443 Queensbury Avenue, Ste. 201

Queensbury, NY 12804

(518) 792-5995

(518) 792-0783 (fax)

airport@warrencountydpw.com