Honesty is the chief quality the new director of the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport must possess, said airport critic Bri Lehman.
“Honesty underlines everything,” said Lehman, a Lafayette resident said Tuesday. She told a group of consultants that a lack of trust between previous airport directors and the airport’s neighbors has been a persistent problem.
“This has been going on for a long time,” Lehman said.
Lehman was among three people who showed up at the RMMA’s Mt. Evans Room at the airport terminal to discuss the qualities ADK Consulting & Executive Search will be looking for in finding a new director.
Lehman was assured the new director would not be tied to a desk in a bid to run out a career clock.
“This person has to engage with the community,” Blake Astran, vice president, business operations for ADK. “That is the prime quality we are looking for.”
Astran said ADK hopes to have a final candidate for the director’s job by May 1. The prime candidate will have survived an extensive professional background check and intensive interviews.
Painting a picture
ADK also have a pretty good idea of the controversy that surrounded the departure of former airport director Paul Anslow.
“We have talked to a lot of people about what has gone on and we will also paint a picture for each of the candidates,” Astran said. “For some people, this will not be the best situation. For others, it might be a perfect fit for someone looking for a challenge.”
Jefferson County hired ADK Consulting earlier this year after the departure of controversial airport director Paul Anslow. Anslow left in November after disparaging comments he made about neighbors of the airport were disclosed to county officials.
Anslow called people critical of airport operations “nut jobs” and dismissed their concerns about airport noise, according to a 2021 transcript of a private conversation given to KUNC News as part of a public records request.
Three weeks after Anslow left, four of the six members of the airport advisory board resigned in protest of Anslow’s reported firing.
ADK – based in Atlantic Beach, FLA. – specializes in recruiting in aviation and aerospace. Astran said they mostly recruit people who are not actively looking for a job but may be ready to move onto a new environment.
“We want a director who is honest and direct,” Astran said. “We don’t want any BS.”