PITTSTON TWP. — The bi-county board in charge of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport voted Friday to approve a $47,574 contract with consulting firm for the search for a new executive director.

The contract is with ADK Consulting and Executive Search, an executive search firm based in Florida that specializes in searches for airport and aerospace management executives. The airport could have a new executive director by June or July, said Theresia “Sia” Schatz, a senior project manager with ADK Consulting.

The consulting firm will conduct the search for applicants and narrow the search down to a group of finalists, perhaps three finalists, for the board to interview, Schatz said.

Executive Director Carl Beardsley Jr., who began his tenure at the airport in January 2015, went on sabbatical late last year. On March 13, airport co-solicitor Donald Frederickson said Beardsley is unable to return, noting that Beardsley’s absence was not related to a disciplinary issue and was a personnel matter not could not be publicly discussed.

Stephen Mykulyn, the airport’s director of engineering for the past 16 years, started working as interim executive director on March 13, and the airport board voted Friday to make the interim appointment official. Assistant Executive Director BJ Teichman had served as temporary acting director when Beardsley initially went on sabbatical.

Luzerne and Lackawanna counties own the airport, which has an Avoca mailing address and is primarily in Pittston Twp. in Luzerne County. Lackawanna is represented by the three commissioners on the airport board, and Luzerne is represented by the county manager and two council members.

TSA employees

The airport started a donation drive on March 18 for federal Transportation Security Administration employees who work the airport and have not been paid over the last six weeks because of an ongoing federal funding dispute. Around 40 to 45 TSA employees work at the airport and live in the area, Mykulyn said.

The donation drive will continue until the TSA workers start receiving their paychecks, Mykulyn said. The airport has not reported long wait times from security screening that other airports have experienced due to TSA employees not reporting to work.

Luzerne County Councilwoman Lee Ann McDermott, an airport board member, noted she did not experience any problems when she recently was on a flight to Florida. Fidelity Bank has provided TSA employees with 0% loans of up to $10,000, Lackawanna County Commissioner Thom Welby said.