The Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton International Airport is again looking to make a permanent selection for executive director after failing to finalize a contract with the man hired last month, bicounty airport board Chairman Chris Belles said.<\/p>\n
The airport board unanimously voted to hire Kim \u201cBill\u201d Hopper as executive director last month and is scheduled to meet Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all up in the air,\u201d Belles, a Luzerne County councilman, said after Tuesday\u2019s council meeting. \u201cYeah, we couldn\u2019t come to terms.\u201d<\/p>\n
Belles released a statement on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter a nationwide search and many hours of interviews and research, the airport\u2019s board of directors selected the candidate we believed was best qualified to serve as executive director,\u201d Belles said. \u201cThe board and the candidate were unable to reach an agreement on the terms of a contract, and he has withdrawn from consideration. As with all personnel matters, the details of employment negotiations are confidential.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lackawanna and Luzerne counties share ownership of the airport in Pittston Twp. and Avoca. Stephen Mykulyn, the airport\u2019s director of engineering, has been serving as interim executive director of the airport since March.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important for AVP employees and the public to know that Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton International Airport remains under stable leadership, as it has throughout this process,\u201d Belles added. \u201cThe board remains committed to selecting the most qualified person to lead our airport, and the search continues, informed by the valuable perspective we have gained. We are working together to determine the appropriate next steps. The board remains steadfast. We will ensure that the airport \u2014 one of Northeastern Pennsylvania\u2019s crown jewels \u2014 gets the leader it deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The board voted to hire Hopper to succeed Carl Beardsley Jr., who was director from January 2015 until late 2025, when he went on sabbatical leave for a non-disciplinary reason. The sabbatical became a permanent leave.<\/p>\n
Hopper was expected to start Nov. 1 as airport executive director. Hopper served as executive director of the Pitt-Greenville Airport Authority in Greenville, North Carolina, from February 2019 through June 2026, according to LinkedIn.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an accomplished aviation executive with more than 40 years of airport leadership experience,\u201d Belles said at the airport board meeting on Aug. 27.<\/p>\n
Lackawanna County Commissioner Chris Chermak chaired the airport board before confirming he was a finalist for the job as airport executive director. Chermak, a Republican, was temporarily replaced on the airport board by attorney Chris Munley on July 15.<\/p>\n
Five finalists participated in virtual interviews Aug. 13. Hopper and Chermak were the only finalists identified.<\/p>\n
In March, the board hired ADK Consulting and Executive Search to facilitate the process of finding a new executive director. The annual salary range advertised was $135,000 to $150,000.<\/p>\n
The application deadline was May 10. ADK Consulting reviewed 20 applications and shortlisted the top seven applicants, airport co-solicitor Donald Frederickson said at the board meeting in May.<\/p>\n
Luzerne County\u2019s three representatives on the airport board are Belles, County Manager Romilda Crocamo and Councilwoman Lee Ann McDermott. Lackawanna County\u2019s three representatives on the airport board are Munley, County Commissioner Chairman Thom Welby and Commissioner Bill Gaughan.<\/p>\n
Check back for updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton International Airport is again looking to make a permanent selection for executive director after failing to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,803,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-292355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-luzerne-county","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}