The Capital City Airport will begin looking for the next person to take the helm.
A three-member search committee will hold its first meeting 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the airport’s Amelia Earhart board room to discuss how to find a replacement for retiring Executive Director Thomas Schmidt.
Schmidt, 63, served 13 years as the airport director, staying on longer than initially anticipated because of economic concerns during the last year, airport spokesman Robert Kolt said.
“He’s done a great job in tough times,”he said. “We were lucky to have him stay on as long as he did.”
Schmidt will leave some unfinished business behind for his successor - a need for more airlines and a question of who will pay the airport’s taxes.
The latter issue was brought up by Ingham County Commissioner Victor Celentino, who also will serve on the executive director search committee.
The airline search grew from post-Sept. 11 airline woes, Kolt said.
“It’s been a tough year in the aviation industry,” he said. “Many of the airlines at several points of time were on the verge of bankruptcy.”
The airport supports only one major airline - Northwest Airlines - and one of the main goals of the search committee will be to find someone who can bring in a competitor, said Tim Hughes, a search committee member.
Hughes said as long as Northwest remains the dominant airline, users will be paying more than they should.
“They’re looking for the lowest possible ticket price,” he said. “Northwest is the biggest presence at the airport, if they’re the only presence they can charge whatever they want.”
The committee’s Thursday meeting is open to the public and the committee will examine a survey to be sent to residents on what issues are important.
So far, the only name to come forward as a possible candidate has been Mike Lynn, who has served as assistant executive director and interim executive director after Schmidt’s retirement.
Hughes said Lynn made it known he would like to be considered, but the committee still likely will hire a research firm to examine possibilities.
Celentino said the committee likely will not start considering names yet and the process will be more complicated than the one that hired Schmidt.
“It’s going to get more publicity, there are more issues than there were 13 years ago,” he said.
