— by Minor Lile, Orcas Issues Reporter —
At the conclusion of the January 23 Port Commission meeting, Dwight Guss gave one day’s notice and announced that he was resigning from his position as acting airport manager for personal reasons. Guss became acting manager in February 2019. Immediately prior to that he had served as a Port Commissioner.
He announced his decision following an executive session during which the Port Commissioners significantly limited the ongoing role of former airport manager Tony Simpson. Simpson has been under contract with the airport for six hours a week since he left the airport manager’s position in early 2019.
One of Simpson’s key responsibilities has been to provide support for ongoing work on the controversial airport master plan. In addition to removing this responsibility from Simpson, the Commissioners also took away several other responsibilities, including providing training for current and future employees at the airport. At the January 9 Commission meeting, Guss had emphasized several times that he felt it was important to keep Simpson in place to train the new airport manager when that person begins work.
Guss’s surprise announcement leaves the airport without a manager, at least temporarily.
As the meeting came to an end, it was unclear what next steps the Commission would take to assure ongoing operational coverage at the airport. With three of five commissioners having been in office for less than a month, it is apparent that the changes presaged by the November 2019 election results are beginning to occur.
Just a minor note, the commissioners did clarify that we would like Tony Simpson to train Facilities Manager James P. Reid to be the fuel systems operator as well as being open to having him train a new manager. Dwight Guss had yet to let us know the need was imminent.
One day’s notice for airport manager? How considerate.
Dwight originally gave notice to the Port at the Dec 12 meeting—effective Dec 31 and was only attempting to help us while we looked for a replacement— the end result being he gave the port 6 weeks after his resignation. We are grateful and wish him well.
Sorry–my apologies. Wasn’t aware of those facts!
Does this leave you up S*** Creek? And do you have a paddle?
I am sorry to see Dwight Guss leave as interim manager; he did a good job. I wish him well in any future ventures.
Now that Tony has had his 6 hours a week reinstated, will he have the same duties as before? Will he manage the notifications email list that he and Dwight were sending out with attached agendas to meetings? I am hoping Tony will be doing this again, because the commissioners and the public worked hard together to attain this level of transparency and ease for people that may not always get to the papers, but read their emails daily.
Sadie, I will certainly ask that Tony notify our public email list for future meetings. The likelihood of technical glitches, as I had sending to you from home, should be limited with him at the helm of the best computer for these postings.
Thanks so much, Mia – I appreciate that a lot.