CITY OF PHOENIX AVIATION DEPARTMENT

OR

OH YEE OF LITTLE INTEGRITY

I have worked with different management from the City of Phoenix Aviation Department, the Phoenix Aviation Advisory Board. Phoenix City Council and the several Mayors of the City of Phoenix. Phoenix is a City Manager run city, and the Council can hire and fire the City Manager. The City Manager of Phoenix recently retired but left a clique of employees behind. These people all were in the Business Development Department and rose through the Aviation Department ranks.

Phoenix owns three airports. They are Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX), Phoenix Deer Valley (DVT) and Goodyear (GYR). PHX has not had an Aviation Director (AD) in place for many years that has any aviation experience or knowledge. The past AD, who is now an assistant City Manager, was smart enough to surround himself with some decent talent and learn from them. The current AD came from the water department and has allowed PHX to slip from the 4th busiest airport to the 11th. There was no marketing plan in place to maintain and grow the airport in these tough times. His job is secure as he is one of the good old boys. The previous AD was promoted to assistant City Manager and the assistant AD was promoted to assistant City Manager and then made City Manager last year.

There is an opening at DVT, the busiest GA airport in the world. for Aviation Director. In the past PHX put anyone they didn’t know what to do with as AD at DVT. After many meetings with the previous AD at PHX, I was able to have the job description of AD at DVT changed to a supervisors position paying anywhere from approximately $75,000 to $105,000 for this position. A national search was instigated and a professional AD was put in place at DVT. This person really understood airport management and how to deal with the FAA. Numerous improvements were instituted at DVT to make it the world class airport it should be. There was an opening at Scottsdale Airport (SDL), and this person was hired away to be AD at SDL.

You would think that PHX realized they needed a professional to run DVT, but what do they do but hire the son of the past City Manager to be the AD at DVT. This is not an attack on the person, but on the City of Phoenix and the Aviation Department. It is a disgrace that PHX would hire this person to be AD at DVT. It is a disgrace to all that have gone to school to receive their degrees and graduate experience in aviation management. It is a disgrace to the tenants of DVT to have to work with someone that has no idea of what he is doing. Most of all it is a disgrace to the tax payers paying for a man that is totally not qualified for the job. Nepotism anyone?

As I stated in an earlier column I have no tolerance for incompetence. If you look in the dictionary under incompetence , you will see the PHX Aviation Department. I am not optimistic about the future of DVT.

To quote Edward Abbey “One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork.”