Airport Master Plan 2012 - City of Waterville

unning a successful Airport. On one hand it could be argued the Airport benefits from lower labor costs,
and the appearance might suggest the Airport is “doing more with less”. But the daily demands of
Airport operations, maintenance and oversight should be supported with full-time Airport management.
If the city intends to capitalize on the facility’s business aircraft market potential, such demands will only
add to the Airport Manager’s workload.
The position description provided for the Assistant Airport Manager indicates daily, full-time duties, with
a requirement for on-call status outside of the normal weekly work hours (M-F, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.). The list
of duties included for the Assistant Airport Manager is generally consistent with job responsibilities for
an Airport Manager of a typical general aviation (GA) facility; however it also includes services that a
Fixed Base Operator (FBO) would provide 5 .
The job description outlines some of the necessary duties normally expected of this position; however it
also includes a few vague references and lacks specific detail for certain other essential job functions. For
example, the statement “Monitor Airport conditions” is ambiguous and should be supported with specific
guidance. Such language could be replaced with a requirement for daily airfield inspections and a list of
major items to observe including, but not limited to, aircraft traffic patterns, pavement conditions and
foreign object debris (FOD), winter snow and ice conditions, airfield markings, airspace, vegetation,
airfield electrical equipment (e.g. lights, signs, beacons), NAVAIDS, wildlife, maintenance equipment,
etc. Essentially, conditions required for a safe and efficient operating environment should be monitored
daily. Most Airports similar to WVL would impose this responsibility on the Airport Manager. In the
absence of such a requirement, the city is encouraged to update the Assistant Managers job description.
Another example of ambiguous language included in the job description is to “Read and understand all
FAA Advisory Circulars”. The job description further states that the employee is required to “Inform
Supervisor of all new regulations or policies that the FAA enacts through the AC process.” Such wellintended
duties cannot be taken literally. But without further clarification, this requirement could have
unintended consequences. The current language sets the employee up for failure; a good job description
should convey reasonably fair expectations for both employee and employer.
In practice the current Assistant Airport Manager divides his duties among three main categories of work:
FBO services, airfield maintenance activities and typical office-related Airport management duties. At
present, the vast majority of time is spent dealing with FBO services. Combined, airfield operations &
maintenance and office work represent less than 1/3 rd of the typical weekly duties of the current Assistant
Airport Manager. Consider this general breakdown of duties for the typical work week 6 :
Table 7.2
Staffing Responsibility Breakdown
Category of Work Currently Ideally
FBO Services 70% 20%
Airfield Maintenance 5% 5%
Airport Mgr Duties 25% 75%
At present, the Assistant Airport Manager spends much less time dealing with various office
responsibilities required of the position (airfield Tenant issues, leases, FAA & MeDOT issues, Advisory
5 Reference Position Description for Assistant Airport Manager dated 10/19/2007
6 Phone interview with the Assistant Airport Manager on 02/18/2008.
The City of Waterville Maine
Airport Management Structure Assessment – Page 7-4
Airport Solutions Group, LLC & The Louis Berger Group, Inc. December 2011