Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By ZACHARY MARANO
Ironwood — Following Michael Harma’s announcement of his resignation as Gogebic-Iron County Airport manager effective Aug. 10 last week, the board reconvened for a special meeting on Tuesday. At this meeting, the board agreed to accept Harma’s resignation and appointed Todd Richter as interim manager.
Board member Jim Lorenson proposed that Richter be named interim manager because he has worked for the airport the longest of all their employees. He also motioned that Richter and airport secretary Kristi Freeman serve as co-administrators of the airport and suggest a stipend for Richter in this new role. This motion was approved by the board.
Outgoing airport manager Harma was absent from the meeting. Freeman reported to the board that Harma was on vacation as of Tuesday’s meeting and his vacation had been scheduled prior to his announcement last week.
The board agreed to extend Harma’s vacation until his last day, Aug. 10, and have Richter become interim manager, effective immediately. Lorenson asked Freeman to indicate in the meeting minutes that this decision was to eliminate any confusion on whether Harma or Richter will be managing the airport during this period.
When he announced his resignation at last week’s meeting, Harma stated that he “had enough” and that it was “time to move on.” Chairman Pat Hanson told the Daily Globe last week that Harma’s announcement came as a shock.
Lorenson said that the board will work with Richter to identify the next steps for hiring a new airport manager. He said that the first step would be to develop a job posting based on Harma’s job description. Lorenson also said that this posting will be advertised internally at first. The board authorized Freeman to write this job posting and agreed to have another special meeting at a yet-to-be-determined time next week to approve it.
The board also agreed to adjust employee salaries retroactively through June 1. Lorenson said that this was part of Gogebic County’s effort to bring their employee’s salaries more in line with appropriate increments.
