When Metro Councilwoman Barbara Freiberg began pushing for a national search for a new director of the Baton Rouge Metro Airport in mid-2017, it seemed like a good idea under the circumstances, writes Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel in her latest column.
The position had been vacant for nearly a year when Freiberg called for the search, and before that it had been held by the same, longtime executive for more than two decades.
It was time for a fresh approach, or so the thinking went, Riegel writes.
“But you have to be careful what you wish for in Baton Rouge,” Riegel says. “Though Freiberg got her national search, after nine months and $40,000 to retain an executive search firm, the airport is still under the direction of an interim administrator and the city-parish government’s ugly underbelly has once again been exposed for all to see.”
Why something so simple has proven so difficult illustrates the level of dysfunction that characterizes Baton Rouge government, Riegel adds. It also speaks to the deep, racial divide that increasingly clouds public debate in this community and stymies meaningful change, she says.
Freiberg, ever the optimist, is still hopeful the months of work and public dollars—albeit, from self-generated airport revenues—expended on the effort will produce a qualified director, capable of bringing new ideas about how to attract more direct air service to a regional airport in a tertiary market.
“Don’t count on it,” Riegel writes.
From the get-go, the search process has been fraught with controversy—and tainted, some say, by outside influences, Riegel says.
But it didn’t really go off the rails until July, when a search committee appointed by the Metro Council presented the council with a short list of three finalists that included two clear front-runners: Austin Futch, who is white, and Derek Martin, who is black, Riegel writes.
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