Sep. 30—DANVILLE — In more than a four-and a-half-hour meeting on Friday, the Vermilion Regional Airport Authority Board placed airport manager Alexandra "Alex" Gale on a 45-day suspension with pay and hired a consultant to serve as interim director.
The five-member board unanimously approved hiring Rod Hightower Strategies of St. Louis as a consultant with respect to operational, personnel and program development for the airport.
Board members are Jonathan Myers, Steve Foster, Joe Vincent, Gardner Peck and Craig Davidson.
The board also voted to suspend manager Gale for 45 days with pay contingent upon meeting terms of suspension agreement.
The board then unanimously voted to engage Rod Hightower Strategies as the interim airport manager.
No contract amount was disclosed.
The reason for executive session and possible personnel action(s) by the board resulting from executive session on the board meeting agenda stated, "the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees, specific individuals who serve as independent contractors in a park, recreational, or educational setting, or specific volunteers of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee, a specific individual who serves as an independent contractors in a park, recreational, or educational setting or a volunteer of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity."
The board also met in executive session on Monday in a special meeting, in which possible discipline action was not taken then.
The board on Friday said Hightower would be the only one answering questions for the board following the meeting.
No reason was given at the public meeting for the board's actions on Gale's suspension. The board met in closed session for about four hours.
Hightower said they don't want to take the fight public or get into details of Gale's manager job, but there have been several issues since she became manager about 21 months ago.
In a press release issued by Hightower after the meeting, it stated " The Vermilion County Regional Airport Authority announced today the suspension of Vermilion County Regional Airport Manager Alex Gale. The duration of the suspension is 45 days, with pay, including undisclosed conditions.
"Actions taken by the Vermilion County Regional Airport Authority are based upon a series of events during Ms. Gale's 21-month tenure as manager of the Vermilion County Regional Airport. Honoring the due diligence process, and with respect for all parties, Rod Hightower and the Vermilion County Regional Airport Authority are not at liberty to publicly discuss any matters concerning the suspension of the Vermilion Regional Airport Manager.
"To ensure continuity, the Vermilion County Regional Airport Authority has appointed Rod Hightower as interim airport manager for the duration of Ms. Gale's suspension."
Hightower said the actions are effective immediately.
Hightower is an executive strategic consultant, and his airport background includes two years as president, CEO of Experimental Aircraft Association.
He said it's to be determined if Gale will return as manager after the suspension.
After the meeting, Gale said she didn't have any comment. "I will make an official statement at a later time once I've been provided with information and grounds regarding my suspension," Gale stated.
Gale did not speak at the special board meeting, but was represented with about a half hour's worth of audience comments from friends and family in support of her time as manager at the airport.
About 18 people spoke about Gale's positive outlook for the future of the airport, including Ashton Greer of the City of Danville, Vermilion Advantage representatives and other residents, business owners and taxpayers.
Diane Carlton said Gale has "raised the visibility of the airport unbelievably to the community."
A Hyster-Yale warehouse and distribution manager said the business considers the airport a critical partner in its existence here. They are able to service the U.S. from this location due to a UPS plane that flies out of the airport every evening.
They'd like to see the airport continue to move forward as Gale has allowed, and it appears to be expanding and doing great things.
If the airport doesn't continue to be here, operations would change at Hyster-Yale; and if they lose confidence in the airport as Gale has provided, they'll have to look at other options.
Others said Gale is capable, intelligent and well-spoken. It takes a strong leader to want to move things forward and making everyone happy doesn't always make the change the airport needs, an audience member said.
Gale's attorney, Kaylan Huber, said being a young female in this community is not easy. It's not easy trying to go up against historically male-dominated areas. Others said the board has been an ol'-boys club.
Other audience members commented on having to work with multiple airport managers through the years, a problem with management of the managers and the board needing to work with people better.
The board hired Gale, out of 40 applicants, in January 2021. Gale's late father was former airport manager Bob Gagnon, who was manager for more than 30 years.
Part-time airport manager Mike Vadeboncoeur had resigned prior to Gale's hiring.
Gale's starting salary was $60,000.
Gale has an associate degree from Danville Area Community College and a bachelor's degree in air traffic management from Lewis University. Following graduation, she began her aviation career at FlightStar in Savoy as a dispatcher for the managed fleet of private jet aircraft based at Willard Airport.
While at FlightStar, Gale also was the director of recruiting where she visited local aviation schools to speak to students about the aviation industry and helped build a pool of candidates for the various roles at FlightStar.
In 2018, Gale was chosen as FlightStar's avionics manager. She also was president of the Illinois Aviation Trades Association, an organization that works closely with state officials and government organizations to better the aviation industry in Illinois.
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