Quincy City Council approves appointment of long-time airport employee as director

QUINCY — The Quincy City Council approved Mayor Mike Troup’s appointment of Bill Lantz as the director of Quincy Regional Airport during its Monday meeting.

Lantz informed the Aeronautics Committee at its Dec. 4 meeting that he had recently passed his ACE Airfield Operations Review Course and now is a registered member of the American Association of Airport Executives. Troup asked aldermen to remove Lantz’s interim title, which he has held since late August when Tairu (Tai) Zong left for California.

Lantz has been a long-time employee at the airport in charge of maintenance. He was appointed director of operations early last summer.

“Bill has been at the airport for some 30 years,” Troup said. “He had to get a certification to be qualified as the airport director, and he’s taken that test, which is from what I understand is not an easy test to take, and he’s passed that. So he is fully certified. He’s been serving as our interim for the last few months, and he’s doing a great job.”

Aldermen learned that the Bayview Bridge is currently bathed in green light in observance of the death of John Spring, who died Monday after a lengthy battle with esophageal cancer. Spring, a Democrat, served two terms as mayor of Quincy, defeating David Nuessen to earn his first term in 2005 and defeating Dave Bellis to win re-election in 2009. His funeral was on Monday.

“I would talk to him over the last few years, and it was interesting,” Troup said. “We’d really run into each other, primarily at Sprout’s (a Quincy restaurant), and he’d pull me aside, depending on what he was reading the last week or two. We would get a chuckle out of some things that he could refer to and what he went through when he was mayor. He had no problem jabbing me in the side, and I appreciated that.”

Troup also announced he was elected as one of two trustees for the Illinois Firefighters Pension Investment Fund, along with Roselle Mayor David Pileski. His term will begin Jan. 25.

“This will give us better insight as to how those funds are being managed,” said Troup, who will be the only downstate mayor on the board.

In other action, aldermen:

• Gave Survival Flight permission to have its helicopter land at John Wood Community College at 11 a.m. Saturday for the arrival of Santa Claus
• Approved an invoice from M-B Companies Inc, of New Holstein, Wis., for $7,674.24 for broom/blower truck replacement parts for the cleaning and maintenance of the airport’s runways.
• Approved a three-year software subscription for $13,695 from GateKeeper Systems, Inc. of Eagan, Minn. 
• Approved a quote for $5,081 from Arlington/Roe of Indianapolis, Ind., to buy storage tank liability insurance for one year.
• Approved a quote for $9,964.65 from Area Fabricators of Coatsburg for the repair of a tenant hangar overhead door.
• Approval a proposal from Crawford, Murphy and Tilly of Springfield for an amount not exceeding $25,000 for engineering services to assist with acquiring snow removal equipment.
• Approved an amended ordinance for a special permit for planned development at 3120 N. 12th to add use/utilize two commercial buildings for the operation of offices/shops for an on-site water and fire damage restoration service.
• Learned the U.S. Department of Labor recently recognized the city of Quincy for its efforts to recruit, employ and retain by awarding the Gold Hire Vets medallion for the second consecutive year.