Ordinance forces Hanafin out as interim airport director; mayor believes new director could be in place in October

QUINCY — Quincy Mayor Mike Troup says a city ordinance forced him to remove Gabriel Hanafin as the interim director of Quincy Regional Airport, but he believes a new director will be in place by the end of October.

Hanafin is still employed at the airport as the assistant to the airport director. He took over as the interim director after Sandra Shore told the city’s aeronautics committee in February she was leaving to become the director at the St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia Heights. She had been the director of the Quincy airport since 2018.

Hanafin guided the airport through a brief period when Cape Air was failing to complete approximately 40 percent of its flights because of a pilot shortage. Cape Air then filed a 90-day notice with the U.S. Department of Transportation in May to discontinue its service as the essential air service provider for Quincy.

Chapter 42.002 under the city codebook says the mayor shall make appointments to fill all appointed offices. An officer appointed on an interim basis may only hold the office for 180 days.

“I’d have to seek special approval for a extending any interim position more than six months,” Troup said Friday. “But we’re getting close to making an offer, I hope within the next couple of weeks, for an airport director. So it’s like, you know what, let’s not go through that issue. I’ve got Jeff Mays (director of administrative services) spending more time daily at the airport, with Gabe and the staff still there to spread the workload.

“I feel no different than when Sandy was still here, and when she needed off for a day or two, Gabe filled in. I’m looking at this in the same way. This is a short-term situation. I’m not thinking it’s going to be another six months.”

Troup believes the aeronautics committee has identified a candidate to become the airport director. He hopes the candidate can come to Quincy soon for an interview.

“I’d like this all wrapped up sometime in October,” he said. “It could happen sooner. We’ve had interviews with several different people over the last couple of months, and I think we’re now at a point where the candidate we have, we’d like to have him and his spouse, come to Quincy meet face to face. I’d like to show him around town and at the airport, then have members of the aeronautics committee and the city council also meet him before we officially present an offer.”