Sonoma County Board Approves Staffing Increases at Airport After Failed Safety Inspection

On a recent morning at the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, some two dozen passengers filed out of the lone plane on a small airfield — a patch of land not larger than a mid-sized parking lot.

Inside the terminal, Snoopy and Charlie Brown statues beamed from their pedestals, the Peanuts-themed interior boasting a single baggage claim, two restrooms, some benches, and not much else.

The airport is small indeed, averaging about 10 departures a day, with only eight operations specialists to ensure everything runs smoothly.

However, that staffing level is about to change following the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors’ unanimous vote on Tuesday to hire two additional operations specialists at the regional airport. The vote comes a day after the Press Democrat reported that the airport failed a surprise emergency safety test from the Federal Aviation Administration.

During the FAA’s surprise test in August, airport safety staff failed a three-minute emergency drill. Inspectors also noted that the equipment on the airport’s fire trucks was not adequate and that the facility’s emergency plan was outdated.

The FAA conducted the inspection after several whistleblowers reported that the airport — which served some 641,000 passengers last year — lacked adequate fire and rescue personnel to effectively respond to certain emergencies.

At Tuesday’s meeting, supervisors referred to the understaffing as the tip of the iceberg, calling for better oversight and collaboration among the airport’s management and other agencies.

“What I’ve heard is a request, a strong request — and I agree — that we need more collaboration, more transparency, more oversight, and more partnership going forward,” Supervisor James Gore said.

An operations specialist also told the board that the failed test was the fault of the airport’s management, not its employees.

Mark Jordan Sr., the employee, claimed that a manager had forced one of his colleagues to abandon their post just minutes before the surprise test – and later lied about doing so.

Jordan also said that management has claimed they have since addressed and reinforced training procedures.

“As a matter of fact, we have no training, procedures, standards, tactics or methodologies. We train ourselves,” he said. “It is a sad day when management blames its failures on its employees. After all, employees are simply a reflection of those that lead them.”

The move to increase staffing and oversight comes as airport officials have already had to make multiple emergency repairs on the main runway this year and faced increasing pressure from employees and their union to boost emergency increase staffing levels, the Press Democrat reported.

At the meeting, the board encouraged airport managers to “keep their eyes open” for cash-flow opportunities to compensate for the expenses associated with bringing on two more full-time operations specialists — a cost they estimated at around $300,000 annually.

The three airport managers who presented to the board said that they were optimistic about boosting revenue, claiming that their terminal advertising program is expected to double over the next two years. They noted that several other airlines have expressed interest in renting space at the terminal, which now primarily hosts just three airlines.

John Stout, one of the airport managers, said that the two new hires would only mark the beginning of the airport’s transformation.

“We’ll be coming back in the first quarter next year with a larger staffing plan, looking at a five-year plan,” he told the board. “We do need additional staffing as the growth continues, both in the office and in the field.”