Ilsa Minor | Daily Press Assistant Airport Manager Robyn Morrison and new Airport Manager Robert Ranstadler pose for a photo at the Delta County Airport recently. The duo, who are both new to their positions, are working diligently to bring the airport up to regulatory standards and have plans for the future of the airport.

ESCANABA — it’s been a busy few weeks for the Delta County Airport as new Airport Manager Robert Ranstadler settles into his new role.

“It’s one of those jobs where you wear a lot of hats everyday,” he said of his new role.

Ranstadler comes to the airport with a unique set of experiences and skills. The Michigan native, who spent much of his youth in Florida, enlisted in the Marines when he was 18. He spent 20 years working in aviation, primarily on helicopters, first as a basic mechanic and ultimately in maintenance management. Four of those years were spent working on Marine Helicopter Squadron One, the helicopter squadron used by U.S. presidents, which took him to smaller airports across the country.

“I got a lot of exposure to interacting with airport managers and settings like this but as a user instead of a manager,” Ranstadler told the Daily Press.

While he began an aviation business management degree, his life took a different path after he retired from the Marines in 2015. He became a substitute teacher, eventually transitioning to teaching full-time as his children got older. He completed both masters in education and in history.

Most recently, Ranstadler was teaching full-time virtually for a private school based in Grand Rapids, while living in Delta County. He then heard about the exit of former Delta County Airport Manager Andrea Nummilien, who left the airport in June, citing what she said was a “constant barrage of stress” caused by county commissioners doing “things that you wouldn’t expect to have to deal with in a professional setting.”

Nummilien’s departure left the airport in a difficult position. Assistant Airport Manager Robyn Morrison started her own position on Nummilien’s last day and, due to federal regulations, the county had only 90 days to find a licensed airport manager or risk the airport shutting down completely. To avoid the shutdown, Morrison took the state’s airport manager licensure test early, and Ranstadler was licensed not long after his hire.

“I realized that the airport’s an important fixture in the community, it’s an economic engine, and it serves the people of Delta County in a really important way and if the airport were to close it’d be pretty devastating for the region and the community,” said Ranstadler. “So I submitted my resume and my application and a few weeks later they called me up, and I interviewed and a week after that they made me an offer.”

Ranstadler officially started as the airport’s manager on Oct. 10, and since then, he and Morrison have been working together to learn the ropes, keep the airport operating, and working towards goals.

“I’ve been here like four months, but it’s like his first day was my first day because I’ve been training myself through training documents; that half of them are outdated,” said Morrison, who noted that Ranstadler being exceptionally organized has helped with the transition.

Prior to Ranstadler’s hire, many of the duties of airport management were delegated to other county employees, with most of the duties falling on Delta County Administrator Ashleigh Young, who served as the airport’s interim manager.

“(Young) did a really great job, and Robyn, I couldn’t imaging being the only person in the office for that long. It’s tough. They both did really wonderful stuff,” said Ranstadler.

Ranstadler and Morrison are still working on some certifications and regulatory compliance pieces to bring the full scope of airport management back under one roof. They’re also focusing on security and safety — security of the airport and the operational safety skills needed by on the ground workers to make sure travelers get from Point A to Point B.

“Broad strokes, generally speaking, our focus is on security and the fact that we want to make sure that all of our security protocols and the physical security of the airport are up to date and that anyone who needs those certifications, including myself and Robyn, have them,” said Ranstadler.

They’re also looking at establishing contacts with other agencies to make their work more efficient and effective, meeting the needs to hanger renters and businesses that rent airport property, looking at federal grant funding for projects, working with third-party consultants and airlines, addressing regulatory compliance issues, and working on budgets.

“It’s nit-picky stuff, but it’s only nit-picky stuff until there’s a problem and then it’s no long nit-picky stuff, it’s a big issue. So we’re trying to kind of nip everything in the bud and make sure everything correctly organized and we’re doing everything by procedure so we can avoid any problems down the road,” said Ranstadler.”

While it’s still a ways out, Ranstadler is also looking at upgrades that would be necessary if the airlines decided to bring larger planes that carry around 75 passengers, up from the current 50 passenger planes typically seen at the airport today. These upgrades include things like a larger capacity area for screened passengers than is currently available.