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HARLINGEN — After two months of tense meetings, Valley International Airport’s board of directors has appointed a candidate to serve as aviation director.

Meanwhile, Mayor Norma Sepuleveda is questioning the airport board’s selection process.

In a meeting Monday, board members voted 5-2 to appoint the candidate following a national search drawing 25 applicants, with board members Ruben Pena and Dr. Martha Cano, each Sepulveda’s appointees, voting against the selection. Based on the city charter, each of the city’s five commissioners appointed the other five board members.

But the board won’t be hiring the airport’s director.

For the first time in 75 years, the city commission will hire the next aviation director, based on a 2024 city charter amendment.

“We’re going to be asking the city to approve the director,” board Chairman George McShan said Tuesday.

McShan declined to disclose the candidate’s name, noting the commission will determine whether it hires the candidate as aviation director.

“The process of selection has to play out,” Aviation Director Marv Esterly, who suddenly announced his retirement in August, said Tuesday. “The board did their part and now it goes to the city commission, according to the charter.”

On Tuesday, Sepulveda questioned the airport board’s selection process.

“The airport is the strongest economic engine in our community and the public expects every step of the hiring process to be above reproach,” she said in a statement.

“The airport board has been entrusted with that responsibility,” Sepulveda said. “When interviews are scheduled but not completed, and a recommendation is made anyway, it raises questions. Our community deserves to know why the full slate of candidates was not given the same opportunity. I hope the commission will look into this so the process reflects the fairness and transparency Harlingen expects.”

Since its founding in 1950, the airport’s board has hired the aviation director while overseeing the hiring process, based on the city charter, which aimed to keep politics out of that process, McShan said.

Then in the city’s November 2024 election, voters overwhelmingly passed a proposition amending the city charter to give the city commission authority to hire and terminate the airport’s director.

“In the management, operation and control of the airport, the Harlingen Airport Board shall be empowered to employ an airport executive director who may be hired or terminated by the board but only with the prior approval and consent of the city commission,” the charter amendment states.

The airport board’s appointment comes after weeks of heated debate among board members and city officials.

In September, the board rejected a proposal to hire the national firm of ADK Consulting and Executive Search, with McShan describing its proposed $45,306 fee as too high for the airport’s tight $9 million budget.

Two weeks later, city commissioners set aside money for an ADK-led hunt, which the airport board turned down as it continued its selection process based on its search.

Then this month, during four meetings, board members reviewed applicants for the job before selecting four candidates for interviews.

As part of its national search, the board advertised with American Association of Airport Executives, the nation’s largest organization of airport employees representing more than 875 airports and authorities, taking applications from Sept. 23 through Oct. 24.

Under the job posting, officials were searching for an “experienced director of aviation” with at least four years of airport leadership experience, holding a bachelor’s degree, with American Association of Airport Executives’ accreditation preferred.

The job’s salary ranges from $183,050 to $274,575.

The board launched its selection process amid one of the airport’s most turbulent periods in decades.

In August, Esterly, after 11 years on the job, announced his retirement amid a monthslong debate over his proposal to hire Pro-Tec Fire Services to replace the city’s $1 million agreement providing the Harlingen Fire Department’s airfield firefighting team, arguing the move would save more than $200,000 a year on a break-even budget.

Then, on Oct. 30, Assistant Director Bryan Wren, after 18 years on the job, announced his resignation, claiming city officials disregarded federal public safety warnings while moving to take control of the airport.

Meanwhile, officials appointed Michael Browning, the airport’s past director, to serve as interim director until the new aviation director takes office. Browning, who served as the airport’s aviation director from 2000 to 2014, had served as assistant director from 1989 to 2000.

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