The Ravalli County Board of Commissioners interviewed Andrew “Andy” Zapeta for the county airport manager position on Thursday; the board did not make a hiring decision during the meeting.

Andy Zapeta, who currently works at the Ravalli County Road Department, described his aviation experience, saying he previously worked for Aviator Helicopters and handled ground maintenance, fueling and some rigging: “I did all the maintenance, throughout all the, well, all the ground equipment, fuel trucks … took care of the airport there, all the rigging, dabbled with the helicopter a little bit.”

Zapeta told commissioners he assists with maintenance and hydraulics at the county road shop and has experience with mowing, snow-plowing and inventory tracking at an airport: “I used to help keep track of fuel logs or, you know, ordering fuel. We always had parts. I had to keep an inventory on that and, budget, you know, try to save money.” He said flexible hours, night work and emergency call-ins were not a problem.

Commissioners asked scenario-based and operational questions, including how Zapeta would handle conflicting direction from the airport advisory board and the Board of Commissioners. Zapeta replied he would follow established procedures and emphasized the advisory board’s role: “I might be wrong, but the airport board is an advisory board. So I'd probably look up to you guys for most of the stuff I need to do.”

On emergency response, Zapeta said he would ensure emergency services were notified, control bystanders and notify the Federal Aviation Administration: “I would make sure that, obviously that the police and the fire are on the way. I would head out to the airport and, make sure that, you know, bystanders and people are out of the way … And obviously, call FAA. Make sure that they, they know about it.”

Commissioners described the job as largely single-staffed with occasional help from airport board members and noted budgeted hours for temporary help during heavy snow or peak maintenance times. Zapeta asked whether supplemental on-call or temporary help would be available; commissioners said temporary help hours were in the proposed budget though the budget had not yet been adopted.

No motion to hire Zapeta was made during the public meeting; commissioners thanked him for his application and interview and the session moved on to other items.