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WILLIAMSTOWN - The manager at the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport is resigning.
Ben Auville, who has served as manager at the airport since December 2022, announced his resignation to the Wood County Airport Authority on Thursday, citing family obligations as his reason for stepping down. He will officially step down before the end of the month.
Auville had come to the airport after retiring from the U.S. Air Force following 20 years of service and he had experience with commercial and private aviation as well. He was a 1994 graduate of Parkersburg South High School and a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology. He had returned to the area in 2019 to take over his parent's farm.
"There are a lot of things I have to take care of with family," he said of his father's health. Auville said he wanted to be there for him at this time.
"What matters at this point is taking care of family."
Auville said the U.S. Department of Transportation recently awarded the Essential Air Service contract for the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport to Contour Airlines, the airport's financials are in good shape and things are are a good track where someone else could come in and continue the work.
"I did a lot of the things I needed to do at the airport," he said. "I did it because it was enjoyable.
"I was able to be useful and impactful to the community. That was great. At this this point, I have things I need to do and it is now more about me taking care of my family."
Auville said he wants to be there for his father at this time.
"I rather be there to help make a difference for him," he said.
In his time at the airport, he felt he was able to make the airport safer in terms of wildlife. There had been a deer struck by a plane before he was hired at the airport. There had been controlled hunts and what Auville oversaw was clearing back tress and depleting the habitat to make it so the deer did not want to be there which he learned as part of his studies at the Air Force Academy.
"It had a night and day difference for wildlife and general safety for the air operations out there," Auville said.
He was also able to do some things that helped improve facilities for Rivertown Aviation and some other things that he helped move forward at the airport. He said he also did some things to help improve fuel sales and increase traffic from 22,000 operations a year to 38,000 operations a year.
"I was just trying to be open to opportunities," Auville said. "What was me was to fix a lot of the wildlife issues we were having.
"I got it to a point where it can be maintained and sustained where it has become a much safer environment for air operations."
The airport is also seeing an increase in training operations and teaching new pilots. They have also increased their corporate services there bringing in people involved in business and business growth opportunities.
"That has helped keep the airport active and helped keep the revenue coming in there," Auville said. "I would hope that the things I have done with the airport have made it such a better asset, a more sustainable asset and a more useful asset to the community there after what I have done there after my 3½-some years I have been there."
Wood County Authority President Andy Daniel said the authority had a 2 and a ½-hour meeting Thursday where they named the Airport Operations Manager Lisa Hedrick as the interim Airport Director.
Daniel said they will be putting out an ad Friday in the paper announcing the position.
"We hope to have someone in place within 90 days," Daniel said of the manager's position.
Auville said change can be good as it brings in new perspectives.
"The great thing about having transitions is it brings in a fresh set of eyes," he said. "The next person will look and see what is there, what I have done, what is there and they are going to see it differently than me. They will see things that I didn't see."
He said he was able to do things that previous managers weren't able to do.
"It is good in a lot of these positions to have the turnover so you get fresh ideas and a fresh set of eyes on things," Auville said. "I hope the board sees the value in the things that I have done and I hope they can find someone who can take it beyond even what I saw it could be."
Wood County Commissioner Jim Hamric, who serves on the airport authority, commended Auville's professionalism. He said the airport authority understood Auville's need to be there for his father.
"We wish his dad well, of course," Hamric said.
Daniel commended Auville's dedication.
"He came to work everyday and wasn't afraid of work," he said. "He dealt with some pretty major issues.
"He implemented new processes and processes that will improve the airport well into the future."