Jeff Tripp

REDMOND — Redmond Airport manager Jeff Tripp has resigned after little more than a year on the job.

Tripp handed in his resignation Monday, Redmond City Manager Keith Witcosky confirmed, which was also his last day of work. Tripp, who did not respond to interview requests, will be paid through Aug. 31. He was scheduled to make $111,660 this year, which would have made him the city of Redmond’s fifth-highest-paid employee and one of only six people working for the city to make more than $100,000.

Witcosky said the city would not immediately look for another airport director to replace Tripp.

“We’ve got a really good team out there,” Witcosky said Wednesday. “They’re talking right now about the best way to structure themselves. … I’ve got an incredible level of confidence in them.”

Tripp, who took charge of the airport 13 months ago, was the Redmond Airport’s fourth director in the past four years. Longtime director Carrie Novak retired at the end of the 2011 and was followed by Kim Dickie, who was demoted and then resigned less than two years into the job.

Bob Noble served as interim director for about half a year before Tripp was hired in April 2014, beating out 21 other applicants.

“He definitely got us through issues with two FBOs,” or fixed-base operators, Witcosky said about Tripp, who came to Redmond with 23 years of aviation experience. Before moving to Central Oregon, Tripp was the director at the Prescott Municipal Airport in central Arizona. He also worked at the Mesa-Falcon Field Airport in Mesa, Arizona, as the airport projects supervisor and was an assistant airport manager at the Prescott airfield early in his career.

Tripp navigated the Redmond Airport through several turbulent issues in his brief stint in Central Oregon. Under his watch, the city added a second fixed-base operator — a company that provides airport services such as fueling, hangaring and mechanical support — in Leading Edge Jet Service and reached a negotiated peace with Butler Aircraft and KC Aero.

“He made sure that north side (now home to Leading Edge) was ready for someone, and he prepared the airport for the worst-case scenario if it had to provide its own fueling (during the Butler and KC Aero dispute),” Witcosky said about Tripp. “And he put together the plan for when we have to close Runway 4-22.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7829, beastes@bendbulletin.com