David Fiore Calls Move One Of 'Retaliation'

The Executive Director of the Grand Junction (CO) Regional Airport has been fired by the Airport Authority just four months after he was hired by the board.

The Airport Authority met Monday in an closed-door meeting with David Fiore, the now former airport executive director.

The Grand Junction Sentinel reports that the Airport Authority said there were problems with Fiore's performance in four key areas, including management style, leadership, communications the board, employees and the public, and involvement in the board's review of personnel matters. They did not elaborate beyond those four broad categories.

As Fiore was leaving the building, he said that the firing was a "move of retaliation," but for what he did not specify. He did say that there was an investigation being conducted into alleged improprieties on the part of some members of the board.

The Airport Authority was investigated by the FBI in 2013 on allegations of fraud, but no arrests were made as a result of the investigation which concluded in August of last year.

Fiore was being paid a salary of $136,000 as the executive director of the airport. He was hired after a national search was conducted, and it is likely that the board will conduct another such search to find his replacement.

FMI: www.gjairport.com/airport-authority