Kern Losing Long-time Director to Jackson Hole

He brought us international air travel and indoor baggage claim, but come August, Kern's airports director is leaving town.

Salary enticed Ray Bishop, 59, to take the top airport job in Jackson Hole, Wyo.. He'll make roughly $150,000 a year to run a single airport; he's now paid about $108,000 to oversee seven in California's Kern County.

Bishop's current salary is much the same as when he arrived 11 years ago, but his job has changed dramatically, he said. He took it sight unseen, and when he arrived, the facilities were unimpressive and the department was losing millions.

He soon made it profitable and went on to oversee construction of the $36 million William M. Thomas Terminal at Meadows Field. He persuaded farmers to embrace international air travel from Bakersfield. He attracted three new airlines to Kern, and in April, passenger traffic at Meadows was up 40 percent over last April, making the airport the fastest growing in the West.

With all that, "I feel like I'm considerably underpaid," he said.

It's not just him; "people are going to leave" if supervisors don't start adjusting salaries countywide, he said. In his view, the problem is "huge."

If not for the money, Bishop would have stayed in his plush office atop the new terminal, he said. He still wants to retire here, and might hang on to his house in Bakersfield.

"I'll want to come back to Bakersfield," he said. "I like Bakersfield."

Bishop is one of many employees lured away by more money, said Ron Errea the county's top administrator. The county recently raised salaries for nurses, engineers, group counselors and employees of the Probation Department by about 15 percent, he said, but there is more to be done.

"It's a challenge for us" to attract and keep employees, he said. "People with talents and ability ... have their choice about where they want to work. There's a lot of competition ... and it's bidding up the price."

The county's entire salary structure needs to be evaluated, he said.

He doesn't like to see Bishop go, and the county owes him "a big thank you" for his work to improve local aviation, Errea said.

Bishop will be missed, said 2nd District Supervisor Don Maben

"Hopefully we can find someone of his caliber because he's done so much for the airport," Maben said.

Bishop has mixed feelings about the move. He regrets leaving his staff and not being around in November when the first international flights take off, he said. But there's a "part of me that says let's move on to other challenges."

Bishop, an avid skier, is looking forward to more than the scenery that surrounds Jackson Hole Airport. The airport is much smaller than Meadows Field but handles twice the air traffic, Bishop said. The staff there needs help working as a team, which he feels has been his particular strength in Kern.

"We built a really good team (at the county airports department)," he said. "They solve problems, they don't have to be guided. I love them to death."

News stories provided by third parties are not edited by "Site Publication" staff. For suggestions and comments, please click the Contact link at the bottom of this page.