In an administrative change, the manager of Vicksburg Municipal Airport will not have his contract renewed when it expires June 30, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted Monday.

The move does not mean Frank May’s longtime work at the airport is over, said Curt Follmer, named airport general manager in December as part of a push by City Hall to ramp up airport operations.

Follmer said he wants to study options for operations and leave room for negotiations. “This gives us the latitude to work on it,” he said.

“We’ve been operating this way for the last three years,” May said of his contract. His annual contract has been allowed to automatically renew for a new term in each of the past two years since his role came under the oversight of the Vicksburg Municipal Airport Board in 2006.

Before that, he had managed the airport’s operations as an independent contractor since 1994, he said, and also put in years there performing aircraft maintenance and repairs.

He said he has been kept informed of the city’s plans to make some changes, and that his relationships with Follmer and others has remained positive.

“With the city taking a more active interest in the operations of the airport, they’re wanting to get employees under the control of the city,” he said.

May, 48, said he will apply if the board follows through and turns the position into one of city employee. “I’ve been at the airport in some capacity for the last 31 1/2 years,” he said.

At its meeting Monday, the board also terminated a lease for one of May’s jet fuel delivery trucks. Follmer said the city had purchased one and had it refurbished and reconditioned.

As a fixed-base operator, May not only contracted his services to the city but also owned the airport’s equipment and two fuel trucks the city had leased.

Follmer, former senior vice president and general manager of Rainbow Casino, was tapped by Mayor Laurence Leyens to implement a vision to revitalize the airport, anchoring it as an industrial and commercial center south of the city.

Changes are taking place in stages, including new buildings and equipment and runway improvements. The long-range vision includes a second runway that would be longer and become primary, a slack-water port off the Mississippi River and other industrial inducements.

Vicksburg Municipal Airport was built in 1950 and served commercial air traffic until the jet age began in the 1960s. It has since served business and recreational fliers, becoming secondary in 1993 when Vicksburg, Warren County, Madison Parish and Tallulah formed a partnership to build Vicksburg Tallulah Regional Airport in Mound, La.

Political tides have shifted through the years and in the past year, Vicksburg Municipal has been a city priority.

May, from his perspective of years there, hopes for the best for the airport. “The positive implications for growth by the city’s renewed interest can’t hurt,” he said.

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Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com