COEUR d'ALENE - After 20 years as Kootenai County's airport manager, Greg Delavan was handed his walking papers on Friday.

"The commissioners wanted to go in a different direction," said County Commissioner Todd Tondee on Monday, adding that Delavan was not fired for cause. "He is no longer a county employee."

Tondee said the airport is involved in many controversial issues and the commissioners wanted to change course and take the airport in a different direction.

Tondee and Commissioner Jai Nelson are lame duck commissioners. Their replacements will be elected next week, but Tondee said the timing of Delavan's termination was not due to the election.

Nelson could not be reached for comment Monday, and Commissioner Dan Green is on vacation for the next week and a half.

Delavan, who declined to comment on his dismissal, had been involved in the master planning process at the airport. Delavan's master plan has come into conflict with other plans to connect Ramsey Road on the east side of the airport. It also conflicts with a future project called the Huetter Bypass on the west side.

Earlier this year, the conflict prompted local agencies to hire a facilitator to mediate the conflicts and make recommendations on how to resolve them.

In the September minutes of the county's Airport Advisory Committee meeting, it is noted that the mediator, Marsha Bracke, has held at least two meetings to resolve the conflicts.

"The result is the (Board of County Commissioners) has some decisions to make," the minutes stated. "The question is: 'Does the airport master plan need to be changed?'"

Under Delavan's oversight, the airport began the process of purchasing 200 acres of property to make room for an expansion of a runway. Some of that property may overlap potential right of way for the Huetter Bypass project.

Because it is a personnel issue, Tondee said, he could not confirm if the airport master plan and runway expansion plans were considerations in Delavan's dismissal.

Tondee confirmed that the airport advisory committee was not a part of the decision-making process to terminate Delavan's employment. Delavan did not get a settlement, Tondee said.

However, he would not say if the commission's decision to fire Delavan was unanimous. He said the termination was an administrative personnel issue and did not require a formal vote from the board.

"We didn't take a vote," Tondee said.

The airport's operations manager, Phillip Cummings, will fill in as the interim airport manager until a replacement can be found, Tondee said.