Picente: Gray Out As Airport Commish; Search For Replacement To Begin Soon

Rome, NY (WIBX) - Vernon Gray is out as Oneida County's Aviation Commissioner.

He was appointed to the post a little more than two years ago by County Executive Anthony Picente, who now says, 'it's time to go in a different direction'.

"His term was up, really, in December. It required reappointment by me, and then to the board for ratification. But, as I go through all my department heads, and we're going through that evaluation process, we are gonna make a change [at the airport]," Picente said.

Gray's last day was Wednesday, Picente said.

Picente would not go into details about what lead to his decision to go in a different direction.

"Nothing specific. Just a change in management," he said. "[The airport] is a big economic development entity that I believe has to maximized."

In the meantime, the superintendand of maintenance at Griffiss, Chad Lawrence, is taking over, Picente said, adding, the process to find a replacement will begin soon.