REGAN
Habersham County Airport Manager Will Regan has taken a new position as the county’s risk manager.
Regan essentially is going from one position created by the county last year to one created this year. The county previously used a third-party FBO to run the airport before taking it over and hiring Regan to run it in April 2022.
“I am excited for the new challenge and ready to get brought up to speed with the current challenges county personnel have been working through recently,” Regan said.
Last year the Habersham County Board of Commissioners and County Manager Alicia Vaughn identified the need for a shift in the county’s risk management style to make it more focused on prevention and accountability.
They approved the position of risk manager in the budget to provide for a position that will consolidate the responsibilities of receiving and filing claims, reviewing, and suggesting improvements to current safety policies, and coordinating with department heads to make sure efforts are being made to mitigate those accidents from occurring again.
“This shift from a reactive to proactive approach will help in saving the county money on insurance premiums and deductibles, but more importantly, it will increase the safety of the county’s employees and the citizens they interact with on a daily basis,” Vaughn said.” It is our hope that this position fosters a safety-oriented culture within the county’s departments. As the old saying goes, ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’.”
Regan has an associate degree in business management as well as a bachelor’s degree in managerial sciences from Georgia State. He graduated magna cum laude from Georgia State University.
“What I really enjoyed about the airport is that it was a new position,” Regan said. “It was a new experience, a new opportunity to build something. And I see the same thing transitioning into this role. I’m going to have the chance to be boots on the ground and be actively involved in building something that ultimately will make a very significant impact on the taxpayers’ pockets if we’re able to do things that allow us to reduce this county’s liability, that ends up saving us in the long run, not only for losses but also as well as for injuries, people off work, and the like.”
In May of this year, Regan was disciplined for unprofessional conduct due to policy violations stemming from a practical joke played on one of his subordinates. Former employee Innocent Bennett said Regan went into his wallet, which was left in a courtesy car at the airport, and found a photo of him with his tongue out. Regan allegedly blew up the picture and placed it on an airport bulletin board in a public area, as well as putting smaller versions of the photo on the soda machine.
In this lateral move, Regan will maintain the same annual salary at $78,998.40.
Vaughn has named Josh Hall as interim airport manager.
Hall has worked for Habersham County for 14 months and currently serves as operations manager for the airport.
“I grew up in a family that owned an aviation sales company, so it’s all I’ve ever known,” Hall said.
Hall has 700 hours of flying time and formerly flew corporate. He also has experience in sales and maintenance of aircraft as well as line service like he currently does at the airport.
“My passion in life has always been aviation,” Hall said. “I grew up washing airplanes as a kid then moved on to selling airplanes for my dad’s company. I am looking forward to serving as interim airport manager for Habersham County until a suitable replacement can be found.”
– Editor Matthew Osborne and Habersham County contributed to this report.