The City of Covington has hired five airport employees as it prepares to take over operation of the Covington Municipal Airport this week.

Current Airport Manager Rusty Anglin was hired to fill a similar role as airport supervisor and the four part-time hires have all worked at the Covington airport previously, Anglin said Tuesday afternoon.

Covington Personnel Director Ronnie Cowan said the five hires were chosen out of 11 finalists.

"We decided we would continue with that level of skill and expertise, and we would pretty much operate with the guy out there, Rusty Anglin. He’s local person who’s been with airport a good while and knew a lot of things going on out there," Cowan said Wednesday. "We felt he was the best qualified person."

The positions will be hired by the city, but handled through a third-party staffing company, Cowan said.

Anglin said the city could hire more employees down the road, but that will depend on how the budget works out. The city has not hired a mechanic, and Anglin said he did not know if or when that would happen. If a mechanic is hired, he would be contracted out. Plane owners seeking repairs would fly to other airports.

Anglin said he was excited about the opportunity to manage the airport under the city’s ownership.

"This will be the opportunity we’ve wanted, and we’ll finally have the people and resources in place to make happen what we wanted to happen four years ago," said Anglin, referring to the period before the economy tanked and major runway construction projects were started.

Dixie Jet Owner Bob Riddell and the city are expected to officially sign their arbitration agreement today, Anglin said, after which the city will take over management.