Documents obtained by the Wisconsin State Journal show that Kim Jones, the director of the Dane County Regional Airport, was regularly unavailable to make key airport decisions, and neglected messages from staff and Southwest Airlines representatives inquiring about starting service at the airport.
In recent years, three top airport officials reportedly complained about Jones to county leadership, which spurred a three-month investigation in 2023, conducted under former county executive Joe Parisi. It corroborated 12 complaints against her. The county announced Jones’ impending retirement in April after County Executive Melissa Agard took office in November 2024, and a nationwide recruitment process for a new airport director is now underway.
Jones is the county’s fourth-highest paid employee with a salary of $228,000. She denied all of the complaints against her in emails to investigators, who meanwhile concluded that she showed an “unresponsiveness to nearly all forms of communication,” and that while the airport continued to run well, deadlines were missed due to her lack of availability to make decisions.
