By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The new manager of the Hays Regional Airport officially introduced himself to Hays city commissioners during their meeting Thursday night.

Ovid Seifers grew up in nearby Wilson in Russell County, and said “it’s like coming home. I love Hays and the area.”

After serving four years in the Air Force, Seifers worked 38 years for the Kansas City, Missouri, aviation department at Kansas City International Airport, Kansas City Downtown Airport, and Richards Gebaur Air Force Base. His duties included maintenance manager, airport manager, and systems operation manager.

Seifers spent the past 13 years working at Eagle County Regional Airport near Vail, Colorado.

“I love the airport management field,” he told commissioners. “Always have, always will.

“Hays is a small airport but there are greater challenges than in the bigger ones,” Seifers said.

He has already faced one of those challenges, according to Public Works Director Greg Sund.

“Ovid helped us almost immediately. We had a problem with our automatic weather observer went down. He worked with SkyWest and we didn’t have to go looking all over the region for a weather observer. They were willing to take the weather observations Ovid took and it saved us a lot of time and effort,” Sund told the commissioners.

“That was a great way to start. The last couple days he’s got us through our Part 139 inspection with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) which is an annual process,” Sund added.

Seifers replaces Nathan Marcucci, who resigned his position with the city in September.

Click here to see an in-depth interview with Seifers on the ECTV  Forum and Gary Shorman.