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Last call for Tom Cleveland: longtime airport manager to leave DeKalb for DuPage airport

DeKALB – A familiar face at the DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport is leaving after 18 years, and Tom Cleveland will be headed back to his old stomping grounds.

“It wasn’t an easy decision, it really wasn’t,” Cleveland said Tuesday, after City Manager Bill Nicklas announced during Monday’s council meeting that the longtime airport manager had tendered his resignation. “It’s a big step, and good for me and my family.”

Nicklas said Cleveland handed in his letter last week, and will take over as deputy director at DuPage Airport in a month.

“We certainly wish him well,” Nicklas said. “Just as we are disappointed that we will be losing him.”

Cleveland said he couldn’t pass up the opportunity when it presented itself, especially because he spent 20 years with the DuPage airport prior to coming to DeKalb. He and his family will remain in the area, as they live in Sycamore.

“We’ve been through a lot here. We’ve expanded and improved this airport so much in the last 18 years,” Cleveland said. “It was a team effort, and it’s going to continue to add to the whole region.”

The DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport has been the subject of a concentrated rebranding effort in the past few years. Cleveland’s role has also included working with a new strategic plan to better sell and maintain the airport to users as a way to boost its economic appeal.

The Airport Advisory Board and Nicklas will work to fill the role prior to Cleveland’s estimated time of departure; He’ll start at DuPage on March 2.

Source: The Daily Chronicle

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