Newly retired Rockford airport director Mike Dunn hired back as consultant

Mike Dunn retired last December from his role as executive director of the Chicago Rockford International Airport.

But that doesn't mean he will ride off into the sunset just yet.

The Greater Rockford Airport Authority will pay Dunn $60,000 as a consultant to help with an upcoming project commissioners say is right in his wheelhouse.

"There's a lot of institutional knowledge that he has that we don't want to lose 100%," said Board Chairman Paul Cicero.

Cicero said Dunn's contract is for six months, during which time he will serve as an advisor to help the airport build a new air traffic control tower that will replace the existing 66-year-old tower that's well past the end of its usefulness.

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Rockford's airport was a smaller, regional facility when Dunn began his tenure and relied largely on an annual airshow to show it off. Eventually, it grew into the one of the fastest-growing cargo airports in the county with continuously expanding commercial services.

The Chicago Rockford International Airport spurred more than $900 million in annual economic activity according to an Illinois aviation economic impact analysis released soon after Dunn was named executive director in January 2012.

"That was just shy of a billion, and I was really upset because I wanted that billion in the worst way," Dunn said in a previous report. "So, 10 years later, they re-did it. Now it came out at $4.5 billion dollars this time."

And that is why Cicero says the board is leaning on the former director to make sure the tower project comes together smoothly.

"This is about what we believe he can do," Cicero said.

The new tower will be built within six years, Cicero said. It will stand more than 220 feet tall, which would make it about 34 feet taller than the Faust Landmark, the tallest building in Rockford.

The airport approved the contract with Dunn's firm, Airport Development and Real Estate Advisors, LLC, at its March meeting.

Jim Hagerty writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for the Rockford Register Star. Email him at jhagerty@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Former Rockford airport director Mike Dunn brought back as consultant