The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Airport’s interim GM gets permanent job
Fired predecessor gets $85,000 payout in city settlement.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is moving to make official the appointment of Roosevelt Council as general manager of the Atlanta airport, while the city also has reached a settlement that will pay Council’s dismissed predecessor more than $85,000.
Reed’s administration introduced city council legislation to make Council the permanent general manager of Hartsfield-Jackson International. Council has been interim general manager since May, when Miguel Southwell was fired from the post.
Southwell and Reed initially sparred over the reasons for the firing, before agreeing to drop the dispute in September.
Yolanda Adrean, chairwoman of the Atlanta city council transportation committee, said the settlement approved this week was for benefits to Southwell during a job transition, including health care.
“I think it was appropriate,” she said. “(Southwell) served the city well.”
Southwell ran the world’s busiest airport for two years. He was 58 when he was named to the post and took a $221,000 salary.
But earlier this year, the airport was embroiled in controversy over long security screening lines, ride-hailing regulations and jostling among companies for airport contracts.
Shortly after Southwell was fired, he hired a law firm known for wrongful termination lawsuits and whistleblower cases. Southwell’s lawyers at Parks Chesin & Walbert launched an investigation into the termination and sought documents from the city.
A letter from attorney Lee Parks to the city said Southwell was told his dismissal was due to recent long lines at the airport, but it suggested that the mayor’s office wanted more control over airport contracts.
Reed in June told Channel 2 Action News, “I could have pressed charges against him if I had chosen to do so.”
Attorneys for the city and for Southwell last fall announced they would drop their dispute and withdraw allegations of improper actions, though the mayor’s office at the time said no payment had been made to Southwell.
“They both now believe that their differences were more a matter of style than substance,” a joint statement at the time said.
Roosevelt Council has risen to the top position at Hartsfield-Jackson after being chief financial officer and deputy general manager at the airport.
Over the last six months as interim general manager, he has led the airport’s plans for a massive $6 billion renovation and expansion that will roll out over the next 15 years.