By Katie Northcott, News Director
In a public comment to the Tullahoma Board of Mayor and Alderman (BOMA), Tullahoma resident Mat Bennett said that the Tullahoma Airport Authority (TAA)’s recommendation that the city hire Gavin Dishon as airport manager was rejected by City Administrator Jason Quick.
According to the minutes from the TAA’s January meeting, Cathy Manis, Chairman of the Airport Manager Search Committee, presented the committee’s recommendation that the city hire Dishon as airport manager. Manis said that the committee had done its “due diligence” in completing interviews and had unanimously agreed to recommend Dishon for the position.
“We are happy to recommend a local person that has gone to school in Tullahoma, did his pilot training here, and has shown himself to be an exemplary employee over the past five years, and is now invaluable to Ms. Ashley Udick,” Manis said, according to the minutes.
Dishon currently serves as Assistant Airport Manager and would replace Ashley Udick who has been serving as Interim Airport Manager since late November. Udick has expressed to the city that she does not wish to stay in the position long-term.
The meeting minutes reflected the TAA’s approval of the motion to recommend Dishon as the new airport manager and that the TAA expected the recommendation to “go to City Hall for approval.”
The recommendation did not appear on the BOMA’s agenda for its meeting on Monday, Feb. 9. At that same meeting, Bennett, who said he was a member of the search committee, made his comment.
“Since [TAA approved the recommendation] one singular person, the city manager Jason Quick, has decided that he is going to reject our recommendation and possibly install his own pick instead,” Bennett said. “Our group understands aviation and the running of an airport, and for some of us, their livelihood depends on it. I hope [the BOMA] will trust our recommendation.”
Bennett said that after the search committee made its recommendation, a rejected candidate called Dishon and said that he was planning on being in the role for two or three years and then Dishon could “take it.”
“That suggests to me that someone communicated to that person that he was going to be the one hired for the position contrary to our recommendation,” Bennett said. “If this was communicated to him by someone in the city administration, this is extremely unprofessional, and it reeks of back room dealing.”
Quick was traveling at the time of the meeting and was not present to respond to Bennett’s comments.
Peterson Media Group has reached out to Quick and the members of the BOMA for comment. Alderman Matthew Bird said he did not wish to comment at this time. Alderman Sernobia McGee said she was not aware of the situation prior to Bennett’s comment.
Quick responded with a six-page comment, the airport manager job description approved in October 2025, and the City’s agreement with the Tullahoma Airport Authority. All three documents are attached below:
To summarize, Quick’s main concerns about the TAA’s recommended candidate are:
- He did not follow the formal application process established by the City’s Human Resources (HR) Department.
- He does not meet the minimum qualifications for the Airport Manager position.
- It is especially important to hire a candidate that meets the minimum experience requirement since the airport has recently been faced with increased scrutiny
- The City will open itself up to potential legal action if it hires an underqualified candidate
- Quick believes there are at least three more qualified candidates who applied for the position
Through the agreement between the City and the TAA, the City Administrator is granted the authority to disapprove the TAA’s recommendation for Airport Manager. Quick said he expressed his concerns to BOMA in an email sent on Jan. 23. Quick said he later expressed concerns about the TAA’s and Mayor Lynn Sebourn’s perceived lack of urgency to find and recommend a different airport manager candidate in an email sent on Feb. 6.
Regarding the phone call Bennett mentioned, Quick said he had reached out to the candidates about the interview process but had not mentioned employment.
“Bennett’s accusations and innuendo stated during the public meeting on February 9, 2026, are without merit and demonstrably false,” Quick said.
The post Tullahoma City Administrator Rejects Airport Manager Recommendation appeared first on Thunder Radio.
