Jamestown Airport TSA Staff Worked Without Pay, Never Missed a Shift

Tara Stockert, General Manager for SkyWest Airlines at Jamestown Regional Airport, watched the local TSA team report for duty shift after shift during the partial federal government shutdown: unpaid, unacknowledged by Washington, and without a single absence or complaint across multiple consecutive shutdowns.

"They are the backbone of our airport," Stockert said. "They worked through multiple shutdowns in a short period of time with no complaints or callouts."

Airport Director Katie Hemmer confirmed what Stockert witnessed from the gate side. The small TSA workforce at Jamestown Regional kept security screening intact throughout the crisis, ensuring the airport's 13 weekly round trips to Denver remained uninterrupted for business travelers, medical passengers, and visitors moving through Stutsman County. "Even while working without pay during the shutdown, we did not see a change in service," Hemmer said.

That continuity matters more than most travelers may realize. SkyWest Airlines has operated Jamestown's Essential Air Service under the United Express banner since June 2014, connecting the region to United's national and international network through Denver. The airport averages 33 aircraft operations per day, a pace that reached 11,916 total operations in 2019. A security staffing collapse would have stopped all of it.

North Dakota's Furloughed Federal Employee Relief Program, administered through the Bank of North Dakota, offered affected TSA workers low-interest loans to cover lost wages during the shutdown. Payroll has since been processed.

Hemmer has been candid about the structural challenge underneath the recognition. "Especially in North Dakota, we have such low unemployment and it is very difficult to keep entities like TSA staffed," she said. That the team not only stayed but stayed without complaint, through not one but multiple shutdowns, makes the outcome more striking.

U.S. Senator John Hoeven pointed to the near lapse in Essential Air Service funding for rural airports as a primary reason the shutdown needed to end. Without EAS subsidies, Jamestown's commercial service and the FAA Part 139 certification that qualifies the airport for federal infrastructure grants would face serious risk.

Emily Bivens, Executive Director of Jamestown Tourism, put it plainly: "Their steady presence during the shutdown reflects the kind of community Jamestown is, reliable, welcoming, and committed to taking care of people."

The paychecks have been restored. The flights kept running. And the people who made that possible never asked for either outcome to be noticed.