LOS ANGELES : Airport Commission Begins Interviews for Director

After reluctantly launching a nationwide search, the Airport Commission on Wednesday began interviewing 10 candidates--eight of them city employees--for the job of directing one of the world’s busiest municipal aviation departments.

The closed-door interviews, which were to conclude today, could allow the commission to decide as soon as Monday who will replace Clifton A. Moore as general manager of the airports department, which oversees Los Angeles International, Van Nuys, Ontario and Palmdale airports. Moore, 70, announced in September that he will retire after 24 years as general manager.

Although the list of candidates is confidential, interviews show that the group includes Randall Bacon, who directs the general services department; Chief Legislative Analyst William McCarley; Donald Miller, the airport department’s second-in-command; Faye Washington, head of the Department of Aging, and Stephen Yee, who manages Los Angeles International Airport, the world’s third-busiest airport.

Also in contention for the job, sources said, is Personnel Director Jack Driscoll. The names of the remaining candidates could not be confirmed, though officials said the list includes at least one other woman candidate.