Welcome to the Business Journal Archives
Search for articles below, or continue to the all new BusinessJournalDaily.com now.
Search
Commissioners, WRPA Meet Behind Closed Doors
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The Western Reserve Port Authority’s chairman, following a closed-door meeting with the Mahoning County Board of Commissioners and port authority staff, promised “positive things” coming from the agency in the next few weeks.
Ron Klingle, who took over as chairman in May, offered few details on Thursday’s meeting at the commissioners’ administrative offices, which lasted nearly two hours. Mahoning County Commissioners David Ditzler, Anthony Traficanti and Carol Rimedio-Righetti voted to hold the session – characterized as a staff meeting -- in executive session to discuss personnel issues.
They also heard from representatives of the Council of Development Finance Agencies, the consulting firm hired to prepare a strategic plan for the port authority. CDFA’s executive director, Toby Rittner, and his associate, Jason Rittenburg, presented the results of the SWOT -- strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats -- analysis the firm conducted.
“The meetings just keep getting better and better as the weeks go on,” Klingle remarked following the meeting. “Over the next couple of weeks, you’re going to see some very positive things coming out of our organization.”
The port authority’s three newest members -- including one named by Mahoning County yesterday -- were among the six who attended Thursday’s meeting. Trumbull County appointees Sam Covelli and David Detec, who were appointed last week, and David Mosure, who the Mahoning commissioners approved less than an hour earlier, joined Klingle, Patrick Pellin and Martin Loney. Members Scott Lewis and Don Hanni III did not attend.
Trumbull County Commissioners Frank Fuda and Mauro Cantalamessa listened to the meeting by phone. Among those attending in person was Dan Dickten, director of aviation for the port authority, and Sarah Lown, senior manager for economic development.
Also attending was businessman John Moliterno, a potential candidate to serve as the port authority‘s executive director either on an interim or ongoing basis.
Klingle would not comment on Moliterno, who he touted in July as a potential executive director. He characterized Moliterno, who formerly served on the port authority board and as president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, as “an observer.”
Moliterno was at the meeting at the port authority’s request to “participate and gather information,” Ditzler said.
Klingle also declined to provide details on the Council of Development Finance Agencies’ presentation, but said he expects the strategic plan to be completed by the end of the year.
Mahoning Commissioners Ditzler and Rimedio-Righetti, who had been sharply critical in recent months of the port authority, said they are pleased with the direction the agency appears to be taking. Earlier this year, amid discord among port authority members, they pondered whether to dissolve the port authority and form a new one or merge it with existing entities.
“I think everybody’s on the same page,” Ditzler remarked. The port authority has “excellent people,” he said, including the three new members who bring “instant credibility.” Covelli is owner of Covelli Enterprises in Warren, the Panera Bread chain’s largest franchisee. Detec is an attorney with an attorney with Manchester Newman and Bennett. Mosure is vice president of MS Consultants.
Ditzler said he’s confident that the commissioners would support the decision the port authority members make regarding the appointment of an executive director.
The SWOT analysis, he added, didn’t present “anything that we weren’t aware of,” he said.
“I think I made the comment that if you don’t have a destination, any road will get you there. This gave us a destination,” he said.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our twice-monthly print edition and to our free daily email headlines.