Counties' Commissioners Meet Monday on WRPA
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The boards of commissioners in Mahoning and Trumbull counties have scheduled a joint meeting for Monday in the Mahoning County Administration Building downtown, where they will review their options with regard to the Western Reserve Port Authority.
The two boards are widely expected to decide to move forward on dissolving the current port authority and establish a new one, with another entity assuming its responsibilities and administering contracts in the interim. Monday’s 11 a.m. meeting follows a previous joint session where commissioners from the two counties discussed the port authority and its board, whose members are appointed by the two counties.
The two boards of commissioners likely would have to pass resolutions dissolving the port authority during scheduled meetings in their home counties.
Conflict has increased among the port authority’s board members in recent months. Since late April, three of the board’s eight members -- including its most recent chairman, attorney James Floyd -- have tendered their resignations.
The port authority, established in 1992, is responsible for operating Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport. The port authority in recent years added an economic development division, at the urging of U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-13 Ohio, who led a campaign to raise funds for that operation so that it could capitalize on financing tools port authorities have under Ohio law.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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