County Commissioners Closer to Dismantling WRPA
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The boards of commissioners in Mahoning and Trumbull counties plan to meet again next week to evaluate their options with regard to the Western Reserve Port Authority, moving the boards one step closer to what commissioners from both counties see as the likely outcome -- dismantling of the port authority’s board of directors.
“We need to keep moving forward and unfortunately we have some roadblocks along the way,” remarked Mahoning County Commissioner David Ditzler.
During their meeting Thursday, commissioners approved a resolution accepting the revised memorandum of understanding with the port authority. The MOA transferred the Meridian Road property the port authority purchased at auction that the port authority had intended to lease to the county for use as a new dog pound. The MOA also assigned the port authority’s winning bid for the property to the county, an action that required approval granted yesterday by Common Pleas Judge Lou D’Apolito.
Ditzler expressed the board’s appreciation to Gina Bricker, an assistant county prosecutor, for “going into the lion’s den” of the port authority meeting Wednesday when the port authority board approved the memorandum removing it from the Meridian Road purchase.
The deal -- and the role of the port authority’s chairman at the time, attorney James Floyd -- is among recent sources of growing tension on the port authority board. Three board members have resigned over the past month – Floyd, Scott Lynn, a former chairman, and Richard Schiraldi, leaving just five members on the two-county board.
Both counties’ boards of commissioners met May 9 to discuss dissolving the port authority board and establishing a replacement board. A follow-up meeting is planned for next week, although no date or time had been set as of Thursday morning.
“Our intent is to disband the port authority and start anew,” based on upcoming recommendations in a strategic plan now being prepared by the Council of Development Finance Agencies, Ditzler said. The port authority contracted with the council last year to prepare the strategic plan. “We’re hoping to disband the current board, look at [the consultants’] recommendations and let them assist us in how we proceed in the future.”
Ditzler lamented Floyd’s departure from the port authority board, calling it “a huge loss.”
Floyd’s departure is another indication of the port authority board’s dysfunction, said Mahoning County Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti. “Things need to change there. I don’t know that the residents of Mahoning County are actually being served at its fullest capacity,” she said. Given the port authority’s financing tools to promote economic development, the two counties need to act immediately, she said.
Trumbull County Commissioner Paul Heltzel said Floyd’s plans to leave the port authority had been rumored for some time before he submitted his letter of resignation last week. “He reached a point that he felt he couldn’t” continue to serve on the board, due to professional constraints on his time. Floyd is an attorney with Manchester, Newman & Bennett in Youngstown. “And I think he was just worn out,” he added.
Heltzel said he drafted a document related to the port authority that he expected to be reviewed by the Trumbull County prosecutor’s office yesterday. He acknowledged that all signs indicate the port authority board will be dissolved or restructured.
With two Trumbull vacancies on the board -- the county had appointed both Lynn and Floyd -- the question of is and when to replace them is an issue. “We’re getting to the point where the director census is way down so we either have to replace them or do something else,” Heltzel said. If Trumbull County fills the two vacancies largely depends on the timing for any change the commissioners decide to make.
“We’ve had internal discussion about replacing board members and right now that would probably be a tough thing to do,” he continued. “There’s some good people out there but I don’t think they would want to get involved in this situation. They want to wait until there’s a resolution of the organization.”
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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