Port Authority Clashes over Renewing DeLeon's Contract
VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Opposing factions within the Western Reserve Port Authority's board stalemated on efforts to amend its agreement with -- or get rid of -- its executive director, Rose Ann DeLeon
A motion that would have allowed DeLeon's contract to expire Dec. 7 and called for entering into a new one-year personal services agreement at less than two-thirds of her base pay was stymied when four of the board's members voted for the motion, three voted against it and one abstained, preventing passage due to lack of a majority of the quorum. DeLeon was hired nearly three years ago for the newly created position.
Members voting for the motion were Scott Lynn, the port authority's chairman, Scott Lewis, Richard Schiraldi and James Floyd, while Don Hanni III, Andreas Visnapu, and Richard Musick voted against passage, and Patrick Pellen abstained.
If approved, DeLeon would have been paid $95,000 plus incentives including 2.5% of any money secured in grant funds, 1% of any bond financing project or of any lease excluding "internal business" for the port authority, such as oil and gas, with a cap of $150,000.
Lynn said board members listened to the input from the commissioners from Mahoning and Trumbull counties and tried to craft a new compensation package for the executive director's position that addressed their concerns.
Hanni said he resented that the contract was negotiated without the input of all the board members.
Prior to the vote on the dual motion, the board split on an amendment offered by Hanni to separate the questions of ending three-year DeLeon's contract and approving a one-year deal. Pellen joined Hanni, Visnapu and Musick to support the amendment while the remaining board members voted against it.
Failure to act on the motions leaves DeLeon's existing contract in place, along with a Nov. 7 deadline -- a month before her contact is to end. If she is not notified by Nov. 7 that her contract is not being renewed or no other action is taken, her existing contract will automatically renew for one year at the current $155,000 salary.
Mahoning County Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti, speaking to the board at the start of the often tense hour-long meeting, supported retaining DeLeon for another year at the reduced pay scale. Rimedio-Righetti said she has worked well with DeLeon and Sarah Lown, the port authority's senior director for economic development, on several projects that have brought jobs to the Valley and she wants to see that continue. "I'm very happy with their performance," she said.
Rimedio-Righetti also called on the port authority members to consult more with the county commissioners.
Tim Callion, business agent for Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 396, also spoke on behalf of retaining DeLeon, and said he is happy "with the relationship we've been able to establish with the people that are here at this time," referring to DeLeon and Lown.
Trumbull County Commissioner Dan Polivka, who attended with fellow Commissioner Frank Fuda, told the board that they attended Friday's meeting "in a show of unity to move in a new direction." Trumbull County entered into the multi-governmental partnership to create and fund the executive director's position at the request of U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-17 Ohio, who spearheaded the effort, but the results have not met expectations.
"We are for going in a new direction and we are for advertising this out and getting the best person on there," Polivka said. He attended the meeting with the understanding that DeLeon's contract would not be renewed, the commissioner added.
The port authority is not scheduled to meet before Nov. 7, although Lynn did not rule out scheduling a special meeting to address the issue.
Lynn expalined the automatic contract renewal would not take effect if both parties – the port authority and DeLeon – agreed.
Lewis, the port authority's vice-chairman, said that a "parliamentary procedure" is in play to address the issue.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.