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Port Authority Places DeLeon on Medical Leave
VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Following a lengthy executive session called at the start of its monthly meeting, the board of directors for the Western Reserve Port Authority approved a medical leave of absence, effective Jan. 16, for Rose Ann DeLeon, the port authority’s executive director.
The port authority will pay DeLeon’s medical benefits for a year and she will receive pay for accumulated vacation and sick time, said James Floyd, port authority chairman. The vacation and sick pay she is entitled to is still being calculated, he said.
Port authority officials said they could not say whether or when DeLeon would be back. In the meantime, Sarah Lown, senior economic development manager, will continue to handle the port authority’s economic development functions.
“All I know is that she’s indicated she has a medical condition,” Floyd said. Asked whether the condition is serious, he responded, “I believe so.” He also said DeLeon may have applied for disability under the Public Employees Retirement System but could not confirm that.
“We’re going to take it a week at a time and see how it goes,” said Ron Klingle, who chairs the port authority’s economic development committee.
DeLeon, who was previously sidelined due to extended illness, was hired in 2009 as executive director of the port authority to promote economic development through an initiative advanced by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-13 Ohio. Her three-year contract was extended until the end of this year.
If DeLeon is unable to return to work, Floyd said, the decision to hire a replacement would rest with the board but he was not inclined to do so before the end of the year. The port authority is now working with a consultant to develop an updated strategic plan, one component of which is developing a new job description based on DeLeon’s and the port authority’s experience over the past four years.
During the meeting, Lown reported that Boardman Township trustees plan to vote March 10 to create an energy improvement district. That action would permit the port authority to issue Property Assessment Clean Energy -- or PACE -- bonds to permit Simon Property Group to undertake energy efficiency upgrades at the Southern Park Mall.
The port authority’s economic development division plans to move March 1 from its office in the Youngstown Business incubator in downtown Youngstown to a three-room suite in Penguin Place, Lown said. The division is bringing on an intern, and the larger space will also permit the addition of an administrative assistant.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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