Welcome to the Business Journal Archives
Search for articles below, or continue to the all new BusinessJournalDaily.com now.
Search
Mahoning, Trumbull Commissioners Urge Collaboration on Development
WARREN, Ohio – Commissioners in Mahoning and Trumbull counties agreed Wednesday on the need for increased cooperation on economic development, even as Mahoning Commissioner Anthony Traficanti pressed for greater accountability over the Western Reserve Port Authority, which the two counties fund.
Wednesday’s meeting between both counties’ boards of commissioners was prompted by the extended absence of Rose Ann DeLeon, the port authority’s executive director. Hired in late 2009 to spearhead economic development for the port authority, DeLeon is off for medical reasons. “We were concerned about the situation,” Trumbull County Commissioner Frank Fuda said.
In DeLeon’s absence, Sarah Lown, hired last year as senior manager, economic development, for the port authority, has been handling DeLeon’s responsibilities, Mahoning Commissioner John McNally said. Recently, she oversaw the county’s tax incentive review.
“Sarah Lown is very good,” McNally’s fellow commissioner, Carol Rimedio-Righetti, said during the meeting, which lasted just under 20 minutes. She attributed about $20 million in grants secured for Youngstown to Lown, an experienced grant writer, when she worked for the city.
Lown, who did not attend Wednesday’s meeting, said DeLeon underwent a surgical procedure last month that originally that will require a recovery period of approximately eight weeks. She did not disclose further details of DeLeon’s condition.
The six commissioners stressed the need for cooperation in local economic development, particularly with the growing opportunities in the region.
“What we were doing before was like a dog looking for a bone,” Trumbull County Commissioner Paul Heltzel said. “What we’re doing now is making sure that when people look here, and come here to do serious business, we’ve got our game plan and we can take care of them.”
“In reality, this past year has been great. Companies are hiring,” Fuda remarked. “A lot of what’s happening is working. The idea is to make it even better than it is.”
Rimedio-Righetti said she has been in touch with the port authority regarding projects and economic development packages it offers that other entities cannot. “That doesn’t mean that we’re not in favor” of entities such as the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, Eastgate Regional Council of Governments or others. “But the port authority is unique with what they can offer,” she said. “At some point I think it would be good for all of us to go over exactly what they can offer both counties.”
The port authority, which oversees the Youngstown/Warren Regional Airport, manages a Foreign Trade Zone based there and has the authority to issue bonds under state law.
“Whether it’s the chamber or one of the other organizations, we all have to work together to try to bring companies here or expand the companies that we have,” Fuda said.
“Everybody’s been preaching collaboration. Well, this is what collaboration is – everybody working together for the same purpose,” he added.
Mahoning County commissioners support the port authority, Traficanti said, but the board has a responsibility to be accountable to its constituents and to county hotel owners, who balked recently at a now-tabled proposal to increase the county bed tax and provide the majority of the funds generated by the increase to the port authority.
Traficanti, who opposes the bed tax increase, said he wants to see a performance evaluation on the $300,000 the county contributed as part of a joint effort among local governments, spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-17 Ohio, to provide initial funding for the port authority’s economic development initiative He also wants to see a business plan for how any bed-tax increase would be spent.
“Most importantly, I want to see what we got for our $300,000 for the past three years,” Traficanti said. “We have to be accountable to our constituents and to our hotel owners, so I would like to see the evaluation of the port authority director.” Such an evaluation was promised when the coalition to provide the economic development funding was formed, he said. “We want to make sure that the money that we have given is actually going for bringing business here as opposed to just paying salaries and we’re not seeing any benefit,” he remarked.
Traficanti also expressed dissatisfaction over a request for DeLeon to find money for restoration of the Mahoning County Court House which he said “fell on deaf ears.”
Lown said the port authority did perform an evaluation of DeLeon last year, but she did not have details about the results.
Heltzel said he was told early on by officials with a neighboring port authority that it would take at least two years before anything came of the economic development initiatives. “It took them a long time to get situated, get the contracts in place and start benefiting,” he said.
Lown is working on a plan for proceeds of the proposed bed tax increase, and is trying to secure grant funds for the port authority, Rimedio-Righetti said. She continues to support a meeting of local economic development entities, and the two counties’ commissioners themselves are scheduled to meet again May 4 in Youngstown.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.