Thursday, October 27, 2005
The chamber and a commissioner said this could be needless duplication.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Some officials wonder if Trumbull County can form an economic development organization that could deliver a project along the lines of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.
County commissioners agreed to form an exploratory committee to determine whether Trumbull should begin to approach economic development in a way similar to the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority.
The driving force behind the idea is Warren Councilman Robert Dean, D-at large, diversity manager for the Cleveland-Cuyahoga authority. "I think we can build the same kinds of opportunities that result in jobs that other communities have had success in doing," he said.
But Reid Dulberger, Regional Chamber executive vice president, said a bond fund -- the tool that could produce this result -- is already in use here.
Port authorities collaborate
The Western Reserve Port Authority, which runs the airport, signed an agreement last summer with Summit County Port Authority to partner for bond funding. Dulberger said he and a Summit authority official met just this week with a company that might use the tool for a project.
Dulberger said that it could be a nice asset if commissioners set aside several million dollars to provide the type of funding mechanism the Summit port authority already has -- but that it could also be needless duplication.
Commissioner Paul Heltzel said he was unaware the item would be on the agenda this week and wasn't sure what it was about. He said that he voted for it because he didn't think forming the committee would do any harm, but that he also wonders if it wouldn't be a duplicative effort.
Dean said the Cleveland authority has helped create nearly a billion dollars' worth of construction in Cuyahoga County in the last eight years. One of its primary roles is to arrange for financing, he said.
The first of about 30 projects it worked on was the $94 million Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. The port authority was responsible for financing for about $40 million, he said. Later projects included financing for Applied Technology Co., an $18.8 million project; and Parma Community General Hospital, $23 million.
Not recent idea
Dean said he started working for the Cleveland authority 13 years ago when it began working on the rock hall. He began talking with the three county commissioners recently to see if Trumbull County can use similar ideas here. He said the idea predated news about Delphi Corp.'s seeking bankruptcy protection.
"It wasn't that we were looking at this as an emergency measure," Dean said.
He told the commissioners they should take the lead by forming the exploratory committee.
Dean said a partner in this venture would be Robert W. Baird and Co. Inc., a Milwaukee-based investment banking firm. Tim Long, of Baird's Columbus office, said the company has worked with port authorities in the Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo, Cincinnati and Akron areas for several years.
But Long also said he assumes the Western Reserve Port Authority would be the vehicle for such a new economic development effort.
Commissioner James Tsagaris also said this is likely.
Possible projects
The three commissioners, meanwhile, say they don't have concrete economic development plans yet, despite the decision to form the exploratory committee.
Commissioner Daniel Polivka said one idea might be to use such financing to build the proposed Brant Motorsports indoor speedway near the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport. Another possibility might be financing renovations to the county's maintenance garage, dog kennel and board of elections building.
runyan@vindy.com