Warren considers helping WRPA

By Ed Runyan

Councilman Andy Barkley said the idea embraces regionalization and economic development.

WARREN — City council members found very little not to like about a proposal from U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan for Warren to help pay for an economic development office within the Western Reserve Port Authority.

At a committee meeting Friday afternoon, council members heard presentations from Trumbull County Commissioner Paul Heltzel; Ryan, D-17th, of Niles; and others on why Warren should contribute $50,000 per year for three years to the effort.

Heltzel said having an economic development office within the port authority could allow a company to secure the capital to start up or expand a business at an interest rate more than 4 percentage points below what it could get elsewhere.

“For a big company needing capital, that’s a tremendous advantage,” Heltzel said. “These are the things that attract big companies.”

Trumbull commissioners have pledged to contribute $100,000 per year to the project.

Councilman Bob Dean said he expects the legislation approving Warren’s contribution to be passed at the Sept. 24 meeting.

Youngstown, Mahoning County and Niles are also being asked to contribute.

Heltzel pointed to the success of the Summit County Port Authority as an example of why Trumbull and Mahoning counties should hire a full-time economic development official and staff to help companies bring jobs to the area. The Summit County authority has brokered about 40 business deals, Heltzel said.

In fact, Summit County’s port authority came to Mahoning County to assist the Western Reserve Port Authority in securing bond financing for the Exal Corporation of Youngstown, Heltzel noted. Officials have said Exal received $10 million in loans to finance a 170,000-square-foot expansion.

Heltzel said Ryan and other proponents are adamant the person hired for the job must come from a nationwide search that finds someone with a proven track record.

“This is not going to be someone whose name you know, a political appointment,” Heltzel said, saying the person for the job will have to be blind to county lines.

“In four to five years, this is going to be an economic engine,” Heltzel said.

Councilman Andy Barkley said the idea brings together two concepts discussed continually in the Mahoning Valley but rarely done effectively: economic development and regionalization.

David A. Rogers of the Columbus law firm Bricker & Eckler, who works with port authorities across the state, said port authorities have powers written into state law with regard to helping private industry expand that government bodies do not.

runyan@vindy.com