Panel to pick company for director search

STAFF REPORT

HOWLAND — A subcommittee of the Western Reserve Port Authority met to discuss hiring a search company to identify candidates to fill the position of economic development director for the port authority.

The subcommittee, at a meeting Friday in the Howland Township Administration Building, set a deadline of mid-March to recommend a company to the full committee of the port authority, said Paul Heltzel, a Trumbull County commissioner.

When a search company has been hired, that company will help the full committee formulate a job description and begin the search, Heltzel said.

The full committee consists of the partners from Mahoning and Trumbull counties who will be paying the costs connected with the new development office.

Those partners are collectively contributing $375,000 per year for three years to get the office started.

They include Mahoning and Trumbull county commissioners, Youngstown, Warren, Niles and Howland, and the Western Reserve Building Trades Council.

The Regional Chamber and the office of U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, who launched a campaign last year to establish the office, are also part of the committee.

Backers of the plan say the office will make use of the port authority’s ability to make loans through bond financing in hopes of attracting jobs to the Mahoning Valley.

Among the authority’s other responsibilities is overseeing operations at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna.