WRPA bylaws to be reviewed

A Trumbull County commissioner raised questions about conflict of interest at the airport in 2006.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

VIENNA — The Western Reserve Port Authority’s lawyer will be asking the Ohio Ethics Commission to examine proposed revisions to the authority’s bylaws regarding potential conflicts of interest involving board members.

Atty. Dan Keating said the port authority adopted a “Statement of Ethical Conduct” about five years ago that said a port authority member should not use his position on the board to benefit himself or others, or put himself in a position where his objectivity might be impaired.

The policy says port authority members are required to disclose any possible conflicts of interest before accepting an appointment to the board, and decline to participate in discussions or vote on issues that could be in conflict with his private affairs.

The bylaws being submitted to the ethics commission would reiterate most of the same ideas contained in the previously adopted statement, Keating said.

It’s not clear, however, whether such a policy goes far enough, Keating said.

For example, the policy of the Columbiana County Port Authority says a port authority member “will not be interested directly or indirectly in any contract let by the Port Authority for Columbiana County, Ohio.”

Such a policy would not only prevent a port authority member from voting on potential conflicts of interest but also prevent such a person from becoming a member of the board with such a conflict, Keating said.

There have not been any recent incidents prompting the policy to be inserted into the bylaws, Keating said, but he thinks the policy would protect the board from any future ethical challenges.

Port authority members are expected to vote on the new bylaws at their July meeting.

The question of conflict of interest by port authority members was raised in March 2006 by then-Trumbull County Commissioner James Tsagaris, who said he thought port authority members Joe Maxin Jr. and Mike Harshman, both attorneys, had a conflict of interest.

A short time later, Maxin and Harshman announced that they had divested themselves of two flight schools operating at the airport. Neither man is a port authority member now.

Maxin said at the time he divested himself of the flight schools that he felt Tsagaris was retaliating against the port authority for taking legal action against a fuel-handling company that was operating at the airport at the time but not paying its rent — ReadyAir.

Maxin said he believed Tsagaris was trying to support Bob Moosally, owner of ReadyAir, because the two are friends. Tsagaris said he was friends with Moosally — but that he is friends with many people.

Moosally had questioned Maxin’s and Harshman’s involvement with the flight schools in an interview with The Vindicator at about the same time.

“They shouldn’t even be on the board,” Moosally said.

Moosally later defaulted on a $200,000 loan from the Trumbull County commissioners, and ReadyAir went bankrupt. The bankruptcy case is still not complete.

Tsagaris recently pleaded guilty to honest-services mail fraud in federal court in Akron for failing to report a $36,000 loan from a local businessman in either 2004 or 2005. He awaits sentencing in August.

The federal prosecutor handling Tsagaris’ case and the FBI have refused to identify the businessman.

runyan@vindy.com