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Reardon quits his state job
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
Former Mahoning County Treasurer John Reardon, one of the main figures in the Oakhill Renaissance Place purchase investigation, has resigned from his $100,984-a-year job in the administration of Gov. Ted Strickland.
Reardon’s resignation as superintendent of financial institutions at the Ohio Department of Commerce is effective next Friday, said Cara Keithley, the department’s chief of communications.
Reardon was splitting time between Columbus and his home in Boardman.
“He wants to be closer to Youngstown and his family,” Keithley said about Reardon’s reason for resigning.
Reardon couldn’t be reached Friday to comment.
Reardon resigned as county treasurer for the state job in February 2007. He served as county treasurer for nine years.
Reardon’s responsibilities as superintendent of financial institutions included upholding regulatory standards for 350 financial institutions including state-chartered banks, credit unions and savings and loans.
He also oversaw retail licensing of financial- service providers, including consumer-finance companies and mortgage brokers.
Special prosecutors are investigating potential conflicts of interest concerning the county’s purchase of Oakhill Renaissance Place in 2006 and the opposition it received from certain county officials.
Reardon opposed the purchase, as did county Commissioner John A. McNally IV and county Auditor Michael V. Sciortino.
Reardon testified in a 2007 court proceeding that he was deeply concerned about the costs of buying, operating and maintaining the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center.
The county moved its Department of Job and Family Services there in 2007 from Garland Plaza, owned by a Cafaro Co. subsidiary.
Reardon testified in 2007 that he, McNally and Sciortino met with Anthony M. Cafaro Sr., then president of the Cafaro Co., in the latter’s office the day the county purchased Oakhill.
Paul M. Nick, the Ohio Ethics Commission’s chief investigative attorney and a special prosecutor in the Oakhill probe, declined to comment Friday on Reardon’s resignation and whether it’s connected to the investigation.