Strong team in place to assist in the development of the area

The Western Reserve Port Au- thority has done well in filling two key positions, and now it’s up to Executive Director Rose Ann DeLeon and Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport Director Daniel Dickten to prove their worth.

DeLeon has been on the job since Dec. 10, coming here from Cleveland, where she worked for the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority since 1993. She was instrumental in arranging the financing for Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Dickten, formerly the properties manager at Louisville Regional Airport Authority in Kentucky for two years, began his new assignment April 21. He was on active duty with the Army for seven years and spent 13 years in the Army National Guard. He is being paid $72,500 and receives benefits.

The port authority is the governing body for the airport, and it also has an economic development arm that is designed to work with businesses in Mahoning and Trumbull counties and to help individual communities create and retain jobs with financing, foreign trade zones and other tools available to port authorities in Ohio.

Strong advocate

The executive director position was strongly advocated by Congressman Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, who persuaded city councils in Youngstown, Warren and Niles, commissioners in Mahoning and Trumbull counties and the Western Reserve Building Trades Council to pledge about $1.3 million over three years to get the economic-development office started.

DeLeon’s hiring has been hailed by local officials because of her background and experience. Now, she must show she’s worth the compensation package of $155,000 plus benefits. Under her contract, she can earn a bonus of up to $31,000 for meeting benchmarks for creating or retaining jobs here.

Given that she’s only been on the job for four months, it is unreasonable to expect her to have already finalized major deals — especially in the midst of an economic recession. However, initial reports indicate that the foundation is being laid for job creation when the economy begins to recover.

At the airport, Dickten has said his priorities are to attract freight haulers and an airline that will enable travelers to get to airports such as Washington and Detroit.

“I think some niche market can be created here,” he said recently. “I’m looking forward to getting the facility to the next level.”

So are we.