WR Port authority chief DeLeon accepts 6-month contract

Staff report

WARREN

RoseAnn DeLeon, executive director of the Western Reserve Port Authority, has accepted the terms of a six-month contract she was offered early this month.

DeLeon, whose three-year contract expires Dec. 7, signed a six-month contract with a base pay of $47,500 at a port authority meeting last week.

The Vindicator did not report on the agreement earlier because the port authority failed to notify the news media of its Nov. 21 meeting, and no news media attended.

Scott Lynn, chairman of the port authority, confirmed Wednesday that the meeting took place and that DeLeon signed the new contract at the meeting.

Lynn answered questions about the contract after attending the Trumbull County commissioners meeting Wednesday.

DeLeon’s previous contract paid her $155,000 annually, ranking her among the highest-paid government officials in the Mahoning Valley.

Her job duties relate to assisting companies with bond financing and other incentives to encourage them to locate in — or expand their business in — Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

Lynn said he is glad DeLeon accepted the six-month contract, adding, “I want to see something happen. We need to have some progress, in economic-development especially. We’re not happy to just tread water.”

The port authority will have to vote affirmatively in May — by a majority vote of the eight members of the port — to offer DeLeon a new contract, or else she will not be back, Lynn said.