43
Mosure fills final vacancy on port authority board
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning County commissioners appointed David J. Mosure, a civil engineer, to the Western Reserve Port Authority board.
Thursday’s appointment of Mosure, vice president of MS Consultants Inc., engineers, architects and planners, of Youngstown fills the last vacancy on the eight-member board.
Mosure will fill the unexpired term of Richard Schiraldi, who resigned from the board in April and whose term ends Dec. 31, 2016.
Last week, the Trumbull County commissioners appointed to the WRPA board Sam Covelli, the Warren-based Panera Bread executive, and Atty. David Detec of Youngstown’s Manchester, Newman & Bennett law firm.
Shortly after appointing Mosure, the Mahoning commissioners went into executive session for 90 minutes on personnel matters with the port authority board and Trumbull commissioners.
Six of the eight port-authority board members; the three Mahoning commissioners; Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains; Linette Stratford, chief of Gains’ civil division; Sarah Lown, the authority’s senior economic-development manager; Dan Dickten, director of aviation at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport; John Moliterno, a candidate for authority economic-development director; and two of the authority’s strategic planning consultants from Columbus attended the executive session.
Trumbull Commissioners Frank Fuda and Mauro Cantalamessa participated in the closed-door meeting by telephone.
Absent were authority board members Don Hanni and Scott Lewis.
After the executive session, Ron Klingle, authority board president, said only, “The meetings just keep getting better and better, and, as the weeks go on, I think the community can expect to see some very positive things coming from this.”
In an earlier meeting, Michael V. Sciortino, Mahoning County auditor, told the commissioners the county has retained last year’s A+ credit rating and stable outlook from Standard & Poors.
“If the [0.75 percent] sales tax fails in November, they will change our rating” for the worse, warned Carol McFall, chief deputy county auditor. “I can pretty much guarantee it.”
“If we’re unsuccessful in November, we’re not only in trouble from a financial standpoint, but we’re in trouble from our ability to borrow money and to move forward as a county in the future,” said David Ditzler, chairman of the county commissioners.
The county’s outstanding general-obligation debt has fallen from $52.5 million in 2011 to $49.5 million in 2012 to $49.3 million in 2013, according to figures the county gave S&P.
Sales-tax collections have risen an average of 3 percent annually over the past three years, with sales tax accounting for 54 percent of 2013’s $55.5 million in general-fund revenue. The general fund is the county’s main operating fund.
Sciortino added the county also is benefiting from new economic development related to the oil and gas industry, additive manufacturing and the Austintown racino.