Port authority must conduct national search to fill top job

Just because Ron Klingle, chair- man of the publicly funded Western Reserve Port Authority, has known someone for two decades, it doesn’t mean that individual should be appointed to a high-ranking position without the close scrutiny that comes with a formal application process.

Klingle, a Trumbull County businessman, succeeded in persuading his colleagues on the port authority board to hire John Moliterno, a member of the Girard City Council, as interim executive director. Moliterno is being paid $88,000.

We had cautioned against such action, given the recent controversy on the board that resulted in the port authority being publicly criticized by local government officials. The dysfunction led to the resignation of three members and prompted the commissioners in Mahoning and Trumbull counties to look into the possibility of reorganizing the governing body of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.

In the end, however, they decided to keep the authority in place, but bolstered the board with three noteworthy appointments.

Trumbull commissioners tapped successful businessman Sam Covelli and reputable lawyer David Detec, while the commissioners in Mahoning County brought in well-known professional engineer David Mosure.

There will be open lines of communication between the authority and the two county governments, but the appointment of Moliterno as the interim executive director suggests that the lessons of the entity’s dysfunction haven’t been entirely learned.

“I’ve known John 20 years,” Klingle said when he first publicly proposed Moliterno, former member and chairman of the port authority board and many years ago president of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber. “He’s incredibly smart and a class act.”

Such a glowing recommendation is ill- advised given that port authority members are the bosses of the executive director and of the director of aviation, Dan Dickten.

A personal relationship between Klingle and Moliterno raises concerns about the employer-employee relationship.

ACCOUNTABILITY A MUST

There must be accountability, which is why we have long insisted on a national search not only for this position but for other high-ranking public posts.

We are confident that there are many qualified, experienced individuals around the country who would be ideally suited for the job.

Members of the port authority, the commissioners from Mahoning and Trumbull counties and the taxpayers should have no doubt that the best and the brightest candidate has been hired.

A national search also will give the region a chance to compare Moliterno’s credentials with those of the other applicants.

The port authority has first-hand experience with casting a wide net to fill the job of executive director. That process resulted in Rose DeLeon being hired.

DeLeon came from the Cuyahoga County Port Authority with a deep understanding of the job and the statutory powers that make the Western Reserve Port Authority a major player in the region’s development.

Had she not been derailed by illness, we believe she would have compiled an impressive economic development (read that job-creation) record.

There’s nothing to lose and everything to gain by searching far and wide for a successor to DeLeon.