Trumbull commissioners post openings for port authority, other boards

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

The Trumbull County commissioners say “full transparency” is the motivation behind announcing that they have openings on several volunteer boards, including a seat on the Western Reserve Port Authority held by a real-estate executive they once tried to expel.

The commissioners will accept letters of interest for the port authority position and also for spots on the Trumbull County Children Services Board and Senior Services Advisory Council.

Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa said people frequently ask the commissioners when positions on various volunteer boards will come open.

In the case of the three boards mentioned, the positions are sought after, he said. In the past, such positions were filled by the commissioners without much input.

“I thought it might be a good idea to post these,” Cantalamessa said. “It gives you a larger pool of candidates, and that’s a good thing,” he said.

Anyone wishing to be considered for a board position should submit a letter of interest along with a current resume to the Board of Trumbull County Commissioners, 160 High Street NW, Warren, OH 44481, by Monday.

In the case of the port authority, the position now held by real-estate executive Scott Lewis is open. Lewis has written a letter asking to be reappointed, Cantalamessa said. Lewis has served on the board eight years.

Lewis will remain in his position for now and may be reappointed, but others also will have a chance to express interest, Cantalamessa said.

The port authority runs Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport and encourages economic-development through financing and tax-savings programs. Four port authority board members are appointed by the Trumbull commissioners, the other four by the Mahoning commissioners.

In July 2014, the county commissioners asked Lewis in a letter to resign. The letter was signed by Commissioners Frank Fuda and Dan Polivka. The third commissioner, Paul Heltzel, was in the hospital at the time and died soon afterward.

They asked Lewis to resign after the Ohio Ethics Commission issued Lewis a public reprimand in April 2014 for not abstaining from participation in port authority discussions involving a real-estate deal he brokered that earned his company $97,366.

The reprimand came five years after the conduct that got him into trouble.

The request for Lewis to resign came after the commissioners asked the county prosecutor’s office for an opinion as to whether they could remove Lewis from the board.

Fuda at the time declined to comment on the legal advice the commissioners received but said the commissioners may not have had enough of a legal basis to remove Lewis. Lewis did not resign.

The ethics commission issued Lewis a public reprimand for participating in board matters “directly related to a real-estate transaction” he brokered in early 2009 not long after he joined the board. The ethics commission issued Lewis a reprimand “in lieu of a referral of this matter to the local prosecuting attorney,” it said.

In April 2014, Heltzel said of Lewis’ misconduct: “All I can say is, there was a better course of conduct that could have been followed.” Lewis said he was following legal advice.

Lewis admitted in a settlement agreement with the ethics commission that he violated Ohio law regarding conflicts of interest.

Port authority member Don Hanni III told the ethics commission he was new to the board in 2009 and never was made aware that Lewis was the real-estate agent in the deal until after he had voted for the project. It was unclear whether three other members were aware that Lewis was the broker, and two others said they had been informed, the ethics commission said.

Lewis abstained from voting on the lease, and he was cooperative with the investigation, the ethics commission said.