Trumbull commissioners to vote on appointment of Vienna man to Western Reserve Port Authority

Staff report

WARREN

The Trumbull County commissioners will vote today on whether to appoint Michael F. Welsh of Vienna to replace Atty. David Detec to a four-year term on the Western Reserve Port Authority.

Detec’s term expired at the end of last year.

Welsh, of Smith Stewart Road, has owned Michael’s Landscaping of Hubbard for the past 30 years, according to his resume.

A 1972 graduate of Youngstown Ursuline High School, he attended Youngstown State University and served four years in the Navy.

When Commissioner Frank Fuda was asked Tuesday about Welsh’s qualifications, Fuda mentioned the request Vienna Township Trustees Phil Pegg and Heidi Brown made in mid-December that an additional seat be created on the port authority for a Vienna Township representative.

Pegg and Brown said Vienna Township deserves to have a representative on the board because the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, which the port authority runs, takes up one-sixth of the township’s land.

Fuda said it was not possible to create an additional seat. The eight-member port authority board of trustees consists of four appointees by the Trumbull commissioners and four by the Mahoning commissioners.

Detec wanted to be reappointed and “did a good job,” Fuda noted.

Fuda said the Vienna trustees recommended Welsh, and the commissioners thought appointing him would provide the input the Vienna trustees desired.

Pegg said he has known Welsh “for quite some time,” and Welsh has “outstanding character” and a business background through his landscaping business.

“He’s an oustanding person,” Pegg said. “We believe he will really bring what we’re looking for to the board.”

Pegg said Welsh will “represent us in there. If something is going to happen at the airport, we’ll be informed, In the past, that has not happened. We had to read it in the newspapers.”