Port Authority Sees More Customers at New HQ

LEETONIA, Ohio — Since the Columbiana County Port Authority moved its headquarters over a month ago, Penny Traina has had more economic development-related customers stop into her new office than she had in the two years when her office was at 1250 St. George St. in East Liverpool.

“The combination of the [Columbiana County] Economic Development Department and the Port Authority moving here together has certainly increased the traffic we have seen,” said Traina, executive director of the Port Authority, which held its first monthly meeting at its new office Monday.

The office is in the World Trade Park the Port Authority operates in Leetonia at 120 Industry St. More traffic coming to the office means that the land in the trade park is being seen by more potential businesses looking to move in.

“We’re able to market what we have here because we are here,” Traina said. “There are 80-acres of shovel-ready land in the park.”

At the meeting, the board approved a contract with Eichler Construction of Salem for emergency roof repairs at the Port Authority’s 110,000-square-foot Leetonia Industrial Building, 600 Cherry Fork Ave. Repairs are needed because of heavy water leakage near the electrical boxes in the building.

“Over the last couple years we’ve been doing sections of roofs throughout the Port Authority property and we just had to move this up on our schedule due to heavy rains and the issues related to the roof,” Traina said.

Eichler Construction will complete the repairs in four sections of the roof starting immediately with a total quote of $288,740.

In the same building, the Port Authority approved a lease agreement renewal with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America effective July 1. Mitsubishi leases 62,520 square feet of warehouse space for $14,605.17 per month.

In other matters, the Port Authority board authorized to enter into a joint-easement with the village of Wellsville for Buckeye Water District to construct an industrial wastewater discharge line that will start at the new South Field Energy power plant that is being built and run to the Ohio River.

The property is titled in the name of the village of Wellsville, but the Port Authority has a 99-year lease of the land, which it entered on May 16, 2005. “So both of us had to sign,” Traina said.

The board also approved the Port Authority to act as administrator for the 2018 Community Development Block Grant Program. The Columbiana County Commissioners “will still be in control of the program however the Port Authority will now administer these grants,” Traina said.

The programs provide a flexible housing and community development resource to eliminate blight. These programs include the Allocation Program, competitive set-aside Neighborhood Revitalization and Downtown Revitalization Programs and the open-cycle Critical Infrastructure Program.

The board lastly acknowledged John Davis Jr.’s notice to retire from the Columbiana County Port Authority, where he worked as a maintenance man at its Cherry Fork building for 21 years.

Davis’s retirement payout from the Port Authority is a total of $10,132.80.

“We appreciate John being a part of our family and we definitely wish him the best in his retirement,” Traina said.

Pictured above: An overhead view of the Columbiana County Port Authority’s new headquarters at the World Trade Park in Leetonia.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.