Columbiana Port Authority Renews Contract with Traina

EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio — The Columbiana County Port Authority renewed the employment contract of its CEO, Penny Traina, for another year Monday night.

The contract provides an annual salary of $95,000 plus an additional five days of vacation, taking her vacation time to four weeks a year.

“I am very happy with Penny’s efforts in her first year. She has got a lot of things cleaned up, specifically property renewed leases,” said board member Brian Kennedy.

The port authority has renewed 19 leases in 2016 and over the next several months will review all the contracts the port authority has and renew those as well, Traina said.

The board updated its lease with MSE LLC, which is condensing its office space from two offices to one, Traina said. The business in the port authority building at 1250 St. George St. is downsizing to 324 square-feet at the monthly rent of $131.

In the port authority’s partnership with the Ohio Department of Transportation to promote business along the Ohio River, it is proposing to form a Mid-Ohio River Valley Port District, to have on hand the cargo activity recorded by the Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Navigation and Civil Works Decision Support Center.

“The waterfront is under-utilized and I think we can do a better job at marketing the Ohio River,” Traina said.

She hopes that by having the statistics of the cargo loads readily available, the port authority can provide that data and market it to businesses interested in a setting up along the Ohio River.

The board also had some “house keeping” to do, Traina said, which consisted of clarifying the final payout to former CEO Tracy Drake Sept. 30, 2015, of $42,562. The payment for his 80 unused sick days he accumulated over his 23 years with the port authority.

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