Posted: 6:01 p.m. Monday, April 28, 2014

Some county officials say the Butler County Port Authority “blew up” more than a week ago, while others say deals will get done as the county decides what to do with the entity that assists developers with financing.

Executive Director Mike Campbell was placed on unpaid administrative leave while the port authority works on a separation agreement and the chairman of the board, Joe Magdich resigned, after the port again had to ask the county commissioners to bail them out financially.

Financial documents as of March 31 show the port would have been almost $30,000 in the red by the end of May, in past due and current expenses. Campbell’s $85,849 salary, $6,720 annual car and cell phone allowance and other expenses related to his employment make up the bulk of the bills. The commissioners approved another loan of up to $40,000 to keep the port afloat last week. A previous $15,000 loan was due in April but is unpaid at this point.

The commissioners said it was important to support the port, but change was needed.

“For whatever reason, the management has not worked as well as we feel it should,” Commissioner Don Dixon said. “So with these changes at the top, we’re going to step in and make it work.”

The port authority board is still in charge, but County Administrator Charlie Young said the county will be assisting with the day-to-day needs of the port. Economic Development Director David Fehr — who has temporarily taken over the helm of the port — can still work out deals with new developments and handle the impending multi-million dollar bond deal for the mega Liberty Center multi-use development by Steiner + Associates.

“The finances are so that they really don’t have funds in place to operate,” Young said. “But we are, through our development department, finance and IT, we’re going to provide the operational support that they need in the short term while we put together a longer term plan for the financial stability and health of the port authority.”

Another deal that has been in the works involves Middletown’s airport. Middletown city officials had been in contact with both Campbell and Warren County’s port authority Executive Director Martin Russell about the city’s need to add hangars at Hook Field to keep up with increasing demand.

Matt Eisenbraun, the city’s economic development program manager, said they have not counted out either port. Recently, Commissioner T.C. Rogers indicated the county would like to keep all deals “within the family,” but Eisenbraun said the city isn’t hemmed in by geography.

“I don’t think we’ve eliminated or included anybody,” Eisenbraun said. “I think our position really is to try and do the best thing for the airport and work with either or both ports, depending on what they have to offer. It really comes down to creating the best situation for the airport. It really comes down to what the Butler County port is willing to offer as far as programs.”

Eisenbraun said the city doesn’t have the cash to build hangars, hence the conversations with the two port authorities. However, the Ohio Department of Transportation has been studying whether the aviation systems in the state deserve more funding than what is already being appropriated. Eisenbraun said if the state loosens its pocketbook that could be a game changer on the city side, but private developers who want to build at the airport still could partner with the ports.

Russell has already talked to a private party at the airport about just such a deal. When the Journal-News talked to Campbell last August about offering similar deals, he didn’t sound enthused.

He said he could offer bonding assistance — port authorities generally get lower interest rates — or perhaps facilitate loans for smaller projects at the airport.

“We’re not thinking about anything on a grander scale,” he said. “Not at this point.”

Young said he doesn’t know if the port board is still thinking along those lines or not, but the way the port has operated in the past might not be how it operates in the future.

In Warren County, the port is an arm of the economic development department, so Russell’s salary isn’t entirely pulled from port proceeds like Campbell’s was. It also has a board that directs its director, and the port pays the county an annual fee for services. Young said they are looking at possibly switching to that kind of structure.

Butler County’s port took in $131,175 in fees, application fees and loan proceeds in 2013. It had an ending balance of $10,564. At the end of March this year, the Warren County port had a bank balance of $3.2 million and $1.1 million of that was unencumbered.

Russell said he is more than willing to help out in Butler County — like he has already in Preble County — in the interim and long term.

“The Warren County Port Authority stands ready to assist communities grow their business and employment base and would welcome the opportunity to see if we can provide immediate and long-term benefit,” Russell said.