Trending
TRIADELPHIA -- The Ohio County Development Authority members say Greg Stewart is doing a good job managing The Highlands property, and they want him to continue in that role even as they continue to negotiate his contract.
Stewart has served as manager at The Highlands since leaving his job as county administrator at the start of 2021. The OCDA, though, thus far has failed to approve a contract with Stewart despite multiple agreements coming before the board.
At issue is whether he should be hired as a county employee, or as a private contractor.
Following an executive session that lasted more than one hour and 45 minutes, OCDA members passed a motion authorizing six of its members to work out terms with Stewart.
Appointed to the negotiating team were county commissioners Randy Wharton, Don Nickerson and Zach Abraham, as well as Oglebay Foundation President and CEO Eriks Janelsins, John Olejasz and John McCullough.
Wharton, who serves as OCDA president, said the team has a goal of working out an agreement in the next 10 days.
"He may come on board as a county employee, or he may come on as an independent contractor. That's what we will have to decide," Wharton said after Monday night's meeting. "I put a limit on that. We're going to get some kind of agreement back to the board in the next 10 days.
"There are some aspects of his employment that make it advantageous to him to be an independent contractor, and there are also aspects that make it better to do it the other way, too."
The board has questions, and members believed they should give Stewart the opportunity to work out what is best for him, Wharton said.
Stewart is presently being paid the salary he earned as county administrator, which was $205,000 annually.
The meeting of the OCDA on Monday took place not in the county commission chambers at the City-County Building in Wheeling, but at The Highlands Event Center within The Highlands development in Triadelphia.
Members passed a motion to reduce the amount of rent being paid by the financially strapped J.C. Penney store. Under the new lease agreement, they will pay a percentage based on sales, according to Wharton.
The rent paid by the Marquee Cinemas, meanwhile, will be deferred — perhaps through the end of the year — as the theatres remain mostly closed and there is little revenue.
Members also re-appointed Wharton as OCDA president; Nancy Weeks as vice president; and tapped new members Mary Pockl to be secretary and Olejasz to serve as treasurer.