Date: Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 1:32pm EDT
Staff Writer – Tampa Bay Business Journal
The Tampa Port Authority Tampa Port Authority Latest from The Business Journals CSX, Kinder Morgan team up for ethanol hub at Port of TampaCSX, Kinder Morgan team up for ethanol hub at Port of TampaTampa Port Authority to discuss director’s contract Follow this company board has extended the tenure of port director Richard Wainio until March 2014, despite criticism from some port tenants and concerns the agency lacks an adequate executive evaluation process.
Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman and new board member Patrick H. Allman, general manager of Odyssey Manufacturing Co., voted against the extension. They favored a one-year deal.
Wainio was hired in 2005 and is paid $251,000 annually. Compensation for the extension remains to be negotiated.
Allman pointed to the change of leadership at Tampa International Airport Tampa International Airport Latest from The Business Journals VSPC begins ‘Dolphin Tale’ marketing blitzZink to head communications at Tampa International AirportAirfares slated to rise this fall Follow this company as an example of what he would like to see at the port. He called Wainio “an able leader and a good steward” of the port, but said there should more vision and better communication with port tenants.
Murman called for a more detailed and substantial evaluation form to measure the director’s performance, which the board agreed it would update by the end of the year.
Still unclear is whether the board will hire an outside firm to create the new form, or use human resource officials at the county and city of Tampa to do the work at no expense to the port.
Wainio’s contract was set to expire in March and would have renewed automatically for one year without board action.
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and commissioners Lawrence Shipp, Stephen W. Swindal and William A. Brown supported the two-year extension. Commissioner Carl Lindell, who gave Wainio a strong written evaluation, was absent from the meeting.
Port director gets two-year extension
By Steve Huettel, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Sep 20, 2011 11:48 AM
TAMPA – Disappointing his critics, the Port Authority board voted today to extend the contract of director Richard Wainio by two years.
Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman first proposed a one-year extension. After her motion was rejected, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn proposed the two year extension, and it passed on a 4-2 vote.
Questions over Wainio’s future rose in July, when the Port of Tampa Maritime Industries Association called for the board to let Wainio go when his contract expires next March.
The group, which represents 47 companies doing business at the port, cited significant declines in cargo tonnage at the port since Wainio took over in 2006.
Operating income at the Tampa Port Authority was nearly $5 million in the black at the beginning of his tenure and was $1.1 million in the red last year, the group said. The number is misleading, port staffers insist, because it includes millions in depreciation from new construction. The authority isn’t actually losing money.
Much of the conflict is over personality.
Critics say Wainio doesn’t listen to their suggestions on port business strategy, has been disrespectful toward business leaders and creates a ”chilling effect” on public comment at board meetings.
Wainio says his critics don’t represent the views of the larger port community. In a recent e-mail, he wrote commissioners that morale at the agency is suffering from the attacks.
“My staff and I are irritated by the generally baseless, erroneous and repetitive accusations from several people who quite frankly have no particular knowledge or expertise regarding the issues,” he wrote ”
Wainio, 61, has served as the Port Authority’s chief executive since 2005. He earns $251,118 a year.