toledoblade.com --

A former state legislator who had led the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority's "brownfields" reclamation effort since 2001 quietly resigned in mid-January with a letter that offered no explanation for his departure, then received a $40,000 golden handshake from port President James Hartung.

Mr. Hartung said he awarded James P. Mettler the severance because he was "a very talented, capable young man who contributed to the port authority," including serving as the agency's point man for the Marina District redevelopment project and as the architect for its pending acquisition of the former Gulf Oil refinery property on Front Street.

"I'm a great admirer of Jim Mettler," Mr. Hartung said. "It was a decision that I made" to pay the $40,000.

Mr. Hartung said there was no contractual obligation to pay the severance.

But while Mr. Hartung said he was aware ahead of time that Mr. Mettler was planning to leave his agency, he said he received no indication as to why his vice president of new project development was leaving, or any sense of what his plans might be.

While two other top port authority executives who left the agency recently - Jerry Arkebauer, the vice president of finance and strategic planning who retired at the end of 2006, and John Loftus, the seaport director who resigned in early 2002 to become a top aide to Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner - were compensated for unused sick days or vacation time, neither received "terminal compensation" like that Mr. Hartung granted to Mr. Mettler.

Mr. Hartung said severance payments were not warranted in those cases because their departures were because of retirement or finding another job.

According to a separation agreement that Mr. Mettler signed in early February - at which time he also submitted a back-dated resignation letter retroactive to Jan. 18 - the former state representative is to be paid the $40,000 in six monthly installments of $6,666 each, with the payments to stop once he secures other employment.

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Mr. Mettler received continuing insurance coverage for that period, also expiring if he secures other work, plus $4,843.75 for unused vacation days. The agreement was entered into port authority records on Feb. 6.

Mr. Mettler, a Republican who was appointed to Toledo's 52nd House District seat in October, 1999, only to lose his first election campaign 13 months later, was hired on Feb. 15, 2001, by the port authority as its director of brownfield programming, a new post within the agency's new project development office that paid a $60,000 salary.

He received annual "merit" salary increases and on April 1, 2005, was promoted to vice president of new project development, which boosted his pay from $77,970 to $90,000. Subsequent Jan. 1 raises in 2006 and 2007 brought Mr. Mettler's salary to $95,400 and then $100,750, his salary at the time of his resignation.

William Carroll, chairman of the port authority's board of directors, said Mr. Mettler's resignation "was his choice," but was "something that was best for both of us" - though he did not explain why.

"Jim wanted to resign, and he did," Mr. Carroll said. The $40,000 severance, he said, "was the right thing to do and allow him to find another job."

Opie Rollison, the port board's vice chairman, said he had not been consulted about the severance but did not believe that was necessary.

"Mr. Mettler reports to Jim [Hartung], and if Jim decides to make provision for one of his people, that's his purview," Mr. Rollison said.

Before his appointment to the state legislature, Mr. Mettler worked for then-Ohio Auditor Jim Petro and Maggie Thurber, who was then Toledo Municipal Court clerk, following a 17-year career as a package handler and truck driver for United Parcel Service in Maumee.

Attempts to reach Mr. Mettler were not successful.

For now, he is not being replaced, Mr. Hartung said, because the port authority's new project-development operation is "somewhat in limbo" until the Lucas County Improvement Corporation's status is settled.

Matt Sapara, the port authority's development director, is also serving as interim executive director of LCIC, the county-funded economic improvement agency whose financial future was cast into doubt when Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner declared that the city would not contribute to its budget this year. The city decision could cost LCIC as much as $125,000 out of a $680,000 budget.

Robert Reinbolt, Mayor Finkbeiner's chief of staff, said he was unaware of the severance pay for Mr. Mettler. "I was not aware of it nor do I think we were aware of it here," Mr. Reinbolt said. "We have large severance packages sometimes when they have accumulated sick time or vacation time. If this wasn't associated with that, we'd have to know what the thought process on it was." Mr. Reinbolt said he did not know the circumstances of Mr. Mettler's resignation.

The port authority directors are appointed by Toledo's mayor with the consent of City Council and by the Lucas County commissioners.

Commissioner Ben Konop also said he was unaware of the severance and declined to comment. Commissioners Pete Gerken and Tina Skeldon Wozniak could not be reached for comment last night.

Contact David Patch at: dpatch@theblade.com or 419-724-6094.

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