Commissioners Remove Horton From Port Authority Board, Answer More Questions

The commissioners fielded more questions about SOPA and the county's economic development office.

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Portsmouth-

At a public hearing this past Thursday (2/27/2025) Scioto County economic chief Robert P. Horton was removed by the Scioto County Commission from the Southern Ohio Port Authority’s (SOPA) board. With his removal, Horton is now completely detached from the county’s main economic development offices.

The hearing came roughly two weeks after an indictment was filed in the Scioto County Court of Common Pleas following an investigation by the Auditor of State’s Special Investigative Unit (SIU). The investigation implicated Horton and his wife in a criminal scheme that involved bribes funneled through shell corporations disguised as sales commissions. Horton allegedly used his position as president and director of SOPA, a public economic development agency, to steer contracts for bribers.

Following his removal, the commission fielded questions about SOPA and the county’s economic development office, specifically why Horton was restored to full-duty from the administrative leave Commissioners Coleman and Powell had placed him on. When asked if regional economic development organizations could have helped SOPA during this time the commissioners said no arrangements or agreements existed.

“We don’t have any standing agreements with really any of the surrounding counties,” said Powell, reiterating he felt the SOPA board had members that could have stepped in. “Once again, they did have board members that could have stepped in, from my perspective, but in terms of a mutual aid agreement nothing like that exists.”

Coleman disagreed with Powell.

“At the time there were only three board members. That was Mr. Horton, Mr. Souders who was the secretary treasurer, and then Mike Payton. We had just appointed two to make our total five again but SOPA had never had a meeting to run that through,” Coleman said, explaining the two new appointees lacked experience. “They had never attended a meeting or even been through the process of becoming a board member at the time.”

Coleman also explained SOPA had not yet held a board meeting to confirm the appointments.

“So, we have two people that will hopefully be on the SOPA board once it’s run through the meeting,” said Coleman.

Commissioner Davis also disagreed with Powell.

“I don’t agree with the assertion there were other people on the board that could step up and do those,” Davis said, referring to Horton’s financial responsibilities with the county and specifically SOPA. “In fact there were statements from a couple that said they didn’t want to do it.”

Davis listed key responsibilities, including managing bonds for major projects like PureCycle and Benestar, which he argued would have overwhelmed SOPA’s volunteer board. He emphasized that Horton’s role as director was a full-time job and that most board members had their own professional commitments.

“Those individuals did not want to do that,” Davis said. “We had a treasurer that was just starting to learn some of [the] fiduciary stuff, but at the same time you have to have two signatures on every check and one of those was [Horton’s].”

The Ohio Auditor’s office recommends dual controls for the disbursement of funds, but it is not legally required. However, port authorities must adhere to their established bylaws. SOPA has faced scrutiny in the past, and in 2013 then Auditor of State Dave Yost issued a slew of non-compliance findings and recommendations to SOPA, including encouraging the board to adopt a conflict of interest policy.

Davis expressed concerns over who would fill the director’s role.

“The director’s job is a full time job and actually that’s one of the concerns I have is who is going to step up and do that full time job.”

“We clearly all have a different opinion of how this went,” answered Powell. “To be clear, the bond issue was taken care of prior to Mr. Horton coming back to full duty. That actually took place while he had guardrails in place. So that vote happened and that action was taken prior to [Horton] coming back.”

Powell closed the discussion by saying “there were resignations that came after the bond issue was taken care of so I still believe we had, at least on paper, board members that could have handled the situation.”

When asked why Dustin Souders, who is SOPA’s treasurer and former full-time project manager for the County’s economic development office, was not able to fill those roles Davis and Coleman said he did not gain the experience required. Davis added Souders worked at the SOAR business park, primarily as a project manager for the Minford Emergency Ambulance Service (MEAS) project. MEAS is a nonprofit ambulance service that Horton allegedly defrauded, according to the SIU investigation.

“MEAS was pretty much his throughout,” Davis said. “He did a good job on that.”

When pressed if there was a potential conflict of interest with Souders working on the project, the commissioners said they were not aware of any.

UPDATE 3/3/2025

The Scioto County Democratic Party released a statement calling for the resignation of Commissioners Cathy Coleman and Bryan Davis, citing their role in hiring Robert Horton and later reinstating him from administrative leave while the SIU’s criminal investigation was ongoing.

“We call for the immediate resignation of both commissioners. Their actions demonstrate a lack of judgment and due diligence, betraying the trust of Scioto County taxpayers. They have broken our trust and should not continue in their position,” the statement read. “We call for a thorough and transparent investigation to ensure justice is served and trust is restored. The Scioto County Democratic Party remains committed to advocating for integrity, accountability, and transparency at all levels of government. Together, we must restore integrity and accountability to local government and build a better future for Scioto County.”

Meanwhile, Portsmouth City Councilman Sean Dunne had previously called for Commissioner Davis to resign, issuing a statement via Facebook. However, the City of Portsmouth’s official Facebook account later posted that Dunne’s views did not represent the city government. The post drew criticism from Dunne, who accused Council Mayor Charlotte Gordon of directing city staff to publish the statement as part of their long-running political feud.

3/4/2025

A pretrial hearing for the Hortons has been set for March 11 at 9:30 a.m. in the second-floor courtroom of the Scioto County Court of Common Pleas.