LATEST ADDITIONS — Blake Carroll, left, and David D’Anniballe, center, participated in the Jefferson County Port Authority’s February board meeting. The two, who are the board’s most recent appointments, were seated near board Vice Chair Bill Lucas. -- Christopher Dacanay

STEUBENVILLE — Serving as Jefferson County’s economic development office, the Jefferson County Port Authority is overseen by a nine-member board of directors, members of which bring “strong private sector leadership experience” to the role, according to the agency’s website.

Steubenville and the Jefferson County commissioners are responsible for four board appointments each, with the Jefferson County Regional Planning Commission deciding the ninth appointment. Board members serve four-year terms.

Individual commissioners have their own appointments, though a fourth is approved by majority vote of the commissioners. Those appointees cannot be residents of Steubenville. Conversely, appointees from the city must be Steubenville residents. The mayor makes appointments at the advice of City Council and the city manager.

The board’s most recent appointees, Dave D’Anniballe and Blake Carroll owe their positions to Steubenville Mayor Jerry Barilla. D’Anniballe being more than a year into his term and Carroll having just started in January bring unique perspectives to the board, as well as aspirations for the port authority and economic growth in Jefferson County.

D’Anniballe is a partner with his family’s certified public accountant firm, D’Anniballe & Co. CPA. Married with three grown children, D’Anniballe has served on a number of community boards over the years, including the board for Trinity Health System, which he occupied for 12 years.

Growing up in Steubenville, D’Anniballe graduated from Steubenville High School in 1975. He attended the University of Akron and graduated with a degree in accounting in 1979, joining his family’s firm in the same year.

Upon the retirement of port authority board member Mike Turrentine, Barilla approached D’Anniballe about filling the seat. D’Anniballe said he and Barilla have been “longtime friends” with a working relationship for community issues and events. D’Anniballe accepted Barilla’s offer, attending his first meeting on the board Nov. 15, 2023.

“With my more than 40 years of experience in business, I think I’m able to analyze and help existing businesses grow and try to find solutions to bring new businesses to our community,” D’Anniballe said of his contributions to the board. “We know a lot of businesspeople in the community, and I think the networking and identifying properties that may become available for future development would be useful for the board.”

D’Anniballe said he’d like to see expedited development of suitable sites in Jefferson County “to have a better inventory of properties available for prospective tenants.” He’s also hopeful about the spec building planned for the Jefferson County Industrial Park and believes the port authority should be “responsive to all the cities in Jefferson County’s needs for economic development.”

A Bloomingdale native and 2011 SHS graduate, Carroll is a project manager for Carl Walker Construction. He and his wife, a Trinity Health System employee and fellow Big Red alumnus, have two sons who are 3 years old and 10 months old.

Carroll said he and his family are “nestled down” in Steubenville and “don’t plan on leaving any time soon.”

Carroll attended the University of Akron, where he earned two bachelor’s degrees — one in geology and the other in construction management. As part of his curriculum, Carroll had to participate in a cooperative program with a larger construction firm. That introduced him to Carl Walker Construction, which hired him full-time afterward. He’s now been with the company for eight years.

Carl Walker is based in Pittsburgh, but Carroll decided to settle in Steubenville to be close to family — something that’s “very important to us” — and give his children the same educational opportunities he enjoyed.

“There’s a lot of good things happening in our community,” Carroll said. “Sometimes they can be overshadowed, but I think our community has a lot of good people trying to do the right things. My whole family is here, so I really wanted to be close to my family. I got a very good education from Steubenville City Schools, and I enjoyed my time there. I learned a lot of life lessons, and I feel like that (pointed me toward) what I want to do for the rest of my life. I wanted to make sure my kids got that opportunity, as well.”

Prior to his port authority appointment, Carroll said he was familiar with Barilla. Much closer to the mayor was Carroll’s father-in-law, Jefferson County Treasurer Ray Agresta, who pointed the mayor toward the 32-year-old Carroll when the former was “interested in appointing a younger member to the board.”

Carroll accepted the offer and had his first meeting on the board Jan. 22, taking over for retiring board member Alan Hall.

As for what he brings to the table, Carroll said he can contribute his perspective of looking at projects’ constructability and being part of larger-scale projects in the Pittsburgh market.

“In (that market), I work for different municipalities, a few different hospital groups and a handful of private developers, so I’m around large-scale projects quite often and pretty involved in them. Drawing on the experience from being around them and seeing how the Pittsburgh market’s grown, I hope to help implement some of those future-facing opportunities and … to some degree, copy what they’re doing (here).”

Carroll said he’d like to see available properties in the county restored for development. Economic growth “secures some opportunities for our younger generation coming up,” he said, adding he’d like to see positive movement that encourages youths to remain in the area and contribute to its flourishing.