Friday, December 14, 2001
The attorney general said the MVSD cases make the public question the effectiveness of the judicial system.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
NILES -- Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery said the three civil cases concerning allegations of improperly spent money at the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District have been among the most difficult and challenging in her legal career.
"Other than the DeRolph school-funding case, these are probably among the most frustrating cases I've had to deal with in my professional career," Montgomery said.
"For me, the most frustrating part is these are cases that symbolically go to the question by the public as to how does our legal system work."
Montgomery made the comments Thursday to The Vindicator at the Trumbull County Republican Party's Christmas get-together at Vernon's Cafe and Banquet Centre in Niles, a short distance from the MVSD plant in Mineral Ridge.
Suits filed: The attorney general filed separate $2.4 million lawsuits about four years ago against former MVSD board directors Edward A. Flask of Poland and Frank D. DeJute of Niles, and the Gilbane Building Co. of Rhode Island, which served as construction manager on the water agency's $50 million capital improvement project.
The lawsuits contend Flask and DeJute improperly paid Gilbane for construction work it did not perform at the MVSD, which provides water from Meander Reservoir to about 300,000 customers in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
A federal judge dismissed the Gilbane case in October after sitting on it for about a year. Montgomery is appealing the dismissal.
"That delay is very hard as a lawyer to understand," she said.
Flask filed for bankruptcy in October, three days before his civil case was to begin. The bankruptcy caused the civil case to be postponed.
Flask served 90 days in Trumbull County Jail last year after being convicted of improperly accepting about $2 million from MVSD vendors.
"We were obviously extremely disappointed with the decision in that case," Montgomery said.
Other trial postponed: DeJute's trial has been postponed several times and is now set for Jan. 7. DeJute, who is defending himself even though he is not an attorney, has filed motions seeking to have his case dismissed and that the judge overseeing it be removed.
"The delays have been pretty tough," Montgomery said.
Even though it has been frustrating, Montgomery said, she is determined to prosecute the cases.
"I feel pretty strongly about that," she said. "It's my job to pursue these cases. If I have to appeal it or file what I need to file, I'm going to do it. I'm not going to give up just because it's hard. I think the public deserves to have resolutions in these cases."
skolnick@vindy.com