TRUMBULL PURCHASING Company wonders why it's in probe

Prosecutors requested details several months ago on Medco's sales to the county.
By STEPHEN SIFFand PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The president of an Austintown medical-supply company says he has no idea why Trumbull County prosecutors are investigating his company.
"I only know what I read in the papers," said David Barton, president of Medco Inc., 3666 Mahoning Ave.
The company and Results Inc., a subsidiary of Medco that sold cleaning supplies, are the only companies caught up in Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins' investigation of county purchasing that have not done business with the county maintenance department recently.
Medco received a subpoena several months ago to supply prosecutors with invoices detailing its sales to the county, Barton said. The company has complied, he added.
The county spent $95,000 with Results between 1997 and 2000, and $5,635 with Medco, auditor's department records show. Medco did business with the county in 1993, 1996, 1997 and 2000.
Medco sells disposable medical supplies such as bandages, adult diapers and syringes, Barton said. The company serves about two dozen Ohio nursing homes and is owned by local businessman Robert VanSickle, he said.
Results, which no longer exists, was Medco's channel for selling cleaning supplies such as detergent and laundry soap, Barton said.
Barton said he did not know why Trumbull County stopped doing business with the companies.
Hold on bills
Watkins recently asked the county auditor not to pay outstanding bills from three maintenance department vendors after he was unable to determine the "receipt of and reasonableness" of the products they were supposed to have sold.
Watkins' investigation follows a series of Vindicator articles exposing excessive buying and poor bookkeeping at the maintenance department. The department's annual supply bill increased 20-fold from 1992 until it was relieved of purchasing responsibility earlier this year.
Since the prosecutor's investigation began, the county switched to the state purchasing program for cleaning supplies. Until this year, all its vendors had been picked without going through a formal bidding process.
Other maintenance department suppliers under investigation by the prosecutor include Lid Chem, Tri-County Supplies, Central Service & amp; Supply, Kinzua Environmental, Envirochemical, and State Chemical Manufacturing Co.
siff@vindy.comsinkovich@vindy.com