TRUMBULL COUNTY Official's status unclear

It has been a stormy few years for the health commissioner.
BY STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
WARREN -- Vincent Catuogno is now refusing to talk about his employment status, more than a week after tearfully announcing to his staff and to the county board of health his intention to resign.
Catuogno, Trumbull County health commissioner health since 1988, has publicly said he would give the board a 90-day notice of his intention to resign at a meeting called just for that purpose Tuesday.
He didn't.
"I have nothing to say," Catuogno said on his way out of the hourlong, mostly closed-door meeting.
Atty. Daniel Letson, who attended the session to represent Catuogno, left before he could be reached.
Past trouble
Letson has represented Catuogno in previous run-ins with the board.
"He still intends to resign," said Dr. Douglas Burchette, board president.
Catuogno postponed submitting a letter of resignation until some issues surrounding his departure are worked out with the board.
That should take about a week, Burchette said.
Catuogno and the board have had a troubled relationship.
He was fired in January 1999, then given his job back after filing a lawsuit against the board a few months later.
The following year, the health board reprimanded Catuogno for using the department's annual report to "vent his personal angst over previous health board actions."
Catuogno was disciplined again at last month's board meeting for letting billing and record-keeping lapse on a contract with the Geauga-Trumbull Solid Waste Management District.