TRUMBULL COUNTY Citizens panel, officials meet

The citizens committee will meet once a week.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The head of the county's maintenance department told a citizens committee looking into Trumbull County's purchasing practices there are no checks and balances in place for his department.
Tony Delmont told the three-member committee Thursday he would like a policy to be developed that helps keep track of the merchandise that is ordered.
"I have been here 28 years and there are no checks and balances," Delmont said. "I know what we have, but when someone comes and asks, I have nothing to show or to prove what I have."
Delmont, two county commissioners and other county officials met with the committee for two hours.
Panel's plan
Joseph Costanzo, Chuck Joseph and Ralph Smith, the committee members, all have worked in purchasing departments of private businesses. The men, all retired, said they plan to meet once a week and hope to make recommendations to the commissioners in about three months.
"They are all very knowledgeable and should have some great ideas," said Commissioner Michael J. O'Brien.
The committee was formed by the commissioners earlier this week in the midst of an ongoing investigation by the state auditor's office and the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation into the purchasing habits of the maintenance department.
An inventory conducted over the last four weeks by employees from other departments and presented to commissioners last week details problems with the maintenance department, including excessive buying, poor record-keeping and missing money.
The inventory check also found no products from two of the companies with which the county has been doing thousands of dollars of business a year.
The check was ordered a few weeks after a series of Vindicator articles began, detailing excessive spending on janitorial products and sloppy record-keeping.
The committee members plan their own inventory.
Questioned officials
Committee members also questioned officials about Vindicator reports that the county spent $8 for one bottle of glass cleaner and more than $10 for air freshener.
Those officials told the committee they couldn't answer questions dealing with the state investigation.
Among the Vindicator's findings is that Trumbull County has spent much more for jail janitorial supplies than other counties, even those with much larger jails, records from county auditors' offices show.
The maintenance department, for example, paid about 10 times as much for such items as floor wax, bleach and toilet paper as Portage County, which has a jail about half the size.
The $138,000 janitorial supply bill for Trumbull County's jail in 2001 was more than double the $55,000 tab for Mahoning County's jails, which hold twice as many prisoners.
Mahoning County buys jail janitorial supplies through the state purchasing program.
sinkovich@vindy.com