FBI conducts purchasing probe

One county commissioner said he's not surprised by the FBI's involvement.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
and STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County's purchasing practices have caught the attention of federal investigators.
The FBI joins the ranks of state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation agents, state auditors and local prosecutors investigating how the county bought supplies for its maintenance department and jails.
As investigations continue, two of the three county commissioners are moving to resume having the county make its own buying decisions and cease using the state purchasing program.
The county began using state purchasing for janitorial supplies at the recommendation of Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, when his investigation began in September.
"We are going back to the way it was," said Commissioner Joseph J. Angelo Jr.
A letter signed Tuesday by Angelo and Commissioner James Tsagaris will expand the Trumbull County purchasing manager's job to include actual purchasing.
Tony Carson, purchasing manager the last two years, will be in charge of handling requisitions from different county departments, putting out contracts to bid.
Wouldn't sign letter
Michael O'Brien, the third county commissioner, refused to sign the letter
"I'm following the recommendation of the prosecutor," he said. "I will not sign."
Watkins asked BCI and the state auditor's office to investigate after a series of Vindicator articles that began in early August revealed poor record-keeping and excessive buying by the maintenance department.
At that time, he also asked commissioners to assign someone to strictly oversee and review all purchases. The job was assigned to Roselyn Ferris, the county clerk/administrator.
The letter signed by Angelo and Tsagaris says it could only be a temporary assignment because of the other demands of Ferris' job.
"Basically, Tony Carson is going to do the job we hired him to do," Angelo said.
Carson's responsibilities have been to work on bid specifications for large county contracts and to informally shop around for better prices on items that have never been put out for competitive bids by the county.
Many of those informal contracts, such as for jail food and water coolers, are worth more than $15,000 a year, the level at which state law requires competitive bids.
Carson earns $48,672 a year. He also makes about $60,000 a year by renting the Central District Court building to the county.
Confirmation of probe
Meanwhile, John Kane, agent in charge of the Youngstown FBI office, confirmed Tuesday that agency is looking at the way the county buys supplies as part of its ongoing investigation into corruption in Trumbull County.
"Our investigation is separate from the one being conducted by Prosecutor Watkins and BCI," Kane said. "We are, however, cooperating with each other."
Kane declined to say how long the investigation would last.
Angelo and Tsagaris said they were not aware of the FBI's involvement.
"I called the prosecutor's office after a [Vindicator] reporter told me about the FBI being involved and was told the FBI has been involved since Day One with this," Angelo said. "I had no idea."
Tsagaris declined to comment specifically.
"If they are still looking out there, I should keep my mouth shut until they are done," he said. "Tell them to hurry up."
The FBI's involvement is not a surprise to O'Brien.
"From the first story in the newspaper on the purchasing problems, it was no secret that the FBI would be interested in looking into this," he said. "I'm glad all the agencies are involved, and I await their conclusions."
An inventory conducted over the past four weeks by employees from other departments and presented to commissioners details problems with the maintenance department, including excessive buying, poor record-keeping and missing money.
Going back to picking vendors locally will allow the county to get the best deal for its money, Angelo said.
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.
sinkovich@vindy.com siff@vindy.com