LID CHEM INC. Owners to give supplies records

The company has until Oct. 23 to comply with a subpoena.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
and STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The owners of Lid Chem Inc. of Canfield have been ordered to produce records proving they actually bought janitorial supplies they say they've sold to Trumbull County.
The company's lawyer, J. Gerald Ingram, said his clients received a subpoena from the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office seeking all invoices, a list of the company's vendors and a list of what Lid Chem ordered from its vendors from 1998 through the present.
"This is the first written request we have received and we will comply," Ingram said.
Linda Maiorana, president of the company, and her husband, Terry, have been given until Oct. 23 to turn over the records.
"My clients have already compiled the information for 1999 and are in the process of getting the other years," Ingram said.
No bank records sought
He said he does not know why the prosecutor's office is seeking the information, noting the subpoena did not call for bank records. Lid Chem and a related company, Tri-County Supplies, have been paid more than $800,000 by Trumbull County since 1993.
Both refused to produce the documents when informally approached by prosecutors, according to a letter from Prosecutor Dennis Watkins to county commissioners.
Watkins declined to comment.
Damian A. Billak, an attorney for Central Service and Supply, declined to say if his client got a subpoena.
These companies were among the first to be identified in a widening probe of maintenance department purchasing practices. Investigators are also looking into the maintenance department's relationship with Kinzua, Envirochemical and State Chemical, all of Cleveland.
The department spends more than $400,000 a year on supplies such as toilet paper, mop heads and furniture polish.
None of the companies was awarded contracts through formal bidding, although each did more than $15,000 worth of business a year with the county.
That's the threshold for competitive bidding, according to the prosecutor's office.
Attracted attention
Lid Chem attracted prosecutors' attention after a Vindicator article noted they do business out of a post office box, and without a listed phone number.
In the wake of Vindicator stories that began the first week of August about the county's buying habits, commissioners took away all purchasing authority from the maintenance department and declared a halt to buying while workers borrowed from other departments conduct an inventory.
Commissioners also decided to start buying supplies through the state purchasing program, which allows counties to buy items from a vendor selected by the state government through competitive bidding.
sinkovich@vindy.com
siff@vindy.com