TRUMBULL COUNTY Officials to change buying of supplies

The jail will keep all supplies in a locked closet; custodians will no longer be in charge of ordering.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
and STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners plan to revamp how the county buys janitorial supplies, perhaps by putting Tony Carson Jr., the county's director of purchasing, in charge.
"It is a perfect fit," said Commissioner Joseph Angelo Jr.
"I foresee Mr. Carson taking control of the purchases and the maintenance department is still going to be in charge of dispensing, with safeguards installed."
Angelo said he'll meet with the other two commissioners, Carson and Tony Delmont, head of the maintenance department, to discuss the changes.
The talk comes in the wake of an inventory report by county employees that details excessive purchasing of janitorial supplies by the maintenance department, poor record-keeping and missing money from restroom vending machines.
Delmont has supervised the department since 1994. He earns $71,082 a year.
Carson's responsibility as head of the one-man purchasing department consists of preparing specifications for contracts the county puts out to bid.
Under scrutiny
Several months ago, he came under scrutiny for encouraging officials at the county jail and the juvenile justice center to use a particular food service company without offering up a contract for other companies to bid on.
Carson also does business with the county as landlord of the Central District Court building and with the city of Warren as the owner of Warren Alternative Sentencing Program, which local courts use as an alternative to jail.
Carson recently stepped down from the county's jail review committee after Sheriff Thomas Altiere questioned if his involvement in the Warren program constituted a conflict of interest.
Rather than simply assigning maintenance department purchasing to another individual, Commissioner Michael O'Brien would prefer using centralized purchasing for all departments.
The central purchasing department for Mahoning County employs four people.
O'Brien doesn't know if additional hires would be necessary to create a similar department here.
"We have yet to discuss changes as a board of commissioners," he said. "Until that time, it is impossible to say what we will be doing."
In September, acting on the advice of county Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, commissioners shifted buying responsibilities to their clerk/administrator Roselyn Ferris.
Watkins suggested the change amid a series of Vindicator articles that sparked an investigation by his office and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
Fewer purchases
Since then, the amount of purchases have been reduced as janitors worked through inventory in their storerooms and commissioners began questioning requisitions, Ferris said.
"We have done a lot," she said.
From now on, only three top sheriff's department officials will be authorized to sign requisition forms for the jail, said Ernie Cook, chief of operations.
Previously, custodians simply phoned in orders to Delmont, he said.
Cook said he intends to consolidate jail supplies from storerooms all over the building.
"We will now have all the supplies in one area that will be locked. Without keeping everything in one area, it's difficult to tell what you have. The [inventory] report noted that some stuff was rusting away on shelves but we ordered more," he said.
Cook and jail administrator Matt Ecker are planning to do an inventory Monday so they know what supplies the jail has in stock.
"Once the inventory is completed, I will have everything on a computer system," Cook said. "This way, if someone calls, I will be able to tell them what we have and what we need."
Data processing employees were to meet with jail officials today to see if the program can be expanded to also keep track of maintenance department supplies.
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