TRUMBULL COUNTY Workers: Official arranged payment

The county auditor no longer allows vendor checks to be picked up at his office.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
and STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- County employees say Trumbull County Commissioner James Tsagaris had a hand in seeing that county checks were delivered to personnel from Acme Steak Co. -- a food company that got more than $100,000 in county business last year.
Tsagaris denies he personally delivered the checks, worth thousands of dollars each.
"No, never did," Tsagaris said, adding this explanation:
"Someone from Acme would always be coming to my office and looking for the checks, and I would send them to the auditor's office," Tsagaris said.
He declined to say why an Acme official would go to his office for the checks.
Employees in the county auditor's office said Tsagaris asked them to leave checks for Acme Steak on a back counter, where he or someone else from his office would pick them up to be delivered.
Usually mails checks
The auditor's office usually mails checks to vendors.
The county spent $145,385 for jail food from Acme fromJanuary through August, according to records.
Stellie Zadroski, an employee of the sheriff's department, said Tsagaris called her a few times inquiring about the status of the Acme checks.
Zadroski sends invoices to the auditor's office.
"He'd ask about how long it would take before I would have the stuff ready," Zadroski said.
She said Tsagaris did not ask about any other vendor and she does not recall other commissioners ever calling her asking about the status of other accounts.
Employees at the auditor's office said they were not sure how many of the checks were picked up and how many were mailed.
The Vindicator pulled the purchase orders for the last five Acme checks and found that two were marked to hold for pickup.
Even though the checks were for thousands of dollars, Auditor David Hines said his department does not have people sign when they are picking up checks.
"The check is made out to the vendor, so only the vendor can cash it," Hines said.
The auditor said he no longer allows checks to be picked up at his office.
The reason
"It got too hectic," Hines said. "If people can't wait for one day for the U.S. mail, then don't do business with the county."
In September 2001, Tsagaris and Tony Carson, county purchasing director, told officials at the county jail and the juvenile justice center to begin buying from Acme.
The prices were better, they said.
Juvenile justice center employees, however, found mistakes on a list circulated by Tsagaris and Carson comparing Acme's prices to other suppliers and did not switch to Acme.
County jail officials said they began ordering from Acme about a month later because they thought they didn't have a choice.
The county prosecutor's office, the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, the state auditor's office and the FBI have been investigating county purchasing practices for several months.
The probes were prompted by a series of articles The Vindicator began in early August, calling into question the county's purchasing records.
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sinkovich@vindy.com