Monday, January 20, 2003
The official was to practice 'management by walking around,' according to an affidavit.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A former Trumbull County Health Department administrator's lack of responsibilities should have protected him from being fired for his lack of qualifications, ex-health commissioner Vincent Catuogno argued in a sworn statement.
Affidavits from Catuogno and three former health board members argue that George Buccella, who earned $41,600 a year, should enjoy the legal protections offered to lower-level workers.
Buccella, a high school graduate, was fired by new health commissioner James Enyeart in October because Enyeart did not believe Buccella was qualified for the job.
By firing Buccella, 61, Enyeart treated him as a nonclassified employee -- a category that generally includes top administrators who work at the pleasure of their elected bosses.
To regain his job, Buccella is trying to convince the State Personnel Board of Review that he was entitled to classified employee protections.
Like his old boss, ex-congressman James A. Traficant Jr., Buccella is serving as his own attorney. Buccella testified during Traficant's bribery trial that he did work on the ex-congressman's Greenford farm. Buccella is also a former Weathersfield Township trustee and pizza shop owner.
Job description
Buccella's job description at the health department called for him to conduct employee evaluations, bargain with the employee union, write position statements, represent the board at public meetings, develop and implement personnel policies, and develop criteria for job applicants and determine qualifications for positions.
Buccella, the "chief operating officer," was also to practice "management by walking around" according to the lengthy job description from Catuogno.
In a sworn statement, Catuogno downplayed the role played by Buccella at the health department, and played up his own role.
"I established and managed the health department budget, approved purchases and expenditures, set the board's agenda, directed disciplinary matters, served as the health department decision-making representative on public and private meetings, developed policy for the board of health to accept, implemented board policy, determined work-force size and requirements and recommended personnel hiring to the board of health," Catuogno said. "Mr. Buccella never acted on my behalf in regard to the above listed matters."
Catuogno also pointed out that the board of health curtailed Buccella's responsibilities, and that he alone was the health department's "principal executive officer."
"Mr. Buccella was not authorized to act in my place," he said in the sworn statement.
Support from others
In support of the appeal to the personnel board, Buccella also submitted sworn statements by former health board president Jim Smith, and former members Tim Yova and Donna Price, who a few months ago was in favor of his termination.
The identical statements said Buccella was a classified employee, who reported directly to the health commissioner, and who did not have the responsibilities of an unclassified, or fiduciary, employee.
However, in hiring Buccella the three former board members approved a motion stating "the board of health shall exert direct control over the position," which was described as "fiduciary classified" -- generally a contradiction in terms.
The State Personnel Board of Review uses several factors to determine if a worker is classified or not, but among the biggest is the actual work the employee performed, said Jim Sprague, executive director of the personnel board. The board is still compiling information in Buccella's case, he said.