TRUMBULL COUNTY Cleaning supplier says empty bottles were for proposed refill system

By STEPHEN SIFF and PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS
WARREN -- More than 1,380 empty air freshener and cleaning fluid bottles discovered in Trumbull County storerooms were intended for use with bulk dispensers the county bought in 1997, but doesn't use, according to a statement from the company that sold them.
"The system allowed the user to buy such liquids in concentrated, bulk form for the dispensers, then dilute the liquids into smaller containers for everyday use," a statement from Envirochemical Inc. of Bedford Heights says.
"Shortly after installation, the county, on its own and against the advice of Envirochemical, chose to abandon the dispensing system."
Looking for records
A spokesman for Envirochemical, Tom Andrzejewski of the Cleveland public relations firm Oppidan Group Inc., said Envirochemical would look for records of the sale.
"This is six years ago, and for a business that can make it hard to find records," he said.
The cases of empty bottles were noted by employees conducting an inventory of Trumbull County Maintenance Department storerooms in September.
Employees marveled that the county would buy empty bottles they said it had no way to fill and noted that the county also bought full bottles of the same products.
The storeroom inventory was spurred by Vindicator reports of excessive spending and sloppy bookkeeping in the county maintenance department.
Since that time, the FBI and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation have launched investigations and county Prosecutor Dennis Watkins has convened a grand jury to look into possible criminal wrongdoing.
Envirochemical was one of a half-dozen companies asked to provide business documents to the prosecutor.
The company, owned by former Lyndhurst Mayor Barry Jacobson and a partner, Brian Fox, did $923,000 worth of business with Trumbull County over a six-year period.
The Trumbull County Maintenance Department stopped doing business with nearly all its former suppliers when it switched to the state purchasing program last year.
sinkovich@vindy.comsiff@vindy.com