The predisciplinary hearing will take place within the next two weeks.

The predisciplinary hearing will take place within the next two weeks.
By STEPHEN SIFF
and PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Tony Delmont, county maintenance director, won't have to wait for his criminal trial to explain his role in the county purchasing scandal.
Trumbull County commissioners are giving him the chance to testify under oath and without the option of evoking his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination. If he refuses to talk, he also could face disciplinary action for insubordination.
Commissioners approved a resolution Wednesday calling for a predisciplinary conference for Delmont within the next two weeks. The hearing will be open to the public.
The county prosecutor's office asked commissioners to have the hearing. The prosecutor also is pursuing a criminal case against Delmont for bribery, theft in office and money laundering, Commissioner Joe Angelo said.
A county grand jury indicted Delmont last month. He could not be reached, and one of his lawyers, Robert Shaker, declined to comment.
Delmont has been on unpaid leave since Sept. 19 when Commissioners Angelo and James Tsagaris voted to suspend him, despite prosecutors' advice that they could fire him on the spot.
Commissioner Michael O'Brien was in favor of firing Delmont, and says he still is.
After he was put on leave, Delmont's lawyers sent the county a letter questioning why Delmont's health benefits were canceled. The lawyers also asked for documentation that Delmont is an "unclassified" employee -- an employee who could be fired without cause and without a hearing.
In a letter asking commissioners to schedule a hearing, James Misocky, an assistant county prosecutor, said the disciplinary hearing was advisable to "complement our solid legal position or provide Mr. Delmont with a platform to air his side to the contrary."
Misocky told commissioners that Prosecutor Dennis Watkins assigned county Assistant Prosecutor Chris Becker, who is working on the criminal case against Delmont, to question him at a disciplinary hearing. He asked that Sanitary Engineer Thomas Holloway preside as hearing officer.
Holloway will then suggest to commissioners whether Delmont should be terminated.
"Because of the evidence developed by various county employees, the state attorney general's office, state auditor's office and prosecutor's office, it is clear that Mr. Delmont and others have been engaged in a systematic bilking of county funds," Misocky said in a letter calling for commissioners to schedule the hearing.
"The Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office believes the case against Mr. Delmont is overwhelming and absolutely defensible in court."
Commissioners who voted against terminating Delmont said they had no objection to a hearing.
"This is a prediscipinary hearing, and we have to hear Mr. Delmont's side. He has his side to tell," Angelo said. "We need to do everything right in case this goes to court."
Tsagaris said that he was not sure why a hearing is necessary but that the commissioners would follow prosecutors' advice.
"I think this should come to an end," he said. "We need to get over this and get back to county business."