Officials plan to award janitorial-supply pact

This will be the first janitorial-supply pact awarded since the probes began.
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners are expected to award an Independence company a six-month, $18,518 contract to sell janitorial supplies to the county.
By buying from Unisource, commissioners expect to save about 33 percent over the state purchasing program price on soap, paper towels and toilet paper, officials say.
Savings over the life of the contract is expected to be $9,235, compared with the state purchasing program cost for the same items.
The contract has been put out to bid twice. The first time, in September, commissioners rejected all the bids because seven of the eight companies competing did it wrong, officials say.
This time, 11 companies submitted bids for the business.
Subject to approval
The contract is subject to approval by the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office.
This will be the first time commissioners have picked a janitorial supply company on their own since Prosecutor Dennis Watkins asked them to drop all current vendors and switch to the state purchasing program in September 2002, amid revelations of excessive spending in the county maintenance department.
Last month, maintenance director Tony Delmont pleaded innocent to taking bribes and allowing nine companies to bilk $400,000 from Trumbull County taxpayers over a three-year period.
The co-owner of one of these companies, Barry Jacobson of Envirochemical, has pleaded guilty to bribing Delmont and participating in a scheme to overcharge the county. He has agreed to repay $180,000 restitution and a $20,000 fine.
The nine companies named by prosecutors did not have formal contracts with Trumbull County or have to submit bids to get the county's business.
Since switching from this system to the state purchasing program last year, the county's bill for cleaning supplies has dropped from about $400,000 a year to $45,000 in the first nine months of this year.