OHIO Petro: Recover MVSD's funds

The attorney general 'is uniquely suited to argue' the case, a spokesman said.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
COLUMBUS -- Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro wants the state to recover $2.4 million belonging to the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, and he's headed to court to continue the fight.
Petro will address the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Wednesday on behalf of the MVSD to argue for the recovery finding and ask the court to refer the case back to the federal district court for trial.
"He is uniquely suited to argue this particular case," explained Mark Gribben, a spokesman from Petro. "He conducted the original audit when he was state auditor and is very well versed in this case."
What was in audit
The audit launched by Petro in the late 1990s contained findings for recovery of more than $2 million against former MVSD directors Edward A. Flask of Poland and Frank DeJute of Niles, other officials and the Gilbane Co. of Rhode Island.
Gilbane had been hired by Flask and DeJute to serve as construction manager of a major capital improvements project at the Mineral Ridge-based MVSD, which supplies water to some 300,000 Mahoning Valley residents through Youngstown and Niles.
Petro contended Gilbane was paid money for work it never did.
The state's case has suffered numerous setbacks in recent years, including a dismissal of a lawsuit against the Gilbane Co. in which federal Judge George C. Smith ruled that although the company did not perform all the work for the money it was paid, the company could not be held liable.
Courts also have ruled that Petro, as auditor at the time, had no authority to issue a finding for recovery in the case, since his office performed the audit at the special request of MVSD officials.
Gribben said Petro will argue as attorney general that the lower courts misapplied Ohio law and that the finding for recovery does, in fact, keep with the statutes that empower the state auditor.
slshaulis@vindy.com