MAHONING COUNTY Former commissioner backs away from recycling project

The county received prices ranging from $1 to $6,000.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Boardman company has pulled the plug on its interest in helping Mahoning County recycle electronic items.
Instead, the job will apparently go to a Niles company that says it will do it for a total of $1.
"God bless them if they can do it at that price," said David Engler, chief executive officer of Boardman-based LightGov.
The county is planning to collect old computers and electronic equipment from residents and send them to be recycled. Commissioners were poised in August to hire LightGov for $7,500, but backed off at the request of Commissioner David Ludt.
Ludt said he was under the impression the county would get paid for being rid of the items, not the other way around.
Association
Critics also said Engler's company was getting the job just because he is a former county commissioner, which the current commissioners have denied.
Timothy Berlekamp, executive director of the county recycling division, said the criticism was unfair because Engler is no longer an officeholder and has a right to conduct a private business.
Berlekamp said he initially chose to use Engler's company because it has done such work before, while this will be Mahoning County's first venture into electronic recycling.
"We were trying to get a reputable vendor we could track through the process because this is our first time," Berlekamp said.
Bids
Because of the concerns that were raised, commissioners decided to seek price quotes from other vendors. Three were received, including one from Niles Iron & amp; Metal, which bid 1-cent per pound of material, with a cap of $1 for its total bid price. Berlekamp said that's the one he'll recommend that commissioners accept, probably next week.
Other bids were received from Second Harvest Food Bank, which bid $2 per pound with a cap of $6,000; and Who's Who of Youngstown, which bid $1 per pound with a cap of $4,949.
James Fortunato, county purchasing director, said Engler was asked to submit a quote, but did not.
Engler said the process was not fair because his company's price already had been made public. He was not interested in cutting the price just to get the job. To do that, he said, would not be cost effective.
"We're involved in business, not politics," he said. "We're looking for decisions that make business sense, and this was not one of them."
Commissioner Ed Reese said none of the three companies that submitted price quotes has done such a project before.
"It's their first time, and it's our first time," Reese said. "I guess we'll cross our fingers and see what happens."
bjackson@vindy.com