MAHONING COUNTY Township cuts off trustee's Internet connection

Is a township trustee an employee of the township?
BOARDMAN -- Township Trustee Kathy Miller was run off the information superhighway a couple of weeks ago when Elaine Mancini, chairwoman of the board of trustees, ordered her Internet connection axed.
The action came to light at Monday night's meeting of the Boardman trustees. "You made an arbitrary and capricious decision," said Miller to Mancini. "I absolutely object to the decision you made to disconnect my computer."
It was in fact Miller's computer, not the township's, that was disconnected from the Internet. "I had a township one," said Miller on Tuesday afternoon. "It broke."
She said that Curt Seditz, the township administrator, was originally going to spend $1,500 on a new one for her but that she'd told him not to bother and that she would bring in her own instead, which she did. She's been working out of the township building every day, she says, researching issues on her laptop.
Political issue
The problem, say Mancini and the third trustee, Tom Costello, is that using a personal computer is against employee policy. The policy and procedures manual for the Boardman Township employees states, "Users are granted permission to utilize the township's Internet account only on township-owned equipment, during normal working hours."
To which Miller asked, "I'm an employee?"
"Yes, you are, Kathy," said Mancini at the Monday night meeting. Shortly thereafter, Mancini cut off discussion, saying, "OK, I've had enough," and banged the gavel to silence Miller.
"Trustees are employees. Yes," says Seditz. And the employee policy, he says, was adopted by the board of trustees. "All we're doing is enforcing it."
But Paul Gains, the Mahoning County prosecutor, gives a different answer. Are the trustees employees of the township?
"It depends," he says. "They're elected officials. It's not a cut-and-dry issue." But he says he thinks that ultimately it's more a political issue than a legal one.
"This is something the three trustees are going to have to take care of themselves," he said. And when it comes to votes, Miller is in the minority.
One for all
Miller was a successful real estate agent in Mahoning County before running for trustee. She's accustomed to working on a computer.
Mancini accused Miller on Monday of conducting real estate business from her office in the township building, using her computer.
"All I use the Internet for is research," said Miller.
The policy is required to maintain the security of the computer network, said Tammi Rush, the township's Internet technology coordinator. "Suppose she had a virus on her computer," said Rush. "She could infect the whole network."
But Miller said she hasn't insisted on using her own computer. When she was made aware that her use of her personal laptop was a problem, she said she agreed to leave it at home. "I said, 'OK, just give me one of these old computers you have lying around,'" she told The Vindicator. They told her no, they couldn't do that.
Mancini said at Monday's meeting that from this point forward there was to be one computer for the use of the three trustees, which would be placed in an area where all three could access it.