CORTLAND Consultant takes post with city

The new service director is a lawyer as well as an engineer.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CORTLAND -- A consultant who has done engineering work for the city since April will now serve as service director.
Donald Whittman of Boardman is expected to leave his job at MS Consultants of Youngstown and start full time for the city next month. He will make $50,000 a year.
"A lot of people with the city had worked with him enough that they felt very comfortable with the guy," said Mayor Curt Moll, who took office after council had begun looking at candidates. "They knew him and had a lot of confidence in him. It is important right now, because of what we had before."
The previous service director, Paul Makosky, was fired by council in September after months of criticism and an attempt to slash his salary.
Council was dissatisfied with Makosky's oversight and design work on several recent construction projects.
Since that termination, Charles Miller, a former Trumbull County sanitary engineer, has been filling the post part time on an interim basis. Miller was not among the more than 20 applicants for the full-time job.
The service director does engineering work for the city and directs a nine-person department that maintains roads, water and sewer lines. The service director also is city zoning inspector.
"It is an opportunity for me to use my engineering and law degrees to a greater extent," Whittman said.
He said his first goal will be to open lines of communication with the people he will be working with and the community at large. He said he plans to move to Cortland, although the job carries no residency requirement.
Whittman, 31, earned an engineering degree from Ohio State University in 1995, and a law degree from University of Akron in 2000.
Seeking bids
Also at its Tuesday meeting, council approved seeking bids for a contractor to carry out an estimated $180,000 worth of storm sewer improvements to Cricket Lane and Woodview Avenue.
Including engineering, the total project costs are expected to be $220,000, Miller said. A $150,000 state Issue 2 grant will cover 68 percent, he said.
The city is applying for a second grant to improve storm sewers on Charles and Rosewae next year, Miller said.
On Friday, city officials sat down with an engineer for developer Anthony Petrocco to discuss drainage problems in the Shepherd's Hill neighborhood, Law Director Patrick Wilson said.
A consultants' study concluded that the system Petrocco put in the ground is inadequate and did not match with approved plans.
Wilson said Petrocco's engineer will now develop a plan to fix the situation then present it for the city's review.
The city rejected a plan presented on behalf of the developer a few months ago. Officials said it was inadequate.
siff@vindy.com