Trustees want details about cars

Removing police take-home vehicles may constitute an unfair labor practice.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- A cost-benefit analysis of vehicles driven home and to work by township employees is expected in 30 days.
Trustees asked department heads to justify each take-home vehicle and township Fiscal Officer William Leicht to determine the costs per vehicle.
Detective Mike Mullins, a representative of the police patrol officers union, said at a trustees meeting Monday that having the department's 10 patrolmen detectives assigned take-home cars saves the township money in the long run.
The department and these patrolmen entered into an understanding when each was reassigned from patrol to investigative duties, he said. As a result, those detectives were assigned unmarked cars and cellular telephones to help them do their jobs, Mullins said.
"In exchange, these same patrolmen understood that their schedules would need to be more flexible, to the point where it was common for them to lose the ability to work approximately five paid holidays per year," he said.
Nonessential vehicles at issue
The officers got the unmarked cars to drive to, from and during work and the township saved money by not having to pay each of the officer's holiday overtime rates for five days per year, the detective explained.
He estimated that it saves the township about $17,000 annually.
"It was a system that benefited the township in many ways -- lower budgetary costs, police presence in the neighborhoods and quicker response times, just to name a few," Mullins said.
He said that the union perceives the use of the cars as a past practice and said if trustees ignore that, the union will file a grievance. He also said that if the board tried to change the meaning of the previously accepted contract language it may constitute an unfair labor practice.
Trustee Chairwoman Robyn Gallitto, who is an attorney, said that her request stated that nonessential vehicles be reviewed. She suggested that the information presented by Mullins be included in the cost-benefit analysis.
Trustees also passed a motion requiring the future assignment of any take-home vehicles be approved by trustees. Gallitto and Trustee Kathy Miller voted in favor, with Trustee Elaine Mancini opposed.
"The department heads have better knowledge and it's in their best interests to decide who should have take-home cars and who shouldn't," Mancini said.
She said she believes the panel should wait for the cost-benefit analysis.
Monday's meeting also brought a change of seating assignment for department heads. Rather than sitting at the dais in the front of the meeting room with trustees, they were seated in the audience.
Gallitto said the change was on a trial basis to facilitate communication between the trustees and department heads. When they're seated up front, trustees have to look to the side and often around another person to view the department head who is speaking, she said.
Mancini said she was opposed to the change even on a trial basis.
"Since the late 1980s it has been the practice of this board that department heads are part of the presentation to the public," she said. "I think it's wrong that they are not sitting up front with us."
Gallitto said the process mirrors what's done at the county during Mahoning County commissioners' meetings.