Saturday, July 15, 2006
An investigation into the residency of a city employee should be done shortly.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mayor Jay Williams said he is considering disciplinary action against the city's litter control coordinator, who faces a charge of litter on his property.
"City employees need to be held to a higher standard and have a heightened sensibility," Williams said.
George A. Finnerty III, the city's litter control coordinator since 1985, appeared Thursday in Youngstown Municipal Court on a minor misdemeanor charge of litter on his property.
Pictures taken by the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department of Finnerty's Howard Street house on the city's South Side showed cardboard boxes, bricks, broken furniture, tires and trash on his porch and in his driveway.
City Municipal Court Judge Robert Milich ordered Finnerty to return to his court Aug. 24 to make sure the garbage and other items are removed from his property.
Finnerty admitted after Thursday's court appearance that he "had some violation on my property."
But he said the littering ticket is part of a long-standing problem he's had with the city and/or the county. He didn't expand on the problem.
Williams said he was particularly perturbed about the litter control coordinator's being cited for having litter on his property.
"If we're going to enforce the litter law, we want our litter control coordinator to set a good example," he said. "We want to make sure this doesn't happen again."
Any disciplinary action against Finnerty would not occur until after his Aug. 24 court hearing, Williams said.
Other investigation
The mayor also said it will be a few more weeks before the conclusion of an investigation into the residency of police Patrolman Daniel Tickerhoof. The officer submitted a change-of-address card last week showing his new house is in Canal Fulton in Stark County.
A state law that took effect May 1 allows city residents to live no farther away than a contiguous county. Stark is contiguous to Mahoning County.
The city charter requires city employees hired after 1988 to live in Youngstown. Any city employee hired after that year who moves out of Youngstown would be fired, Williams has said.
The city also filed a lawsuit challenging the law's constitutionality.
The investigation into Tickerhoof's residency is being handled by the police department's internal affairs division.
If it is determined that Tickerhoof, hired in June 2001, is living outside Youngstown, appropriate action -- including the termination of his employment -- would be taken, Williams said.
skolnick@vindy.com