Trumbull officials to discuss pact error

The session will be for information gathering.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners plan to gather all parties at the end of today's commissioners meeting to discuss what went wrong with a Newton Township engineering contract.
Commissioner Dan Polivka said the meeting, open to the public, will address the 1.2 million engineering contract with ES & amp;C International of Youngstown that he and Commissioner James Tsagaris approved Oct. 3. Commissioner Paul Heltzel voted no.
County Sanitary Engineer Gary Newbrough revealed last week that he had made an error in interpreting an engineering study for the sanitary sewer project for the Scott Street area. The study said the engineering should be 685,000 -- or 548,000 less than the contract was written for.
Newbrough said a typographical error led him to believe that administrative costs such as property acquisition, legal fees and permits should be included in the engineering company's fees. Later, Newbrough determined that the fees should be a separate fee paid by the county.
"We need to put some standards into the process," Polivka said.
Who will be there
He added that 10 to 15 people will be expected to attend the hearing, including Newbrough and the legal advisers to the commissioners and sanitary engineer's office. He said he also hopes representation from ES & amp;C will be on hand. "We need to get everyone in the room and see what happened," Polivka said.
Jason Earnhart, the assistant county prosecutor who advises the commissioners, said the prosecutor's office has told the commissioners the meeting would need to be held in public if it involves all three commissioners. He added, however, that he believes Polivka is sensitive to the need for full disclosure of all of the facts surrounding the matter.
Earnhart said it is not clear how the discrepancy in the amount promised to ES & amp;C in the contract will be cleared up.
Jim Misocky, another assistant county prosecutor, said last week one thing that is clear is that the county did not advertise both Phase I and Phase 2 of the engineering contract, and therefore erred in awarding both phases of the contract to ES & amp;C.