Options floated on licensing matter

Three ongoing county sewer projects are affected by the contracts.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The Trumbull County Prosecutor's office has recommended modifications to the three contracts between the county and ES & amp;C International of Youngstown.
The recommendations came in response to the revelation that the company was operating without a license two separate times in recent years.
County Commissioners Paul Heltzel and Frank Fuda said Thursday the prosecutor's office reported a couple of options they could pursue as a result of the licensing issue, but they refused to say what the options are.
Heltzel said the prosecutor's office would hold a meeting with Sat Adlaka and John Evan, the principals of ES & amp;C, to discuss the matter further before commissioners would act.
Fuda said the commissioners would like the matter resolved "as soon as we can," adding that the county cannot afford to let the sewer projects ES & amp;C is working on be delayed.
"We have other projects. The longer this takes, the less likely we are to be able to get started on something else," Fuda said.
Three projects affected
Jim Brutz, an assistant county prosecutor who advises the county sanitary engineer, said last week that ES & amp;C International worked on three county sewer projects during the two times its state license had expired. Brutz said the three projects affected are sewer projects in the Scott Street area of Newton Township, East Central Bazetta Township and the Lakeshore neighborhood of Bazetta.
John Greenhalge, executive director of the Ohio Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors in Columbus, said ES & amp;C's license was expired from June 30, 2006, through Feb. 9, 2007; and also from July 1, 2004, through April 4, 2005.
Greenhalge has said letting the license expire in that manner means that all of the work ES & amp;C did during that time was "not done legally," but he added that he doesn't know of any board or agency that sanctions engineering companies for failing to keep a license current.
The personal licenses for Adlaka and Evan are current, Greenhalge said, and Adlaka predicted that the ES & amp;C license lapse would have no bearing on any work the company had done for the county.
Transportation program
In other business, commissioners approved three resolutions increasing the amount of money available for the county's Department of Job and Family Services to spend on transportation for the working poor and training funds for dislocated workers.
Tom Mahoney, agency director, said the additional 90,000 for rides provided by New Valley Transport of Niles, 36,000 for training through TDDS Technical Institute of Lake Milton for truck driver training, and 20,000 for training at the Trumbull Career and Technical Center are all the result of the area's "really poor economy." The rides are also provided in some cases for medical reasons, he added.
runyan@vindy.com