Trumbull commissioners adopt the right strategy

When elected officials do something right, they deserve to be praised, just as they warrant criticism when they do something wrong.
In Trumbull County, commissioners Paul Heltzel, Daniel Polivka and Frank Fuda announced last week that they would seek the assistance of residents in the hiring of a new county administrator. That decision is praiseworthy.
"It's not a bad idea, especially to try to eliminate some of the politics by having people involved who are not politically oriented," Heltzel said, after he and his colleagues agreed to appoint a screening committee of 10 individuals who would review the 54 applications for the administrator position.
Heltzel said that it is possible not all 10 will be able to serve, but even if the committee has five members the screening will be conducted.
As for the time it will take to carefully go through all the applications, the commissioner said, quite correctly, " ... it's worth the delay."
Given the controversy surrounding the tenure of former Administrator Anthony Carson, being deliberate in the hiring of his successor is strongly advised.
Carson resigned abruptly last July after he and Heltzel had a run-in over a work assignment Heltzel gave him. Carson, who filed for unemployment compensation, claimed he was driven to resign by the commissioner's abusive behavior toward him and other county employees. The claim was dismissed by a state hearing officer and the unemployment compensation was denied.
Carson's appointment
That, coupled with the fact that Carson's appointment in January 2004 by then commissioners Joseph Angelo and James Tsagaris was itself controversial, justifies an entirely open process this time around. Angelo and Tsagaris didn't even tell their colleague, Commissioner Michael O'Brien, that they were giving the administrator's job to Carson, who was the purchasing director.
They claimed that someone in the prosecutor's office offered them advice on making the appointment. That someone has yet to come forward.
For all those reasons, we suggested in a recent editorial the appointment of a screening committee to review the applications and whittle the list down to three finalists who would then be evaluated by the commissioners and Personnel Director James Keating.
We applaud Heltzel, Polivka and Fuda for embracing the idea, and are confident that the individuals selected to serve will have the credentials, especially in business and accounting, to perform the assignment with credibility.
Commissioners can go a step further in demonstrating their commitment to an open process by adopting another suggestion we made, namely, to conduct interviews with the three finalists in a public session.
It would give residents the opportunity to witness how each of the individuals handles questions from Heltzel, Polivka and Fuda and how each one interacts with the commissioners.
As we noted previously, the ultimate decision of who succeeds Carson rests with Heltzel, Polivka and Fuda, but their willingness to open up the process is noteworthy.