State audit offers ideas for savings in Boardman

Trustees will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday to further discuss employee layoffs.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

BOARDMAN — The township could save $1.2 million by restructuring some departments, changing employee health insurance contributions, and contracting with neighboring communities for dispatching among other recommendations made in a state performance audit.

Last year, the township requested the $78,000 audit by the auditor of state’s office. It compares services, operations and employees in Boardman using Austintown Township in Mahoning County and Miami Township in Montgomery County for comparison.

The report was released Thursday, a day after a trustees’ meeting where the panel discussed possible layoff scenarios behind closed doors and rumors of who would be affected spread among township employees.

The township is running at a roughly $3.5 million deficit. Voters last November rejected a $4.1 million general operating levy that would have generated about $4 million annually.

Robyn Gallitto, trustees chairwoman, said the panel discussed numbers as a starting point, but no decisions have been made. She declined to say what the numbers were.

Trustees set 6 p.m. Wednesday for a special meeting to further talk about cuts and their impact to services, she said.

Under the road department, the performance audit says the township should consider reducing staffing by up to six full-time employees. It lists the two assistant superintendents, road inspector and three operator/truck driver/laborer positions.

Lawrence Wilson, township road superintendent, took issue with that recommendation.

To recommend elimination of both assistant superintendent and road inspector based on peer townships not having them and “without consideration given to what each position provides in service to the community” is “both flawed and unjust,” Wilson said.

Having the assistants allows the department to quickly respond to calls without work stoppage, he said.

The road inspector is a position within the employee contract and must be addressed accordingly, Wilson said. He also argues that the inspector position requires knowledge gained through the study of traffic manuals, and those duties couldn’t easily be turned over to the foremen.

The audit also cited noteworthy accomplishments in the township including police department response time, effective training, national accreditation and a lower number of fires per 1,000 residents that peer communities and more fire investigations.

Under police, the audit says Boardman should reduce expenses for the communications center by reducing dispatch staffing by two or by outsourcing dispatch services.

Police Chief Patrick Berarducci said that full-time dispatchers already have been reduced by two through attrition and three part-time dispatchers were hired.

It also says the township should in future negotiations eliminate or revise language in the police contracts regarding staffing per shift and preservation of rank as well as reduce the number of paid holidays for dispatchers and patrolmen from 11 days to 10 days and reduce the holiday pay rate.

Gallitto said she liked some of the recommendations laid out in the audit but said that some items, including revising contract language, are things the township has been working to achieve.

She also doesn’t believe that Austintown is a township that provides a good basis for comparison with Boardman. It’s slightly smaller in population, she said, and it doesn’t have the high concentration of retail business that Boardman does.