Policy addresses conflicts of interest

Two Liberty sewer projects will begin in about two months.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

WARREN — Trumbull County commissioners have approved a conflict-of-interest policy for members of the Senior Services Advisory Council that is likely to cause turnover in the 11-member board.

Though Commissioner Dan Polivka last week sought to have the policy softened, commissioners Frank Fuda and Paul Heltzel approved it in its original form at Wednesday’s commissioners meeting.

The new policy prohibits council members from serving on the volunteer board if they have any connection to organizations that receive funding from the $2.6 million annual senior citizen funding voters approved in 2005.

The council makes recommendations to the county commissioners on how to award the money. So far, most council members have served nearly two years and overseen spending for about one year’s worth of money.

Tony Cario, the paid staff director for the council, said the policy appears to eliminate five current members from serving — chairman Jack O’Connell, Janet McGeough, Tom Klingeman, Lena Franklin and Jack Foley.

O’Connell, McGeough, Klingeman and Franklin appear to be ineligible because of boards they serve on for groups that receive seniors money. Foley appears to be ineligible because his sister is an administrator for one of the agencies, Cario said.

He said he doesn’t believe any wrongdoing has been done in the recommendations the council made so far because members have followed the previous policy of abstaining from votes that relate to their area of conflict.

Heltzel said he thinks the existing policy didn’t go far enough.

He and Cario agreed that all council members will remain in place for now. Heltzel said it is time for all of the original appointees to complete their first term on the board. It is likely new people will be appointed to replace those with a conflict of interest, Heltzel said.

In other business, commissioners approved measures that will allow construction of sewer systems in two areas of Liberty Township.

Commissioners awarded a contract of $487,091 to Rudzik Excavating Inc. of Struthers to install sewers on parts of six streets affecting 45 homes just east of the former Liberty High School building on state Route 304.

In addition to state Route 304, affected streets are March and Vienna avenues, Fifth Avenue Extension, Old Shady Road, and Overbrook Avenue. Some of the sewage will flow into a sewer line in Girard; the other will flow into lines in Youngstown.

Commissioners awarded a contract of $86,643 to M&M Excavating Inc. of Vienna for extension of a sewer line to 14 homes on Sampson Drive. That line will tie into a line on Sampson, 200 feet south of Tibbetts-Wick Road.

Construction is likely to begin within the next two months, said Scott Verner, interim sanitary engineer. The homeowners benefiting from both projects are paying for the sewers.

runyan@vindy.com