YSU’s chief negotiator resigns

YOUNGSTOWN — The embattled chief human resources officer/chief negotiator for Youngstown State University has resigned.

Craig S. Bickley, who was placed on administrative leave by President David C. Sweet during the first week of December, sent Sweet a letter of resignation Dec. 23. Sweet immediately accepted it, effective that date.

Bickley’s letter said only that he made the decision to resign for “personal reasons” after “much heartfelt thought.”

The YSU Board of Trustees announced Dec. 4 that Bickley had been put on administrative leave following an investigation into concerns raised about the new three-year Association of Classified Employees contract for which Bickley had served as the chief university negotiator. The union represents about 380 nonfaculty employees.

The trustees ratified the contract in July, but questions about the agreement arose later when administrators learned that one employee, Ivan Maldonado, the ACE union president, had a job reclassification done that raised his salary by $21,000 a year.

Read more in Wednesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com