Commissioner suggests merging engineering departments

Photo

John McNally IV

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — A Mahoning County commissioner said he believes the county should seriously consider merging the administration of the county engineer’s and sanitary engineer’s departments.

“I think it’s actually a great idea. It’s something that Stark County did in January of this year,” said Commissioner John A. McNally IV.

McNally was endorsing a suggestion by John Paulette of Austintown that the administration of the two departments be merged now that Joseph Warino, sanitary engineer, is retiring Nov. 27. Warino, who became sanitary engineer in 1997, will become Canfield city manager.

“Now’s the time that you can show the general public that you’re sincere in doing everything you can to save money,” Paulette told the commissioners Tuesday.

“It’s a way not only to save monies that would go to an additional salary and save benefits; you might be able to save some duplication of efforts,” McNally said.

“If you look at their offices, they’re located next door to each other on Industrial Road,” he said.

County Engineer Richard Marsico was temporarily in charge of the sanitary engineer’s office between Joseph Catullo’s retirement and Warino’s appointment as sanitary engineer.

“We deal with the roads and the bridges and the storm water, but the sanitary is entirely a different type of operation that works with the collection and the treatment of sanitary sewage,” Marsico said.

“There are some items that overlap, and we’ve worked together on them, but I’d have to think about anything if they were to offer it to me, whether I would be willing to take it or not,” he said.

Commissioner Anthony T. Traficanti, board chairman, declined to comment on the potential joint administration of the departments.

“There’s a lot to be evaluated to make as important a decision as that,” said George J. Tablack, county administrator. Among the things to be considered are the large number of water-supply and sewer-construction projects overseen by the sanitary engineer’s office, he said.

The county engineer is elected by the voters. The sanitary engineer is appointed by the county commissioners.

The engineer’s department is funded by gasoline taxes, motor vehicle license fees and federal and state grants. The sanitary engineer’s office is funded by water- and sewer-user fees. Neither department gets any money from the county’s general fund.

On Tuesday, the commissioners bought from the Diocese of Youngstown 1.7 acres of vacant land behind St. James Catholic Church in North Jackson for $34,000 for construction of a satellite maintenance and storage building for the sanitary engineer’s office. They also awarded a $24,000 contract to Strollo Architects Inc. of Youngstown to design the 2,600-square-foot building, which is scheduled to open there in late spring 2010.