Trumbull commissioners delay action against workers
Staff report
WARREN
Trumbull County commissioners will not take action this week regarding two employees of the sanitary engineer’s department believed to have spent much of their work time engaged in nonwork activities.
The commissioners placed items on their agenda last week regarding the potential termination of David Harper of Niles and Lori A. Graham of Columbiana from their jobs as inspectors.
Commissioners Frank Fuda and Dan Polivka did not act on the proposed terminations last week, saying they needed another week to review the matter.
On Tuesday, Fuda, Polivka and Commissioner Paul Heltzel said the matter would not be acted upon this week either, saying the matter still needed more review.
The sanitary engineer’s department, acting on a tip from an anonymous source, placed global-positioning devices on the county vehicles Harper and Graham drove. The department kept track of their movements for 31/2 weeks before placing them on unpaid administrative leave Sept. 23.
The department found that Harper was engaged in nonwork activities 54 percent of the time during the 31/2 weeks, and Graham had traveled to her home on several occasions and spent as little as one hour per day in work-related activities.