Trumbull workers drop grievances on driving violations

Staff report

WARREN

The two inspectors from the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer’s office who were fired for spending much of their work time at home and driving around in their work vehicles have dropped their grievances.

Following a mediation hearing Friday, Lori Graham of Columbiana and David Harper of Niles, along with their union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2493, dropped the grievances.

“We went over the facts, and [Graham and Harper] decided to pull their grievances,” said Michael Robinson, president of the union.

Robinson and James Keating, county human resources director, said that is the end of the appeal process for Graham and Harper.

Rex Fee, executive director of the sanitary engineer’s office, said having the matter resolved will allow him to replace one of the two.

Fee left the positions vacant until the grievance procedure had been completed. One of the two positions will remain vacant.

An anonymous phone call led Fee to learn that Graham was driving her work truck to her home in Columbiana during work hours, which prompted the department to install global-positioning-system tracking devices on her work vehicle and Harper’s.

Over a three-week period in September, Graham was found to be engaging in nonwork activities about 25 percent of the time, while Harper was misusing his time and vehicle 54 percent of the time.

The county has since approved a contract to have GPS devices installed in all 32 vehicles used by the department.