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Man files complaint seeking removal of county engineer
Photo
Trumbull County Engineer David DeChristofaro
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
A Niles man has filed a civil complaint in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, asking that David DeChristofaro, Trumbull County engineer, be removed from office.
An Ohio law enacted in 1953 allows a person to seek removal of a county engineer for misconduct in office.
The suit is filed by Atty. Subodh Chandra of Cleveland, who also represents Nicole Klingeman of Bristolville, who recently won back her job with back pay in DeChristofaro’s office. Her federal civil suit against DeChristofaro is still pending.
The misconduct Vincent Davila Sr. of Black Oak Drive alleges is DeChristofaro’s reported use of county employees and equipment to send out letters, thank you’s and Christmas cards to precinct committee people and political supporters.
It is the same complaint the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and state ethics commission have agreed to investigate at the request of Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins.
In a five-page letter to Trumbull County Auditor Adrian Biviano last month, Watkins wrote that DeChristofaro; David Rouan, DeChristofaro’s director of administration; and other sources tried to reimburse the county $171.85 with campaign money for the letters, thank you’s and Christmas cards.
Watkins also said in the letter: “These activities and reimbursements as outlined in your submissions appear to indicate to me that various statutes of Ohio may have been violated.”
Biviano first raised questions about what DeChristofaro had done in a letter to Watkins earlier in January.
DeChristofaro’s office said Monday that DeChristofaro would not be available all week to comment on the suit.
Rouan said he was not aware of the lawsuit and had no comment. A published phone number for Davila on Black Oak Drive is no longer in service.
Chandra said Davila is an electrician. He has no connection to the engineer’s office and is “just an outraged citizen,” Chandra said.
The potential misuse occurred between April and December 2010, according to Watkins’ letter.
Rouan submitted an invoice April 9 for letters generated at the engineer’s office using government-owned equipment, stationery, envelopes, color printing and use of a public-owned postage meter to send many of the 262 letters to precinct committee members.
The Committee to Elect David DeChristofaro wrote a check April 20 for $139.83 for use of county property and resources for political activity.
DeChristofaro’s political campaign committee also paid $32.02 to the county for the mailing and printing of Christmas cards and cards thanking those who attended his annual Columbus Day campaign fundraising dinner, Watkins wrote. But there is nothing “to indicate whether county labor was involved or reimbursed” for the work, Watkins wrote.