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Tablack is out
The Vindicator
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George Tablack, a multiterm Mahoning County auditor, received a letter Monday informing him his contract as county administrator will not be renewed after it expires Sunday.
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George Tablack
Time line
Significant events in the public-service career of George J. Tablack:
November 1986: First elected as Mahoning County auditor.
1989: Requires all officeholders and department heads to begin submitting sick and vacation time balances for all their employees.
1994: Tablack opponent drops out, and he runs unopposed for another term as auditor.
1998: Wins re-election for
another term as auditor.
2000: Tablack runs a distant third in congressional race against incumbent James A. Traficant Jr.
2002: Wins his fifth term as auditor.
July 2005: Steps down as auditor after nearly 19 years to become chief financial officer of the clerk and comptroller office of Palm Beach County in Florida, an appointed position.
November 2005: In a 2-1 vote, Mahoning commissioners hire Tablack as director of the county’s Office of Management & Budget. He said he returned to the Mahoning Valley because he missed his family and because he was recruited by former Commissioner David Ludt.
May 2006: In a 2-1 vote, commissioners hire Tablack as county administrator. He also will continue his role as budget director.
May 2011: Commissioners send a letter to Tablack telling him they will vote at their meeting today not to renew his contract as administrator. Tablack’s contract expires Sunday.
Source: Vindicator files
and Elise Franco
jgoodwin@vindy.com efranco@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
Mahoning County commissioners will not seek a new administrator after this weekend.
Instead, they said they will seek a new direction.
In a letter sent to current administrator George J. Tablack on Monday, commissioners informed him they “will not be renewing or extending your employment agreement with Mahoning County” once his contract expires Sunday.
The letter also directs Tablack to return all county property such as keys, cellphones, computer devices and identification cards by Friday.
The letter was signed by Commissioners John A. McNally IV and Carol Rimedio-Righetti. Commissioner Anthony Traficanti has not signed the document.
Righetti said Tablack’s employment is based on a majority vote by commissioners. Therefore, two signatures from commissioners voting not to renew Tablack’s contract would be enough to end his employment with the county.
Commissioners are expected to discuss the situation when they meet at 10 a.m. today in the courthouse basement.
Righetti on Wednesday said there has been no discussion about hiring a new county administrator, and she does not think filling the position is necessary. Righetti said commissioners should be able to fill any void after Tablack is gone.
“We want to move in a different direction for Mahoning County. We [commissioners] were elected to be the administrators for residents of the county, and I believe that is what we should do,” she said.
“The general public wants to see their public officials be there. If you have a question, you should be able to call me and ask me,” she added. “We need to be more transparent as elected officials.”
Tablack told The Vindicator he appreciates support given to him by the local media during his 25 years as a county employee, saying, “[The media] has been very supportive of many initiatives I’ve championed for changes in county government.”
Tablack said he does have plans once his contract expires, but he’s not prepared to discuss them publicly.
“I will continue to try to work for the community and the betterment of the government,” he said.
McNally said instead of hiring a new administrator, the commissioners hired a full-time human-resources director and plan to search for a budget director.
Rachel Livengood of Troy, Ohio, was approved as the new HR director at the last commissioners’ meeting, McNally said. Livengood will make $67,500 annually.
“Bringing in this full-time HR director and having the commissioners more involved in the day-to-day operations are changes that need to be made,” McNally said. “There needs to be more information sharing.”
McNally is one of five people charged in a 73-count indictment alleging the defendants conspired criminally to impede the move of the county’s Department of Job and Family Services from Cafaro Co.-owned rented quarters to Oakhill Renaissance Place in 2007. The county bought the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center in 2006.
Charges include engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, conspiracy, perjury, bribery, money laundering, tampering with records, disclosure of confidential information, conflict of interest, filing a false financial-disclosure statement and soliciting or accepting improper compensation.
Tablack championed the Oakhill purchase; McNally opposed it. McNally maintained his vote not to renew Tablack’s contract was unrelated to the Oakhill litigation.
“To be honest, I’m not concerned about payback, and this has nothing to do with Oakhill,” McNally said. “At least two of the commissioners wanted to make these changes.”
Though McNally and Righetti said they want to move the commissioners’ office in a new direction, McNally said Tablack was involved in many positive accomplishments in the county — namely maintaining the Mahoning County jail.
“The biggest thing we’ve been able to accomplish is something many county officials contributed to, and that’s attempting to maintain jail operations as much as we could at 100 percent,” he said. “That’s something George contributed to, as well as our prosecutors, three commissioners, jail staff and deputies. It was a whole team effort.”
According to Tablack’s contract, he was hired in August 2006 at an annual rate of $95,000. That contract was extended for one year in 2010, with an end date of May 15, 2011. Traficanti and former Commissioner David Ludt voted in favor of the extension with McNally voting against it.
Tablack was given a new one-year deal in May 2010. The vote to rehire Tablack was 2-1, with Traficanti and Ludt in favor and McNally opposed.
At the time, Tablack was given a $103,809 annual salary, minus 10 percent in the form of an unpaid holiday every two weeks; six weeks of annual vacation; and a clause requiring a lump-sum buyout equal to six months of his salary if the commissioners fire him.
Had commissioners decided to terminate Tablack’s employment with the county before Sunday, Tablack could have been owed an additional $50,000.
Tablack’s pay was also the focus in 2008 when commissioners OK’d a $16,027 payment representing a retroactive 3 percent annual cost-of-living pay increase dating back to Jan. 1, 2006.
Last June, Tablack made headlines again when the Oakhill facility was evacuated after a 5.0-magnitude earthquake epicentered in Canada rattled through the Mahoning Valley. He said he ordered Oakhill closed for the remainder of the day in part “to calm labor’s concerns.”