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City engineer’s assistant draws criticism
The Vindicator
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Suzanne Wilcox of Orchard Avenue, Hubbard, claims water from a detention pond on property adjacent to hers is running onto her property and creating problems. She points out damage to a barn on her property that she claims is the result of water from the pond.
By Jeanne Starmack
HUBBARD
An Orchard Avenue woman’s fight to get a water-runoff problem under control has put a spotlight on record-keeping by the city engineer’s assistant.
Robert Toth is not an engineer for the city — that job falls to the engineering firm MS Consultants. But he does keep in his office site building plans and other records regarding development projects.
Suzanne Wilcox, of 111 Orchard Ave., has correspondence showing she asked in August 2009 for copies of site plans and water-detention-pond plans for property on West Liberty Street. The property abuts her backyard, and she believes the pond has much to do with her yard’s getting flooded.
Wilcox finally got a set of plans for the pond early this month after trying for two years. She has been attending city council meetings regularly since February and asking why she hasn’t been able to get the records she wants.
Toth has come under criticism from other city officials because of a messy office.
He acknowledged to The Vindicator that he is a “pack rat” but said there are reasons he might not be able to locate records.
“I told Ms. Wilcox we had flooding in a building,” he said. “The city building had a roof-leak problem.”
He also said the secretary for the zoning board of appeals is supposed to retain records, but a turnover in that position has resulted in some records being lost.
In a letter to Wilcox, he also cited “computer change-outs” and his office’s being “turned upside down” because he has to refile records into new filing cabinets.
He also told Wilcox “several items have been discarded due to the length of time since completion of a project.”
State law requires government entities to keep records and make them available for public inspection upon request. Records-retention policies are supposed to be written and followed.
Records can be disposed of, but local historical societies have to be notified.
Toth told The Vindicator he was not aware of whether the city has a records-retention policy. He checked and discovered it has a records commission.
“How long do you keep records anyway?” he said. “I try to keep them as long as I can.”
“I don’t throw stuff away on purpose,” he added.
City Auditor Mike Villano, who also is the secretary of the records commission, said that no records should be thrown away.
“We’re technically a ‘forever’ place,” he said. “We don’t have a retention schedule OK’d by the state historical society.” He said the state notifies local societies.
Villano said he and other city officials are concerned about the records in Toth’s office.
“That’s been an ongoing battle for better than a decade,” he said. “Every mayor’s been on him. We bought him new filing cabinets.”
Toth recently straightened up his office.