OPERS says 3 Warren officials retired

Staff report

WARREN

The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System says three Warren officials have retired.

The three are Greg Hicks, Warren law director; David Griffing, Warren auditor; and Judge Thomas Gysegem of Warren Municipal Court.

Mike Pramik, a spokesman for OPERS, said state law doesn’t give the public the right to know the amount of money Ohio public retirees receive in their pensions or the date of their retirement, but it does allow the public to find out whether any particular employee is retired or not retired.

Hicks and Griffing filed letters with the Trumbull County Board of Elections in mid-2011 indicating they would retire at the end of 2011. Judge Gysegem filed a similar letter in 2007, but he didn’t indicate an effective date for his retirement.

Warren City Council passed an ordinance in 1984 that prevents city employees from working more than 20 hours per week if they return to city employment after their retirement.

The city hasn’t had a single employee return to work after retirement in close to 20 years, Warren Human Resources Director Brian Massucci said.

When asked earlier this week about the 20-hour limit, Hicks said the ordinance doesn’t apply to elected officials.

Hicks and Griffing were elected to four-year terms in November 2011, and Gysegem is in the final year of a six-year term.