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Niles mayor: We’re fixing personnel-management problems
By Ed Runyan
NILES
In the midst of city employees being indicted on theft charges, Mayor Ralph Infante is making policy changes intended to prevent future problems.
Infante negotiated a change in contract language that will make it easier to fire any city employee who is convicted of a felony offense. It will become official as soon as the union ratifies it, Infante said.
That could be relevant if Michael Marrara, 58, a sewer- maintenance employee, is convicted of theft.
Marrara, of Sayers Avenue, was indicted by a Trumbull County grand jury in April, accused of stealing $97,000 from Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Niles between 2007 and 2014.
Marrara is free on bond with his case pending before Judge Peter Kontos. His next pretrial hearing is set for Nov. 12.
In the meantime, Marrara is still working for the city under several restrictions. For instance, he’s not allowed to handle any city money.
Infante said he could have placed Marrara on paid leave while his case is pending, but he doesn’t believe in paying someone to sit at home.
Infante said he also is writing a new personnel policy to address issues that have arisen as a result of another city employee being accused of stealing money from her job.
Heidi Powell, 33, of West Park Avenue in Niles, was indicted in late September on one felony count of theft in office, accused of stealing $731 from her job with the Niles Income Tax Department.
Powell was hired to work for the city a short time after she was fired from her previous job with the AT&T store on Elm Road in Bazetta.
She lost that job because she had stolen $1,307 from the business and was convicted in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in April of misdemeanor theft in that case.
Infante said he doesn’t know whether a background check was done before Powell was hired because that was the responsibility of the Niles treasurer, Robert Swauger, who was her supervisor.
“We’re getting it corrected now so it doesn’t happen again,” Infante said of hiring someone to work with money who recently had stolen from her previous job.
Swauger could not be reached Monday to comment.
The new policy will guarantee that a Bureau of Criminal Investigation background check and Bureau of Motor Vehicles check are done before hiring anyone.
In the past, decisions about whether to conduct background checks were left up to the officeholder in charge of that employee, Infante said.
Infante said he, Swauger and the other Niles elected department head, Auditor Charles Nader, will have to sign off on the new policy, but he doesn’t expect that to be a problem.
The performance audit released in September by the state auditor’s office offered suggestions for how the city could cut $4.4 million in annual expenses, some of them related to the way it deals with its employees, such as requiring them to begin paying a part of their health-care premium.
The audit likewise said the city could become more efficient and effective at managing personnel if it centralized its human-resources tasks.
They are currently split among the auditor, mayor, safety director and service director.
Centralizing human resources saves money and “will allow the city to more efficiently and effectively address employee needs and concerns,” the audit said.