Mahoning Auditor Meacham should ask the state for help

Ralph Meacham has made his first major decision as Mahoning County auditor, and it’s momentous: He fired the chief deputy, Carol McFall, on just his second day on the job because she did not meet his standards for disclosure and transparency of the public’s business.

McFall’s termination is significant because Meacham has never worked in the public sector before and because he does not have a replacement for her. The Republican officeholder consistently had sung her praises since he won the November general election over Democratic incumbent Michael Sciortino.

At issue is McFall’s failure to give Meacham all the details of pay raises and bonuses granted by Sciortino before he left office.

But the problem with Sciortino’s last act of betrayal — he had two other ones that were largely responsible for his losing his re-election bid — goes beyond disclosure and transparency. It’s actually about an elected official thumbing his nose at the taxpayers.

Meacham cannot let the pay boosts granted to management and union employees stand.

He should place a hold on all of them, even those in the new contract that Sciortino entered into with the union representing workers in the auditor’s office, and should ask Ohio Auditor David Yost and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine to send in their experts in government finance and the law to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the auditor’s office.

Of particular concern to us is Sciortino’s claim not long before his term ended that the county’s financial future looked bright. He projected nonstop growth in sales-tax revenue to government — from a low of just below $26.2 million in the midst of the national recession to $33.5 million in 2014.

“As economic conditions improve, our overall fiscal strength improves,” he told commissioners Anthony Traficanti, Carol Rimedio-Righetti and David Ditzler. “Our fiscal condition, as far as the state of the county is concerned, is strong.”

We believe an independent review of the former auditor’s economic assumptions is warranted because his credibility has been called into question not only by his irresponsible behavior with regard to expenditure of taxpayer dollars, but by the state criminal charges filed against him for his participation in the Oakhill Renaissance Place conspiracy.

In fact, he was suspended with pay by a judicial panel appointed by Ohio’s chief justice two weeks before his term in office ended.

KEEP OFFICE TRANSPARENT

Meacham, a political novice, won election by promising the voters a new beginning in the operation of the office — with transparency and openness as the main pillars — and proper management of taxpayers dollars.

Hence, he must place a hold on the additional payroll expenditures approved by Sciortino until the state review is completed.

Commissioners Traficanti, Rimedio-Righetti and Ditzler, who rubberstamped the new contract presented by the former auditor, should make it clear to Meacham that they will deduct the amount of the raises and bonuses from the allocation to the auditor’s office unless the state auditor and attorney general say he is legally bound by the decisions of his Democratic predecessor.

Meacham has shown with his firing of McFall that he is not afraid to right a wrong. He should now leave his imprint on the rest of the staff.

It doesn’t matter if they ultimately like him. He should only care about what the taxpayers of Mahoning County think.