Mahoning commissioners decline to specify issues discussed behind closed doors

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County commissioners spent more than two hours in executive session Thursday on personnel and labor-management issues, including the health concern over lead in the water supply at Oakhill Renaissance Place.

During part of that executive session, they met with representatives of three unions at the county’s Department of Job and Family Services at Oakhill: the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, the Teamsters, and the United Auto Workers Union.

AFSCME also represents workers in the city health department, the county maintenance department and the county auto title department at Oakhill and has more than 220 of its members working at Oakhill.

Also in the meeting were heads of county departments at Oakhill, assistant county prosecutors, city Health Commissioner Erin Bishop and county Health Commissioner Patricia Sweeney.

“We were in executive session because, of course, these are labor-management issues,” said Carol Rimedio-Righetti, chairwoman of the commissioners.

“They had a lot of different varied issues they wanted to discuss with us — the building being one of them,” she said of the union representatives, declining to elaborate on the personnel, safety and health matters discussed.

“Now we have what their real concerns are, and we will try to address them,” she said.

“We made no decisions in this meeting,” she added.

Read more about the meeting in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.