Trumbull engineer takes offensive regarding claims by union leadership

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

Trumbull County Engineer Randy Smith went on the offensive Wednesday to address the most recent claims by leaders of the union representing his employees.

At a meeting of the county commissioners, Atty. Matt Blair, who represents the engineer’s office, listed about a dozen instances in the past three years in which leadership of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association has alleged wrongdoing by Smith, and Blair said the allegations have been proved untrue.

He listed instances in which the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency was notified, investigations were carried out by various state agencies, lawsuits were filed against Smith, complaints were filed with a county bar association and unfair-labor practices complaints were filed.

“We have been dealing with this crap for three years,” Blair said, adding that fighting these complaints is costly.

But Smith has hired private counsel to combat the attacks, and the goal will be to recover the costs incurred – about $250,000 of taxpayer money, Blair said.

“To me, this is nothing but smoke and mirrors,” Smith said of the complaints. He said he refuses to allow threats to intimidate him.

Blair said employees at the engineer’s office make about $20 per hour, work 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a paid lunch, get 15 sick days per year, premium pay, birthday and 12 paid holidays, two personal days, clothing and boot allowance and a “Cadillac” insurance plan.

But Smith refuses to let them sleep on the job, damage equipment or behave dishonestly, Blair said.

Kendall Lee Stauffer Jr., union steward at the county engineer’s office, notified The Vindicator that informational picketing will take place 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in front of the engineer’s office, 650 North River Road NW.

The pickets will be “protesting the frivolous spending of taxpayer dollars, the political cronyism in hiring, treatment of union stewards and the anti-union working environment fostered by Trumbull County Engineer Randy Smith,” according to a flier.

Stauffer did not return a phone call for this story.

One of Smith’s union workers, Dave Peterson, said union leadership doesn’t represent the majority of union members.

“Seventy percent of workers don’t want this. It boils down to a handful of people who are causing all of these issues,” Peterson said.

Darryl Parker of Warren, who led United Steelworkers Local 1375 as president while RG Steel was shutting down a few years ago, was one of the people from other unions who spoke on Smith’s behalf and credited him with operating his department effectively.

Parker said many of the 1,100 members of his union who lost their jobs at RG Steel would be happy to have jobs at the engineer’s office.

“If you want to fight about things that have no merit, then you need to be somewhere else. Go hungry for a while, “ he said.

“I’ve been a steelworker for 45 years, and I’ve been in the union for over 30 years, and I have never heard anything like this in my life,” he said of the complaints against Smith.