Training lapses likely won't affect water safety for MVSD customers, board president says

NILES

Suspected discrepancies in water operator license-training records likely won’t affect the safety of the water supplied by the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, according to the president of the MVSD board of directors.

“I don’t believe it has anything to do with the safety of the drinking water,” said Matthew Blair, water district board president.

MVSD supplies treated water from Meander Reservoir to Youngstown, Niles and surrounding communities.

“The drinking water is carefully monitored, not only by the MVSD staff, but also by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency,” Blair said in an interview.

A little over a month ago, MVSD launched its own investigation of a chlorine safety class that had been scheduled for Sept. 18 and 20, 2014, at the district’s Meander treatment plant, Blair said.

That class was mentioned in the state’s bill of particulars filed May 18 in a criminal case alleging that Anthony P. Vigorito, former MVSD plant operations manager, committed fraud in connection with water treatment system operator training.

Vigorito’s lawyer, Martin F. White of Warren, declined to comment on the bill of particulars.

The bill alleges Vigorito acknowledged in a Sept. 29, 2014, memo he issued at MVSD that he engaged in a “fraudulent scheme of not requiring training students to attend classroom training” in chlorine safety on those 2014 dates.

Those who didn’t attend that class could take a quiz attached to the memo and sign the attendance sheet, the memo said.

“The defendant specifically stated in the memo: ‘Please do not write any dates on the test,’ indicating he was aware tests taken without classroom training would be fraudulent,” the bill says.

“The investigation is ongoing, and all employees who have not met the required contact hours will be required to immediately retake courses to properly comply with required contact hours,” said a news release from Blair.

“This will occur regardless of whether employees received certificates stating that classes had taken place on a certain date and that they were in attendance for the required number of hours,” the release said.

William Evans, an Akron lawyer and polygraph examiner, reported preliminary findings of his investigation of the matter to the MVSD board in executive session this week, Blair said.

At the water district board’s request, Evans also reported his findings to OEPA, Blair said in the news release.

Evans hasn’t polygraphed any water district employees in this matter, and likely won’t, Blair said.

“He’s conducting the investigation, and the employees are cooperating with him,” Blair said.

So far, the probe is focused on the September 2014 chlorine training, but it may expand to other water training course offerings, Blair said.

Read more about the matter in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.