Saturday, March 25, 2017
By Jordan Cohen
MINERAL RIDGE
The board of directors of the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District will review the job status of Anthony Vigorito, plant operations manager, who was indicted by a Mahoning County grand jury on six felony counts.
“We’re going to meet with our legal counsel and explore our options Wednesday,” said Atty. Matt Blair, board president. “I can tell you [Vigorito] is still on the job.”
Vigorito, 41, of Niles, is charged with two counts each of forgery, criminal noncompliance with Ohio’s safe drinking water law and tampering with records. He was indicted Thursday.
He is accused of falsifying training records to show that 26 Youngstown Water Department employees – one has since left – successfully completed continuing- education courses he taught on behalf of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency in 2013 and 2014. The state attorney general’s office alleges the employees never completed the courses and, in some cases, did not take them.
Last month, the employees pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count each of falsifying contact hours. Each employee was ordered to pay restitution to the city, a fine and court fees. As part of their sentence – and a cut in pay by the city – the employees were ordered to cooperate with the prosecution against Vigorito.
Blair said the board will have three options to consider when it meets next week.
“One we’ll be looking at is whether to put him on paid administrative leave at least for a short-term basis,” Blair told The Vindicator. “Another would be whether any disciplinary action is appropriate, and third would be to allow him to continue working at his job.”
The board president would not say whether he expects the board to take any action at the Wednesday meeting after its discussion.
An attempt to speak to Vigorito at MVSD was unsuccessful. A receptionist referred all press calls to his attorney, Martin White of Warren.
“I don’t have anything to say about this other than we will be pleading not guilty to all counts when he is arraigned April 4,” White said.
The arraignment hearing will be in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in front of Judge R. Scott Krichbaum.
Vigorito, an employee of MVSD for 18 years, was named chief engineer in 2014 provided that within 12 months, he secure professional engineer certification required by the MVSD and a Class IV license, which the EPA mandates for operating a water-purification facility.
The time frame was extended by an additional six months, but when Vigorito was still unable to qualify for both, he was replaced at the end of 2015 because the district would have faced a possible EPA citation. Vigorito subsequently was named plant operations manager.
“He’s really a competent guy,” Blair said of Vigorito at the time.