Niles council reflects on wi-fi debacle

October 5, 2017 at 12:05a.m.

NILES

City council members vow that costly technology mistakes detailed this week in a special series published by The Vindicator will not be repeated.

The series found that lack of expertise and planning by the administration of former Mayor Ralph Infante were among the reasons failed technology efforts – including a never-completed citywide Wi-Fi system – cost the city at least $3 million.

The financial losses were contributing factors along with a depleted general fund for the state’s placing Niles in fiscal emergency in October 2014.

The lessons learned from the losses vary with council members.

“Don’t take anyone for their word,” said Steve Papalas, D-at large, council finance chairman at the time, who disclosed in the series that the former mayor ruled out an advance study before proceeding with the Wi-Fi project.

“I trusted some people who should not have been trusted,” said Papalas. Asked if Infante was one of them, Papalas declined to provide any names. The longtime councilman is not running for re-election.

Linda Marchese, D-3rd, and Ryan McNaughton, D-at large, were not on council at the time of the Wi-Fi project.

Infante’s decision to place the entire project in the hands of Thomas Telego, who was already serving as the city’s billing manager and director of 911 operations, was too much, according to Marchese.

“One person should not wear that many hats,” she said.

McNaughton focused on the complaints detailed in the series by several council members who felt left out of the decision-making process.

“Major decisions need to be a total group effort,” said McNaughton. “We need to work smarter, better, leaner and more collaboratively.”

Infante, indicted on 41 counts including bribery and theft in office, is facing trial in December.

Publicity about the criminal case is not sitting well with the city’s businesses. A report this week from the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, which surveyed the attitudes of Niles’ businesses about expansion and retention, had some disturbing news for council.

Among the Niles business community, “there is a belief that the city remains corrupt,” it states.

Councilman Michael Lastic, D-at large, could only shake his head. “That paintbrush is killing us,” he said.