Trumbull commissioners, planning chair want report released

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

The three Trumbull County commissioners are calling on the county planning commission to release an investigative report into allegations by planning commission Director Trish Nuskievicz that county Engineer Randy Smith created a hostile work environment for her.

Commissioners Mauro Cantalamessa and Dan Polivka said it’s time to release the report. Commissioner Frank Fuda said Friday he thinks it should be released, but he would want to ask the prosecutor’s office first to make sure it’s OK.

The commissioners have attended two recent planning commission meetings where the report was apparently discussed in executive session, but no decision was made when they returned to an open meeting. The commissioners are members of the 11-member planning commission.

The commissioners join a rising chorus of people asking the commission to make the report public.

Thursday’s discussion of the report began when Heidi Nuskievicz, wife of Trish Nuskievicz, told the commissioners she thought the report should be released.

Two local newspapers, including The Vindicator, made public-records requests to see the report, and Smith has asked multiple times for the document to be made public. The requests were denied.

Cantalamessa answered Heidi Nuskievicz by saying the decision to make the report public can only be made by the planning commission, but he supports making it public. Polivka later said he agreed.

Contacted Thursday, Bob Marino, former Niles councilman, now chairman of the planning commission, said the board planned to discuss the matter at next month’s meeting, likely March 12.

Marino said he thinks it should be released, “but it has to be a board decision.” He said he doesn’t know if there should be a special meeting to decide whether to release the report.

The planning commission hired Atty. Kimberly Riley on July 23 to investigate after Trish Nuskievicz turned in a letter to the board a few weeks earlier alleging she’d been subject to “psychological abuse, bullying, retaliation, discrimination and general harassment brought about by the Trumbull County Engineer and his associates.”

Trish Nuskievicz has been off work almost continuously since then. In July, she said she was going on sick leave because of health concerns she said were brought on by the harassment.

Heidi Nuskievicz said the conflict involving Trish Nuskievicz and Smith arose because Trish Nuskievicz was “unwilling to violate subdivision regulations” regarding a Liberty township project, adding she “is not a middle-aged white male who does favors for others.”