WARREN — The Democratic candidates for Trumbull County engineer are no strangers to one another in politics.

The two men have tussled over the seat since John Latell announced he was stepping aside in 2008. The seat is unique in that the candidates are required to have professional engineer and professional survey licenses.

The position’s pay is set by Ohio law and based on the population of the county. For 2020, it is $86,650 for engineers with a private practice and $115,707 for engineers without a private practice in a county with Trumbull County’s population.

David DeChristofaro and Randy Smith went head to head in a Democratic primary in 2008, and DeChristofaro won 55 percent of the vote. DeChristofaro left his position of vice president of engineering and development at the Cafaro Company, where he had worked in different positions since 1986, and a part-time engineering position with the city of Niles, to become the engineer.

Smith, who was Latell’s deputy engineer and had held positions in the county engineer’s office since 1993, left to become the service director in Euclid.

The two have disputed the way the other describes their record when it comes to payroll, hirings, legal fees and employee grievances.

DeCHRISTOFARO

When DeChristofaro took office, he quickly moved to “clean house,” firing five employees on the first day, most of whom had ties to Latell, including his daughter-in-law, according to Tribune Chronicle archives. However, DeChristofaro was forced to rehire two of the people he fired after they filed union grievances and wrongful termination lawsuits.

The lawsuits led to settlements for three employees. According to DeChristofaro, the only amounts the office had to pay for the settlements was the $25,000 insurance deductible for each case, totaling $75,000. According to a review of payments to the insurance company, DeChristofaro was in office when a total of $146,000 in payments associated with lawsuits were made to the insurance company on behalf of the office. Other funds were paid out in premiums and back pay from other county funds.

DeChristofaro hired a few people in his first year, including administrator David Rouan and attorney Enzo Cantalamessa, whom DeChristofaro met when the two worked for the Cafaro Company.

In Latell’s last year in office, the office had nine secretary / support positions, according to information obtained by the Trumbull County Human Resources Office and analyzed by the Tribune Chronicle. Latell had six engineers, five foremen, 45 laborers, seven superintendents or supervisors and one administrative position. The 74-member office had a payroll of $3.108 million, and it would have included any overtime work the crews had to handle that year.

In 2010, DeChristofaro had eight secretary / support positions, five engineers, eight foremen, 37 laborers, six supervisors or superintendents and two administrative positions — Rouan and Cantalamessa. There were 66 total employees with a payroll of $3.108 million.

DeChristofaro explained he eliminated the positions because they weren’t necessary. But during a deposition, he said he made the decision before examining the workload some of the employees had — including the woman he fired who handled payroll issues.

“Did you ever learn what percentage of time is spent doing specific tasks before you took over on Jan. 5 (2009)?” the attorney asks. “No,” DeChristofaro replies.

In 2009, employees filed four grievances against DeChristofaro, including the three people who filed the wrongful termination suits, according to a review of grievance records. In 2010, employees filed five grievances against DeChristofaro and during the time DeChristofaro was still in office in 2011 — he resigned in July — employees filed two grievances against him.

Aside from the grievances filed by the people who were fired, the official complaints against DeChristofaro included a man who thought losing pay because he came in late was unfair, four employees who thought they were unfairly passed over for a promotion and a man who thought his reprimand was too strong for an “outburst,” all of which were denied. The grievances filed in 2011 before he left office accused DeChristofaro of ignoring overtime procedures, which was granted, and a man claimed the new health insurance plan violated the union contract. That grievance was denied.

CRIMINAL CHARGES

In January 2011, Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins called on the Ohio attorney general and Ohio Ethics Commission to investigate allegations of misuse of county property, equipment and resources in DeChristofaro’s office. A month later, a Niles electrician sued to remove him from office.

In April 2011, a visiting judge set a July 18, 2011, jury selection hearing in the removal suit, and in June 2011, a second civil suit was filed alleging neglect of his duty. On July 14, DeChristofaro resigned from the office.

The investigation began when DeChristofaro used county employees, county materials and county time to work on campaign events.

It came to light when DeChristofaro wrote campaign checks to cover the cost of the materials he used to print fundraising invitations, letters to precinct committee people, “thank you” cards for a fundraising dinner and Christmas mailer.

And although DeChristofaro told investigators he thought it was OK to do campaign work as long as he reimbursed the county for the materials, the Ohio Ethics Commission found DeChristofaro had in 2007 looked for incriminating evidence to indicate his primary opponent Smith had done the same thing — albeit unsuccessfully.

He also told the Tribune Chronicle this month he was given bad advice and thought he was within his rights to use county labor, time and materials to work on his campaign if he reimbursed the county.

“What I got removed for was listening to people that said it was OK if I made copies in my office as long as I paid for it,” DeChristofaro said.

He said the incident is in the past and may have been politically motivated, and he simply made a few copies for Christmas salutations.

According to the depositions of one of his employees taken during the investigation, the political activity on county time went further.

The investigative report and depositions taken for the court proceedings detail the amount of work DeChristofaro’s secretary did for his political life in the office, on county time and with county materials.

The woman told investigators she was never asked to do the work on her own time, and DeChristofaro knew she was doing the work in the office during her shift, according to the depositions. DeChristofaro contends he thought she was doing the work at home. She also told investigators she was told to make campaign-related phone calls on her cellphone instead of the county line.

DeChristofaro pleaded guilty in 2011 to felony theft and misdemeanor conflict of interest charges, according to Tribune Chronicle archives. He was sentenced to two years probation and fines and restitution totaling about $12,400. He resigned from office as part of the plea deal.

A retired Stark County judge, Richard Reinbold, sealed the records in the case in 2016.

SMITH

The resignation paved the way for Smith’s appointment to the position mid-2011.

In 2012, the first full year Smith was in office, he had 63 total employees and a payroll of $2.817 million, according to records at the county human resource’s office.

There were six secretaries / support staff, four engineers, six foremen, 35 laborers, and seven supervisors or superintendents.

The amount of administrative positions increased to five. In addition to keeping on the newly appoined safety service director of Warren, Cantalamessa, Smith brought on a director of government affairs, an Ohio retirement system assistant, a director of finance and personnel, and a safety compliance officer.

In 2013, Smith had five secretaries / support staff, four engineers, five foremen, 41 laborers, and seven supervisors or superintendents. He created two additional administrative positions to the ones added the year before — a fiscal officer and a RUMA (road use maintenance agreement) coordinator, a former Liberty Township trustee.

The payroll was $2.914 million with a total of 69 employees.

Attorney Matt Blair joined Smith, replacing Cantalamessa; the Ohio retirement system assistant and the director of government affairs positions were eliminated; and Smith added an administrative position, hiring a former Niles councilman.

In 2014, Smith still had 69 total employees and a similar payroll of $2.938 million. There were 43 laborers, five secretaries / support staff, five foremen, four engineers, six supervisors or superintendents, and six administrative positions.

The numbers were similar in 2015, and no new administrative positions were created.

In 2016, the payroll went down to $2.857 million with 63 employees. The decreases were primarily in laborers, and no new positions were created.

In 2017, there were 64 employees with a payroll of $2.951 million. There were a few additional laborers on staff.

A Weathersfield trustee was hired in 2018 in order to train and take over the duties of the RUMA coordinator, a position that morphed when the road-use agreements fell to the wayside.

That brought the administrative positions up to seven, while there were 37 laborers, five secretaries / support staff, five foremen, six supervisors or superintendents and four engineers.

In 2018, the payroll was at $2.982 million with 64 total employees.

Smith began accruing union grievances almost immediately after taking office, according to records reviewed by the Tribune Chronicle.

In September 2011, an employee given a three-day suspension for using county equipment to dig out and take large rocks from a work site without permission filed one, claiming his punishment was too severe.

Later that year, two employees felt they shouldn’t have been written up for failing to call their supervisors for instruction while on a job site.

In 2012, 24 grievances were filed against Smith, 30 in 2013, 29 in 2014, 24 in 2015, 15 in 2016, 12 in 2017, nine in 2018 and just one in 2019.

Smith said he began enforcing rules that hadn’t been enforced or hadn’t been in place under previous engineers, and it ruffled feathers. Many of the grievances were filed by the same handful of people, a review of the records show.

While most of the grievances were denied, a few made it to court.

LAWSUITS

Five employees sued Smith, accusing him and his management team of discriminating against them for their union affiliation and supporting Smith’s opponent in an election. Some were employed at the time of the suit; others had been fired.

That suit was dismissed in Smith’s favor, with prejudice, with the judge finding the employees who claimed they were given “bad” assignments in retaliation couldn’t prove any rights violations.

Smith also was sued by his former safety compliance officer, who alleged Smith created a hostile work environment for him. That suit also was dismissed.

The State Employment Relations Board sided with Smith in 2017 when it dismissed unfair labor charges and wrongful termination charges against Smith.

Two loggers who sued Smith for his new permitting schedule for heavy trucks also lost that suit.

All three of the cases were brought against Smith by the same attorney. Smith said he believes the man was out to get him.

And when a county official in a separate office accused Smith of creating an environment of bullying that made it difficult for her to work, a $40,000 investigation could not substantiate her claims. The woman was let go, and Smith personally sued her for defamation before eventually dropping the suit.

Smith said anyone can bring a lawsuit against a person, but he has been vindicated in each case. He said he believes many of the issues came about for political reasons.

Smith’s office had to pay the insurance deductible of $25,000 in 2015 and 2017 to cover the legal expenses. And in 2019, the county paid out two $25,000 deductibles to cover two of the issues, for a total of $100,000.