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WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners said they will not entertain a request from county Engineer Randy Smith to be reinstated as sanitary engineer.
As the elected Trumbull County engineer, Smith heads the highway department. For about five years, commissioners also placed Smith in the position of sanitary engineer, an appointed post heading up the county's sanitary department. In November, however, commissioners moved to replace him with deputy sanitary engineer, Gary Newbrough.
Smith wrote a letter to commissioners asking to be reinstated and appears to threaten litigation if he is not. The letter also requests an investigation into personnel matters at the sanitary engineer's office, complains about conversations last year with commissioners Mauro Cantalamessa and Frank Fuda, and dredges up complaints about an attorney he used in the highway department who still works for the sanitary engineer's department.
Smith asks for an "independent investigation regarding personnel issues at the Sanitary Engineer's office" and the "reversal of my wrongful and retaliatory termination as sanitary engineer."
"Additionally, a thorough investigation might ultimately be less expensive than Trumbull County's CORSA deductible when this situation inevitably results in litigation.
"I trust that you can fully understand my concerns from a human resources and legal perspective, particularly given my apparently related and retaliatory termination as sanitary engineer," the letter states.
The letter states Cantalamessa used swear words in a conversation he had with him last year. It was during a conversation when the two were discussing sanitary sewer rates for a new manufacturing plant in Lordstown.
At the time, Smith was attempting to negotiate a lower rate for sewage treatment at the Ultium Cells LLC, to make an add-on cost Lordstown wanted to charge more palatable for the company. Cantalamessa sided against him on the issue, urging the standard price for the services out of fairness to other county sanitary sewer customers.
Smith said Cantalamessa's language was "degrading and obscene." He said it is hypocritical that commissioners are now talking about creating a more professional environment, and punishing county employees for using certain language, when Cantalamessa used coarse language with him.
Cantalamessa said Tuesday he is not proud of the "colorful" language he used with Smith, but he was fighting for the best interest of the county and was frustrated Smith seemed to be working against that.
Frenchko said there is a difference between raising working standards of professionalism language in county offices, and a private conversation between two elected officials colored by Cantalamessa's "righteous indignation."
Smith also makes accusations in the letter that he was removed from the sanitary engineer position because Commissioner Frank Fuda was angry that Smith supported former Commissioner Dan Polivka during the November election. Fuda supported Polivka's opponent, Commissioner Niki Frenchko, who won the election.
Fuda said the allegations are untrue. Smith was put out of the office because he wasn't leading it well, Fuda said. The employees under Smith complained he undermined the work of the sanitary engineer's office by making political deals --- like with the Ultium sewer deal, was barely in the office and unable to do two full-time jobs at once, Fuda said.
Frenchko said commissioners are moving the sanitary engineer's office in a "more professional direction" and asked that Smith avoid sending any more "disgusting" letters to them in the future.
Smith's letter brings up attorney Matt Blair, who previously represented Smith's highway office and came to represent the sanitary engineer's office in 2019, on Smith's recommendation.
The letter states Blair is inappropriately earning health care benefits while working 20 hours per week, instead of the minimum 30 hours per week set in county policy.
In a July 2019 commissioners meeting, Smith himself recommended commissioners hire Blair for the sanitary attorney position, at 20 hours per week with benefits. At the time of the action, the resolution states Blair was to be paid about $40 per hour for work in the sanitary department, and a flat cost of $2,000 permonth through the highway engineer's department.
Blair resigned from the highway attorney position, but his hours and benefits weren't adjusted.
Commissioners said Tuesday they will look into that issue.
Frenchko stated that was a "mess" Smith made himself, and that commissioners would clean it up.