WARREN — The Trumbull County Commissioners’ Office has responded to complaints that name Commissioner Niki Frenchko, filed by the human resources director, the former 911 center director and two office employees.

HR Director Richard Jackson and former 911 Director Ernie Cook filed complaints with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and the State Personnel Board of Review; administrative assistant Christine Glenn filed one with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission; and journal clerk Paula Vivoda-Klotz filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The complaints name the board as a whole, although they single out Frenchko. The complaints indicate the newly elected commissioner in a short period has become involved actively in many aspects of Trumbull County operations, though her input has caused some friction.

The expense to defend these complaints will be footed by taxpayers. The exact legal cost for these complaints is not yet available, in some cases because attorney invoices have not been received yet.

Here are five examples based upon available documents:

JACKSON

Jackson’s complaints stem from incidents earlier this year.

Following a confrontation in Jackson’s office, Frenchko and Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa voted to discipline Jackson during the same January meeting where they fired Cook. Commissioner Frank Fuda called into the meeting, but the call dropped so he did not vote on the discipline.

Commissioners said Jackson used inappropriate language that violated county policy during that interaction and with a staff member.

According to county documents, Frenchko took issue when Jackson told her not to get “hot and bothered” as they discussed another employee’s scheduling issues.

“Her demeanor was very confrontational, voice raised, sharp insulting tones,” during the interaction, Jackson’s complaint states.

He was suspended without pay for two days for the first incident, and for 15 days without pay for the second incident.

Jackson’s complaint with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission states Frenchko yelled, made insulting comments to him and used a “condescending tone of speech that female employees are not subject to” and there are other instances of “her treatment of male managers.”

The complaint states Frenchko insulted Jackson by stating “some people are put in jobs they don’t really know” and yelled at him in front of two other employees regarding the work schedule of another employee.

Isaac Wiles and Burkholder in Columbus is handling the complaint on behalf of the county. The county has moved to dismiss the state personnel board case.

The county’s response to the civil rights commission complaint states the county denies any discrimination occurred. The response states Frenchko was “keeping her campaign promises to hold public employees accountable” and she has sought to punish women employees, too.

The county’s response states while Frenchko’s “alleged behavior may be considered insulting and demeaning by (Jackson) … there are no set of material facts which indicate that her alleged harassing conduct was based upon his age or sex.”

The county has not been billed yet by attorneys handling the cases.

The tense times have continued between Jackson and Frenchko, as she accused him of “making back-room deals,” and he listed the number of hours he has had to spend handling office crises and employee grievances since she took office.

“You talk about saving money — I get paid $45 an hour. So far, I’ve spent 20 hours dealing with a cat (Frenchko has occasionally brought her cat to the office). That’s $900 of my time dealing with something that shouldn’t be happening. Is that saving the county money, Commissioner? I also had to spend approximately four hours dealing with a person who took a picture of your car in a public space. Is that saving the county money?” he said to Frenchko last week at a commissioners meeting.

She criticized Jackson for signing an enrollment form with a company as part of the county’s workers’ compensation program without consulting commissioners.

COOK

Cook was terminated from his position in January.

“A newly elected commissioner, Niki Frenchko, repeatedly stated she was going to get rid of the ‘good old boys.’ This was printed in the local press and social media,” Cook’s complaint to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission states.

Frenchko’s reference to the “good old boys” while she was campaigning refers to “the system that she believed was in place at the county that was run on friendships and favoritism, despite the employee’s age and / or gender,” the county’s response from attorney David Smith states.

Cook’s complaint states he was fired “without cause.” Commissioners did not state publicly their reasoning for firing Cook following a lengthy executive session that included legal counsel, but the firing came eight days after Cook pleaded no contest in Trumbull County Eastern District Court to a charge of loss of physical control under the influence and failure to report an accident.

Attorneys for the county moved to dismiss Cook’s complaint with the state personnel board, claiming the organization doesn’t have jurisdiction over Cook’s firing because Cook is “clearly an unclassified employee.”

Cook had argued he should fall under the jurisdiction because he did not have authority or input on financial or health care matters, and he was not the lead negotiator during labor negotiations.

The county disputed that and said he was in charge of 37 employees, and responsible for directing and controlling the department.

The law firm handling the personnel board case, Gallagher Sharp LLP, has been paid $6,057 so far, according to the county clerk.

In response to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission complaint, attorneys for the county argue Cook was an “at-will” employee and there were complaints about his performance. The complaints have not been discussed previously in public, and details are not included in the county response to the complaint. Cantalamessa and Fuda voted with Frenchko to remove Cook from the position after holding private discussions in executive session.

“Mr. Cook, as an unclassified employee, was an at-will employee. During the end of his employment, the commissioners became aware of a number of problems with Mr. Cook’s ability to perform his job, and negative activities that shed a poor light on his position as director of 911,” states the county response to the complaint from the law firm Mazanec, Raskin and Ryder of Cleveland. “Multiple 911 employees, township firefighters and chiefs had made complaints about the poor leadership at the 911 department, and the commissioners determined that it would be an appropriate time to restructure and reorganize the 911 department.”

Records of complaints were not present in Cook’s personnel file and are not elaborated on in the response. Frenchko and Cantalamessa state in attached affidavits complaints were made, but details are not presented.

Smith argues the county had reasons for dismissing him, and Cook cannot establish he was disabled or the county took any action against him because of his age or a disability, and asks for the charge to be dismissed.

The county has not been billed yet for the attorney services for the civil rights case.

GLENN

Glenn’s complaint with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission alleges Frenchko was “picking apart everything” she does as a scheduler for the commissioners. Instead of giving direction on changes she wanted implemented, Frenchko “criticized, bullied and berated” Glenn, the complaint states. Glenn states in the complaint she believes she is being discriminated against for her age and “productivity abilities.”

Email exchanges between Glenn and Frenchko show a back-and-forth about how scheduling is handled and using different formats for scheduling technology.

Smith argues Glenn’s complaint against the county should be dismissed because the “allegations do not amount to a discriminatory hostile work environment,” that Frenchko did not know how old Glenn was, and only had spoken to her on the phone to discuss how she wanted Glenn to enter her schedule into an electronic calendar.

The county has not been billed yet for the attorney’s work on the issue.

VIVODA-KLOTZ

In the complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Vivoda-Klotz states following a medical leave of absence from Sept. 1 to Dec. 2 due to a disability, she was “harassed, discriminated against and retaliated against” when she was demoted from assistant clerk to journal clerk, losing out on the chance to earn a higher wage when filling in for the clerk and losing a private office.

Commissioners in November, before Frenchko took office, voted to adjust her job title, but did not adjust the pay.

The complaint states Vivoda-Klotz was working a reduced schedule — on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — to accommodate her medical needs, but Frenchko revoked approval of the schedule “without a legitimate business reason” and insisted she work on Tuesdays and Thursdays — though she had a doctor’s note stating she needed to be off Thursdays for treatment — and punished her for keeping her medical appointments.

In response to the complaint, Smith states commissioners moved Vivoda-Klotz to a common workspace as part of an office restructuring and her pay remained the same. She has not been “retaliated against” or “suffered any actual adverse actions,” Smith argues.

She was disciplined because there were “boxes of unfiled documents that were found in Ms. Vivoda-Klotz’s work station that had accumulated over a period of years,” for “causing a disruption in the office” and violating scheduling policy protocols, Smith states.

Vivoda-Klotz states in her complaint she was disciplined for issues similar to the behavior of others who were not disciplined.

The county has not been billed yet for the cost to work on the complaint.

COMPLAINT DROPPED

A complaint filed against Frenchko by Weathersfield Township Trustee Steve Gerberry, who is also an employee of the Trumbull County Engineer’s Office, was dismissed by Gerberry. Gerberry was not comfortable pursuing the complaint because of the attorney the county chose to investigate the complaint, a letter from Gerberry’s attorney states.

The firm may have close ties with Frenchko, posing a conflict of interest, the letter states.

Gerberry’s complaint states Frenchko used “threats and intimidation to create a work environment” that interferes with his ability to “perform his duties” at the engineer’s office.

The complaint states because of “harassment” from Frenchko, Gerberry experienced “shoulder and neck tension.”

Frenchko accused Gerberry of having a conflict of interest related to his county positions and a private asbestos inspection business. Gerberry denied the allegations, explained why the issue was not a conflict and Frenchko hasn’t raised the issue again recently in public meetings, where she first raised the topic.

The county paid $1,172.50 for attorney work conducted by Comstock, Springer and Wilson law firm to handle the issue prior to the complaint being dropped.