WARREN — Two of Trumbull County’s commissioners voted to transfer the deputy dog warden, charged with animal cruelty, to the maintenance department.

Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa said he should have been fired. He said there are serious charges against the former deputy, Charles Parks, that are well documented.

“I guess what it comes down to is, are these egregious enough to warrant termination? I had gone back and forth on this, but after discussing with our attorney at the time and consulting with our dog warden, I decided to vote against any settlement agreement,” Cantalamessa said.

The commissioners’ agenda states the settlement is between Parks, the commissioners and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2493.

The settlement, approved by Commissioners Niki Frenchko and Denny Malloy, moves Parks from his position as deputy dog warden to a groundskeeper with the maintenance department.

He will keep the same rate of pay, $19.20 per hour.

“I’m just happy we will be able to move forward and get another deputy warden,” said Michelle Goss, executive dog warden.

THE ALLEGATION

Parks, 48, of Sweetbriar Street, is charged with two counts of depriving animals of food and water, and two counts of animal cruelty. Court records show Parks is set for trial March 13 before Warren Municipal Judge Thomas P. Gysegem.

Trumbull County Animal Welfare League humane agents investigated after receiving a complaint from Goss, according to a previous statement from AWL CEO Lorilyn Shandor. Ohio Revised Code requires any person appointed to act as an animal control officer to report immediately any possible abuse.

The alleged incident involves Parks not feeding or providing water for animals on more than one occasion when he was the sole employee tasked with providing this care, according to the AWL.

Parks had worked for the dog warden’s office since 2018.

THE SETTLEMENT

Frenchko said the settlement was needed to correct the commissioners’ decision at their meeting on Aug. 31, 2022, to place Parks on unpaid administrative leave. At that meeting, a regular volunteer from the dog pound spoke during public comments to ask the board why disciplinary action had not been taken against Parks.

Cantalamessa made a motion to the floor to place Parks on unpaid administrative leave, according to the meeting minutes. Then-Commissioner Frank Fuda sided with Cantalamessa, but Frenchko objected, saying the motion was made improperly and the county should be consistent in how it handles matters such as this.

After Wednesday’s meeting, Frenchko pointed to the Ohio Revised Code, which states an employee may be placed “on administrative leave without pay for a period not to exceed two months, if the employee has been charged with a violation of law that is punishable as a felony.”

She said Parks has been on leave for too long, and he has been charged only with misdemeanors.

“Though the board seems to intend to correct their mistake with this agreement, it still remains the fact that we — well, not me, because I didn’t vote for it — but the board of commissioners violated the law with that journal action,” Frenchko said.

She said she wants to fix that “mistake,” in the event the county is audited.

Cantalamessa said he did not want to be part of allowing Parks to have employment with the county.

“I just thought when looking at this as a whole, I couldn’t, in good faith, return the individual to the county workforce,” Cantalamessa said.

“I can’t reward this type of egregious behavior and I felt that’s what the settlement offer was doing.”

Frenchko said a union grievance had been filed and the county would have had to go into arbitration, which is expensive. She said the settlement avoided that.

She also said the union agreement requires that discipline be applied in a progressive manner.