HOWLAND — City governments in the Trumbull County Council of Governments seeking infrastructural improvements through the county engineer’s office will not get them, according to county Engineer David DeChristofaro.

DeChristofaro said at Wednesday’s COG meeting that Niles officials approached him about performing a survey and engineering for a walking path around a Waddell Park football field, which he agreed to at the time.

Since he was approached, DeChristofaro said he received a “negative letter” about doing projects through the COG through state Auditor Keith Faber’s office in June 2022.

DeChristofaro said he received a second letter a year later, signed by Chief Deputy Auditor Robert Hinkle, giving them the green light to do projects through the COG. Both letters were sent to him by Niles Law Director Philip Zuzulo, he said.

DeChristofaro explained that he went to the county prosecutor’s office for an opinion on the conflicting letters.

Jason Toth, an attorney who oversees the civil division in the county prosecutor’s office, sent an opinion back expressing surprise at the state auditor’s position. He warned that there was no precedent to allow DeChristofaro to move forward safely, however, despite Hinkle’s letter implying the auditor’s office could construe engineering as an authorized activity.

“Please be advised that our office has not been able to locate any case law or opinion of the Ohio Attorney General that specifically addresses the matter discussed in the referenced letter,” DeChristofaro said. “As a result, it is uncertain how a trier of fact in a court of law would determine this particular issue. If you decide to provide the engineering or surveying services to the city of Niles, please be advised you do so at your own risk of civil litigation and / or an audit finding.”

James LaPolla, chairman of the Howland Board of Trustees, asked if the judgment pertained only to the engineering portion, because the township had already received the green light on demolitions and similar actions.

DeChristofaro explained to LaPolla that work for a city was not within his statutory responsibility per the Ohio Revised Code.

“Doing work for the townships is a separate issue; the Ohio Revised Code says I’m allowed to do engineering and construction for the townships,” DeChristofaro said. “But for the cities and villages — that’s their opinion, it’s not mine. I wanted to do the work, I told the city (Niles) back in November.”

LaPolla said it was “shocking,” as they had never asked DeChristofaro or his predecessor, Randy Smith, for engineering-type help, only construction or demolition.

“It just seems that we get one year, it’s one way, the next year, it’s another way,” LaPolla said. “We got the official green light on demolitions because most of the demolitions work for the city of Niles — we did some township demolitions, don’t get me wrong. But we kept going and promoting it because we got the green light.”

LaPolla asked if DeChristofaro had sent a third letter getting clarification on the auditor’s stance, but he said he was not accepting advice from any other legal counsel but his own, reiterating that stance when LaPolla asked if a letter from the COG’s attorney would change things.

In cases like Hubbard, where certain properties are shared between the city and the township, DeChristofaro said he cannot do work for the city, too.

“I just got an opinion from the prosecutors on surveying for a fire district … in Hubbard,” he said. “They said we cannot survey for a fire district; we can survey for Hubbard Township, but not the fire district.”

DeChristofaro used Niles Vienna Road as an example, as it cuts into Niles from Vienna Township.

“If we were to pave that road and the mayor of Niles wanted us to go partially into the city of Niles to pave it so that it doesn’t stop at an awkward location, then we can coordinate our work with the city of Niles for our contractors who do that work.”

Lordstown Mayor Jackie Woodward asked if DeChristofaro would issue a formal letter to cities and villages letting them know that he would not be able to do work for cities and villages, “line-iteming” what services would be stopped and which ones would continue.

DeChristofaro said he would ask the prosecutor’s office for a formal release.