WARREN — Trumbull County commissioners on Tuesday discussed projects that will be on today’s commissioners’ agenda, such as approval of a Warren Township sewer project and a Weathersfield Township annexation, but budget cuts led to one of the longest discussions.

The commissioners will be asked today to award an $8,743,789 contract to Woodford Excavating of Leavittsburg to build the Pendleton / Gilmer Sanitary Sewer project in the Meadowbrook area of Warren Township.

Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer Gary Newbrough said the engineer’s estimate on the project was $11.6 million, but Woodford was the lowest bidder at $8.7 million.

“So this is really a great savings for Warren Township residents out there when it comes time to pay back that debt,” he said.

Commissioner Tony Bernard said he hoped the sanitary engineer’s office is “wary of every change order. Usually they bid and then they come along with a whole bunch of change orders. We need to hold them to this $8.7 million.”

The project is funded with several grants, plus $300,000 in American Rescue Plan funds, a $369,300 principal-forgiveness loan from the Ohio EPA and a $6.4 million Ohio EPA 0% 30-year loan.

“A lot of it comes down to the strength of the engineering / design drawings, whether they picked up everything that was out there, make sure they didn’t miss anything,” Newbrough said. If the contractor encounters something in the field that was not shown on the drawings, “that’s where we run into problems,” Newbrough said.

The county has had “good success” in the past with the firm that engineered this project, he said.

ANNEXATION

The commissioners also will be asked today to adopt a resolution to journalize the filing of an annexation petition by Gearmar Properties Inc. for 122 acres of land in Weathersfield that is “contiguous” to Niles.

Niles Mayor Steve Mientkiewicz later said by phone the proposed annexation would be into Niles.

The property is on the west side of North Main Street just north of BRT Extrusions, which is in Niles, he said. Newbrough took a look at some of the paperwork related to the annexation because he said he was not familiar with it.

He said the land is in the area he calls the Heaton-Chute neighborhood. The process of annexation requires that a public hearing be held in the coming months to allow the public to learn more about it, county officials said.

CSB LEVY RENEWAL

A representative of the Trumbull County Children Services Board also is asking the county commissioners to approve a resolution today putting the agency’s 2-mill tax levy on the November ballot. It would collect $7,072,547 annually for five years.

Commissioner Rick Hernandez spoke on “hundreds” of calls that have been coming in to the commissioners office and to individual commissioners from people who incorrectly believe that the commissioners are cutting funding to the county’s senior centers and closing senior centers.

“I just want to let all our residents know, especially our seniors, that we voted not to cut and we have voted not to close,” he said. “Rest assured, those centers are going to be opening, functioning, and we have not cut funding.”

Bernard agreed, saying there have been many calls over the past week from people thinking the funding is being cut, but the services there are important, and the funding is not being cut.

“The funds are there to keep operations,” he said.

MEETINGS

The commissioners also want the public to know there is a 1 p.m. Aug. 5 public meeting in the county commissioners meeting room with representatives of Insight Health Systems about its plans to reopen Insight Hospital & Medical Center Trumbull in Warren and Insight Rehabilitation Hospital Hillside in Howland.

But Hernandez wanted the public to know that the purpose of the meeting is for Insight to let the county commissioners know what their plans are for the facilities.

Commissioner Denny Malloy said he thinks it is appropriate for people to be able to ask the county commissioners and other public officials questions at the end of the meeting. But Hernandez said he did not think it would be appropriate for the people from Insight to be “put on the spot” by people asking them questions.

Several federal, state and local officials have been invited to attend, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, and Warren Mayor Doug Franklin.

The commissioners also are planning a meeting for 1 p.m. July 30 to review county mid-year budgetary issues because of the number of county departments that have raised concerns over how they will complete the year without additional funding.

AUDITOR LETTER

Malloy then raised an issue involving a letter that Malloy said has been “circulating around the (county administration) building, signed by the auditor.” But Auditor Martha Yoder, who was in attendance, interjected that the letter Malloy was mentioning was not signed by her.

Malloy then read from the letter, which said at the bottom that it was from “Trumbull County Auditor, GIS / Tax Map and IT departments.” Malloy said the letter “basically tells people to call the commissioners, rattle their cages and make noise to give you your budget.”

Yoder said “Union members created this on their own initiative with their own computers, their own paper and ink on their own time,” she said. “They have a right to free speech. I asked that they refrain from passing them out at the counter (at the auditor’s office), pending the prosecutor’s opinion.

“I did not write that letter. It’s from my employees, specifically my union employees,” she said. She saw the letter after it was texted out into the community. She added, “Every single word in it is true.”

Malloy responded, “It doesn’t mention anything about the union in this letter.”

This newspaper obtained a copy of the letter. It states that the writers of the letter are “reaching out for your help and support as people who do business in Trumbull County and recognize the value of the Auditor / GIS / Tax Map and county IT departments.” The text of the letter made it clear it was intended for people who rely on the auditor’s office for business reasons.

It states that the commissioners cut the budgets of those three departments “to an unmanageable level.” It states that the cuts are “putting the residents of the county at risk and your business in a very tough situation.” The three departments are overseen by Yoder.

The letter adds, “As companies who rely on our vital services to do business, we are requesting your help to change the minds of the commissioners and suggest to them that they fully fund all of our departments.”

It states that “Auditor Yoder has done the best she possibly can at working within our budget, but at the current allotted amount, we are going to run out of money before year’s end.

It urges the reader to call the county commissioners, send an email or speak at a county commissioners meeting. The letter gives the phone numbers and email addresses for the three commissioners and gives the dates and times for the commissioners meetings this week and next week.