WARREN — Commissioners are expected today to approve contracts for snow removal for approximately 60 senior citizens’ driveways that are part of the Senior Services program.

AJ & A Snow Removal, 6895 Winterpark Ave., Youngstown, and Elms Gray Enterprises LLC., of Warren, were chosen for snow removal, with the proposed contract running through Oct. 31.

A third company, Motown Landscaping LLC of Warren that bid to participate in the work has been temporarily disqualified because it was a subcontractor in a dispute between the county and Mirkin & Associates in the current snow removal and grass-cutting contract.

These new contracts are being awarded because of a billing dispute between Mirkin & Associates and the Trumbull County Senior Services Levy board over whether some of the grass cutting that the county was billed for was actually done.

Senior Levy Administrator Diane Siskowic-Jurkovic previously told commissioners she has not been provided proper documentation that proves some of the grass-cutting work done by the vendor, Mirkin & Associates, was actually done. The county withheld nearly $19,000 until Siskowic-Jurkovic could prove it was done.

She said her office received a complaint last year from a participant that her grass had not been cut for nearly a year. During her investigation of that complaint, Siskowic-Jurkovic found similar complaints from various other participants of the senior grass- cutting program.

She noted the county paid its vendor $36,556 from May through August, and it is believed that approximately half of the work was not done.

“It is during this period during which we figured out who was not served,” Siskowic-Jurkovic said.

The company believes Senior Services owes it another $19,000, she said.

The county has held back $18,928 because of questions about the work.

She notes Senior Services will pay the company an additional $364, because they can document the work that was invoiced was actually done.

Dave Mirkin, whose companies have several contracts with the county, said he hired a subcontractor to do grass cutting and snow removal since he first won the contract from the county more than 15 years ago. Mirkin argues he provided the county all of the material required by the contract to document the work that was done.

Because of this dispute, in December, Mirkin provided the county the required 60-day notice that he would no longer provide the grass cutting and snow removing services for the senior services program.

Mirkin said, to his knowledge, the work was done.

“Was there something that was missed, I don’t know,” he said. “I’m so tired of this. I would never ever submit anything that was not true. You can say it was not done. It was done. I would swear on my parents’ grave I never ever billed for something that I was given and the job wasn’t done.”

Mirkin, 71, noted that his company, which includes Comfort Keepers, does millions of dollars worth of contracts for Trumbull County. He noted that he has a good reputation throughout Trumbull and Mahoning counties for its services and record keeping.

Mirkin said he would rather lose what he describes as a small amount of money from this grass-cutting job, than to risk the loss of his reputation.

“My main concern is my reputation,” he said. “That’s the only thing right now that I care about. If you feel the money equals out, so be it. If you want something to pay me, so be it. I want to walk away from this today and not hear another word about snow plowing and grass cutting.”

Commissioner Denny Malloy suggested the county require Mirkin to sign off on a document that indicates he will not pursue funds he has not been paid for the grass cutting and for the county to pay the amount that is not disputed.

“We should move on from this, if we can,” Malloy said.

He noted that Mirkin was the one who warned the county that it was about to hire a company to provide home health care that legally did not have the qualifications to provide the service.

“They falsely represented stuff to us and he brought that to our attention,” Malloy said. “He does care about the best interest of the county.”

Commissioner Tony Bernard expressed support for Siskowic-Jurkovic doing what the county is paying her to do in monitoring programs under her control and making sure the county is not paying for services that are not being done.

Commissioner Rick Hernandez said he does not believe there was any malice.

“I think there was miscommunication between yourself and your subcontractor,” he said.

The current county contract with Mirkin includes both snow removal and grass cutting.

The contracts expected to be approved by commissioners today only are for snow removal. A separate grass cutting contract will be put out for bid in the next 30 days.

Siskowic-Jurkovic said safeguards are being placed that will ensure the work is being done and people receiving services will know who to call if they have concerns. The vendors will take photographs after they complete the work.