3/08/03

The maintenance director has not been back to work since the Feb. 24 crash.

By STEPHEN SIFF

and PEGGY SINKOVICH

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

WARREN -- Winter roads, not the storm of criminal investigations, appear to have slid Trumbull County's maintenance director Tony Delmont out of office.

County officials approved a workers' compensation claim for Delmont on Thursday, 10 days after he drove a county pickup truck into a ditch.

Delmont, who earns $71,081 a year, has not been back to work since the accident, although he continues to draw full pay.

The Feb. 24 crash took place just days after a local grand jury began hearing evidence from county employees about purchasing practices.

According to reports from Howland Police Department, Delmont was driving west on North River Road around 1 p.m. when the truck slid into a fire hydrant, then into a ditch.

Delmont's doctor has yet to set a date when he can return to work, officials say. The state bureau of workers' compensation is expected to rule on his claim next week.

Circumstances: The accident occurred on a snowy day, as Delmont returned from plowing the parking lot and delivering paperwork to the county 911 center in Howland, officials say.

Although Delmont, 47, is a department head, it was not unusual for him to help out with snowplowing, which is generally a union job, said Jim Keating, director of human resources.

"The guys over there kind of lend a hand to each other," Keating said. "With the amount of snow we had, everyone was pitching in."

Snowfall totaled 2.4 inches Feb. 24 at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, which is a few miles from the county 911 center, according to National Weather Service data.

Security camera tapes at the 911 center show the parking lot getting plowed about 11 a.m., then a second time shortly before the accident.

Sought early retirement: Delmont, who has worked for the county since 1975, has made no secret of his desire to retire.

At a recent budget hearing for his 24-person department, Delmont sat behind a placard that urged commissioners to approve an early retirement plan for senior employees.

The maintenance department chief has been under scrutiny since August, when a series of Vindicator articles began detailing excessive spending and lax bookkeeping in the department.

The Trumbull County prosecutor's office and FBI and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation subsequently launched investigations.

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Delmont never did return to work.