10/29/02

Other than stopping purchasing, no administrative changes have been made in the maintenance department.

By STEPHEN SIFF

and PEGGY SINKOVICH

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

WARREN -- The system Trumbull County commissioners use to keep track of janitorial supplies is so poor that cans of air freshener rust on shelves, even as new products keep rolling in, according to a new inventory.

The inventory, conducted over the last four weeks by county employees and presented to commissioners Monday, details problems with the county maintenance department, including excessive buying, poor record-keeping and missing money.

Employees conducting the inventory also found no products from two of the companies with which the county has been doing thousands of dollars of business a year.

"Assuming their report is accurate, administrative changes are required now," Prosecutor Dennis Watkins tells the commissioners in a letter.

Commissioners have not made any changes in the maintenance department since Tony Delmont, head of the department, was stripped of responsibility for ordering supplies after a series of Vindicator articles detailed excessive spending on janitorial products and sloppy record-keeping.

About three weeks after the Vindicator's ongoing series began in early August, Watkins began an investigation.

The maintenance department also is under investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, and results from a state audit are pending.

A lack of control in verification of ordering, receiving and distribution of products.

Scraps of paper listing items to be ordered are typically thrown away after the order is placed.

"There doesn't appear to be any checks or balances as to who actually requested a certain product, if the ordered product and the amount was justified, the amount and type of actually received, and whether or not the intended department or individual actually received such product," the inventory report says.

Products are kept scattered among county buildings and too many products are being ordered.

"It is obvious that there are excessive products being utilized within the county maintenance department," the inventory concludes.

The county also orders many duplicate products. For example, furniture polish can be found in aerosol, liquid and moistened towellette form and glass cleaner comes in aerosol, spray bottle and towellette.

"It is our belief that no one person could possibly know the extent of products available because there is a lack of account as to what products actually exist, due to the large amount of products being housed in so many different locations," those who compiled the inventory report said.

After searching through store rooms in several county buildings, employees conducting the inventory did not find any boxes with labels indicating products shipped from Tri-County Supplies of Canfield or Central Service and Supply of Brookfield.

The county has spent $113,000 with Central Service and Supply since 2000, auditor's records show. It spent $18,000 with Tri-County Supplies since 2001.

Employees did find shipping labels under the name RESULTS, which matched the post office box used by Lid Chem, apparently owned by the same people who own Tri-County Supplies.

The county is paying outside companies to perform services that could easily be done by county employees.

For example, Rochester Midland visits many county buildings every month to replace restroom sanitizers.

"With all the sanitizing products we have on hand, and as simple as this appears to be, why would we not have our employees handle this procedure?" the inventory says.

In addition, a representative from State Chemical visits routinely to pass out cans of air freshener and change cans in automatic dispensers and an outside vender polishes floors in the jail despite the jail buying floor-cleaning equipment and having free labor from inmates.

No one appears to know what happens to money deposited in 14 feminine product dispensers.

Money from the dispensers was only turned over to the county auditor's office once in 2002, although employees say the machines were emptied every several months.

According to the inventory report, maintenance department employees and administrators told the workers conducting the inventory they do not know who collected the money or who has the dispenser keys.

Moreover, the machines dispense the products for less than the county pays for them and the county appears to have overpaid the vender, Envirochemical of Cleveland, $71 per case.

"There doesn't appear to be any accountability in this area," the inventory report says.

The inventory discussed in this story was ordered by the county prosecutor after our first stories detailing excessive spending and questionable bookkeeping in the maintenance department.

This was among a series of stories that won first place for government reporting at the 2003 Ohio SPJ Awards and first place for investigative reporting at the 2002 Ohio AP Awards in The Vindicator's circulation class.

Other stories in the series include:

Runaway cleaning supply costs, The Vindicator, 8/4/02

Footing a higher bill for supplies, The Vindicator, 9/22/02

Maintenance department inventory ordered, The Vindicator, 9/24/02

Report urged vendor switch, The Vindicator, 9/29/02

Probe confirms purchasing mess, The Vindicator, 10/29/02

Trumbull supply expenses drop, The Vindicator, 12/8/02

Officials guided contracts to Acme, The Vindicator, 8/7/02

Commissioners weigh putting jail food up for bid, The Vindicator, 8/9/02