By MARK TODD - Staff Writer - mtodd@starbeacon.com
CONNEAUT — The Case of the Appropriated Asphalt has come to a grinding halt.
At Monday's City Council work session, members learned police and an independent prosecutor agreed ex-Public Works Department director Bob Howland committed no crime when he allowed city-owned, surplus asphalt bits to be used to help construct roads to two gas wells within the East Conneaut Industrial Park.
Also at the meeting, Ward 1 Councilman Dave Campbell pressed his case for reimbursement for out-of-pocket legal fees he incurred over a public records matter that went to court.
Ashtabula City Solicitor Michael Franklin, in a report to Conneaut Law Director Lori Lamer, said allegations of misconduct against Howland over the grindings were baseless. “I cannot recommend the initiation of any criminal proceedings against any person involved in the matters described in the report,” he wrote.
Jon Arcaro, public safety director, agreed. In a memo to City Manager Robert Schaumleffel Jr., Arcaro wrote: “There is absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Bob Howland, as the material in question was simply moved from one piece of city property to another piece of city property to enhance a city-sponsored endeavor.”
A few months ago, some council members expressed concern over reports that city equipment was used to help a well-drill create two access roads to the site inside the industrial park. Some questioned the involvement of Howland.
Given the nature of the accusations, Schaumleffel asked the police department to investigate. The investigation was finished in late October and forwarded to Franklin on Nov. 2. His response came one day later.
Ward 1 Councilman Dave Campbell was puzzled by the police investigation into the matter. The report contained an inordinate amount of statements from Campbell, Howland and Ward 2 Councilman Charles Lewis, who has pursued the grindings issue, Campbell said. No statements were obtained from city workers involved in the transport of the material, Campbell said.
“(Police) took statements from the wrong people,” Campbell said. “We need to hear from the guys who were there.”
Arcaro, who attended the meeting, said detectives “did meet with some resistance” from city employees. Campbell asked for the workers' names and Arcaro said he would provide them.”
Lewis was concerned by the allegations because he believes the grindings, created from old asphalt chewed away for new paving projects, has a cash value.
Earlier, Campbell made a case for council to compensate him $3,000 he paid in legal fees over litigation that resulted when he resisted a request to share an e-mail received at the start of the year. A settlement on the matter of legal fees was recently approved, but Campbell still had to pay $3,000 of his own in the matter.
Howland filed the lawsuit against Campbell after he refused to divulge the identity of the person who sent an e-mail regarding a Keefus Road guardrail project completed by a private contractor. The message inferred the city had the ability to handle the job.
A Common Pleas Court judge ruled Campbell, as a public official, must surrender the message. Campbell complied with the ruling.
Council has delayed action on Campbell's request for reimbursement, saying more time is needed to study statements. Campbell, in his argument, aimed most of his comments at Lamer, who he claimed led him astray.
“You sat back and let me get hung out for $3,000 in legal fees,” Campbell told her.
Lamer replied Campbell put his own neck in the noose when he decided not to accept her opinion the e-mail was a valid public record and must be shared with Howland.
“I stand by my decision,” Lamer said. “You chose not to release that public record. That's on you. You have to face the consequences for that decision. You willfully violated my advice. The city doesn't owe you a defense.”
Campbell claims the line is hazy whether he received the message, which he publicized after receiving it, as a private citizen or public official. He attacked Lamer's claim last week that the situation was a “private matter.”
“How can it be a private matter when it revolves around a public record?” Campbell asked.
The settlement was reached in Campbell's capacity as a “private citizen,” he said. “(The parties involved) all agreed this was going nowhere.”
Council is expected to revisit the reimbursement request at Monday's meeting. “We'll see how the cards fall,” Campbell said.
Elsewhere, council — after a brief executive session — agreed to pay the West Lakeville Hose Boosters $5,000 and court costs to settle a lawsuit filed after the city agreed to abandon Fire Station 4 on North Amboy Road. The Boosters own the building the city used to house fire apparatus and claimed the city reneged on a rent agreement when the equipment was pulled out earlier this year.
The station was merged into Fire Station 3 in a cost-cutting consolidation of the fire department.
