Recordpub.com - 60+ drive county-owned cars in Portage Keiper says he rarely takes one home, unlike others in government

Portage County Commissioner Chuck Keiper has released a list compiled by his staff showing more than 60 county-owned automobiles in use and taken home by county officials.

Criticized for recently employing a county owned vehicle, Keiper defended himself saying he usually does not take the county owned automobile home at night, but does drive it to destinations for county business.

"The only times I have taken it home is when I have an early morning meeting," he said Monday. "Other than that, it remains in the county lot.

"In terms of gasoline reimbursement, I save Portage County money," he said. The reimbursement rate for driving one's personal car is 58.5 cents per mile. He added using a county vehicle does save wear and tear on his personal car.

"I drive more than the other two commissioners on county business," he said.

Keiper said his records indicate several elected officials have county owned vehicles and do take them home. Some 44 county owned vehicles, he said, are operated by the sheriff's department and used by the sheriff, his detectives and deputies.

"The commissioners have asked why all these vehicles need to be taken home by the sheriff's deputies and detectives," Keiper said.

Others who take vehicles home, according to the list compiled by the commissioners, include the following:

* Portage County Engineer Michael Marozzi as well as the assistant Portage County engineer; the general superintendent and three road crew foremen for a total of six in the engineer's department;

* David McIntyre, the chief dog warden, and one officer each day, depending on who is on duty, for a total of two vehicles;

* John Barber, director of the Portage County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and his assistant, John Mason; the latter of whom, the commissioners' list shows, parks his car at night at the Suffield Township Fire Department, for a total of two vehicles in that department;

* Joseph Dillon, director of the Portage County Motor Pool for after hour emergencies for a total of one;

* Bob Bailey, the "Out Bailiff" for the Portage County Municipal Court, for a total one;

* Portage County Prosecutor Victor Vigliucci, a total of one car at his office;

* John Clark, Les Cross, Don West, Don Van Metre and Eugene Davis, all employees of the Portage County Water Department, for a total of five vehicles.

"Unlike these others, I usually do not take a county owned car home at night, but like them I do drive quite a bit on county business," Keiper said.

53.	Posted by songbird December 4, 2008
	From devilsadvocate:"If you look at surrounding counties they have more cars, more wasteful spending, etc." This sounds a lot like Chuck saying "Everyone else gets a car so I want one, too." What surrounding counties are doing doesn't make it right or wrong. But if, say, 10% of county officials in one county have cars, and 85% of county officials in another county have cars, the two figures are skewed and something needs to be looked at. I still say the Record Courier needs to do a little investigative journalism, as opposed to just reporting after the fact. Then we'd have a more realistic picture of how government functions with county vehicles. That will remove some ignorance from this board. I am not convinced that Portage County is 'at the bottom of the barrel' because no facts have been presented to me to indicate that. Do you have any?

51.	Posted by devilsadvocate December 4, 2008
	Songbird, I respect and agree with your comments and yes I'm working on several issues myself. I just have no tolerance for ignorance. I truly believe there is a right and a wrong way of handling things. Also, being a negative Nelly/Neil is just depressing. I really think that this is a little over the top. If you look at surrounding counties they have more cars, more wasteful spending, etc. Portage county seems to be at the bottom of the barrel. I know that people have rights as tax payers but in the past I've found that the people with the loudest voices, pay the least. The squeaky wheel gets the grease whether they deserve it or not.

46.	Posted by songbird December 3, 2008
	devilsadvocate, there are millions of problems in this world. We all need to pick our battles. There are people who are up in arms over the bailout, Cuyahoga County's corruption, world hunger, misuse of lottery funds, the war in Iraq...and on and on. Not everyone picks the same battle to fight, nor should they. The posters on this blog have chosen this issue as one in which they are saying "this is wrong." Which absolutely is their right as tax-paying citizens of this county. I assume that you are actively working on some of the issues you brought up, yes? You are working on federal waste and mismanagement, maybe? I am encouraged that these posters aren't saying "Oh well, there's nothing I can do about it, so I'll just close my eyes to it and have a nice day." That kind of philosophy gets you the FBI swooping in on your county offices.

45.	Posted by CmdrKJon December 3, 2008
	DevilsAdvocate, If you have been paying attention, these boards have been lit up about WIAGate. Yes, there is corruption throughout Government that needs to be addressed. In a perfect world, we could start at the top and work our way down. In reality, you need to begin locally and work your way up. What do we have locally? Let's see, just recently our commissioners approved a $5.5 million renovation on an office for the prosecutors, shortly after upgrading the current office to be handicap accessible. We have a commissioner neck deep in a scandal involving misuse of funds meant for displaced workers, and we have yet another commissioner who lobbied for an automobile. This is all wasteful and shameful. These measures should be addressed in every possible forum, up to and including recall. Yes, I agree. Keiper is every bit as corrupt as Smeiles.

44.	Posted by devilsadvocate December 3, 2008
	I think that some people on here have entirely too much time on their hands. I personally like Chuck and don't think he is any more corrupt than anybody else. If you look at the salary a commissioner makes--it's not millions--and it isn't a job that you get a lot of praise. It's the polar opposite all you get is the complainers. I completely agree that some of these issues need to be addressed. But a commissioner having a car that he doesn't take home all the time doesn't seem like it should cause this much fuss. When talking about crying--seriously quit crying about abusing tax payers money. This is local government! It's starts a lot higher than this--what about state and federal. We could find forums for all of those issues as well. It's a waste of time. How about the fact that the funding for Ohio schools has been ruled unconsitutional by the supreme court multiple times yet they are still funding the same way. Depending on tax dollars that people don't have!! I'm thankful for the services provided and think people need to focus on the things they CAN change. Once you figure out the things that are excessive THEN find out the proper channels to fix these problems instead of sitting on the computer writing comments about the use of county vehicles. For example, why didn't any of you catch the college funds issue?? That would have been a valid problem, concern, etc. Research things that are worth the time and try to be a little more positive. Negativity doesn't do anything except cause more problems. Smile and have a good day!