January 20, 2011
No charges imminent in city IRS case By LISA AURAND ThisWeek Community Newspapers Grove City police say they’re unsure when charges will be filed for the theft of money related to the city’s unpaid and late federal payroll taxes. Grove City Police Chief Joseph Wise issued a news release Jan. 13 saying that investigators uncovered evidence of a theft within the Grove City finance department. Deputy city administrator Mike
Wasylik said auditors from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and a special investigative unit from the state auditor’s office will get started on their own investigations into the city’s taxes in the next week. “(The police) are pretty certain there was a theft, but they don’t have any target dates for charging anybody,” Wasylik said. The Internal Revenue Service last month told the city it owed about $685,905 in unpaid taxes. An initial in-
with the penalties and interest,” he said. In addition, the city’s independent auditor is working to determine whether the penalties and interest are accurate. MIKE WASYLIK Mayor Richard “Ike” Stage didn’t have anything to say about the discov—Deputy city administrator ery of a theft. “I’m going to wait for the police investigation identified more unpaid quar- previous quarters beginning in 2007. terly tax returns totaling about $370,000. Wasylik said the city is contesting vestigation to run its course,” Stage said. Grove City has paid the IRS $187,000 the assessed penalties and interest. for the fourth quarter of 2010 and “If this did involve a crime … there See NO CHARGES, page A2 $300,000 in initial payments toward may be some ability not to have to deal
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(The police) are pretty certain there was a theft, but they don’t have any target dates for charging anybody.
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City takes look at salt lawsuit By LISA AURAND ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Grove City is exploring its options for recovering money spent on road salt in 2008 and 2009. City service director Les Spring said he’s been investigating joining a class action lawsuit against Cargill Deicing Technology and Morton Salt Co. in hopes of getting some of that money back. A recent report released by Ohio inspector general Thomas Charles found the state of Ohio overpaid by as much as $59-million for road salt in the past decade because Cargill and Morton colluded to drive up prices. Charles’ report concluded that the companies divided up Ohio into noncompete zones in order to overcharge the Ohio Department of Transportation. Grove City buys its road salt through county contracts with the ODOT, Spring said. Spring said he’s still reviewing the report. “I’m not sure what Franklin County is doing,” he said. In the winter of 2008-2009, Grove City paid $148.24 per ton for salt, more than three times the 2007-2008 rate. The 2009-2010 rate was $57.87 per ton, and this year’s rate is $58.98 per ton, Spring said. “We have a good price this year, not like a couple years ago when it was sky high,” he said. With a recent 300-ton delivery, Grove City continues to maintain a nearly full salt store this year,
Photos by Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
BLUE JACKET ACHIEVERS (Above) Stinger slaps hands with eight Buckeye Woods Elementary School students named Blue Jacket Achievers during a Jan. 13 assembly. The new program encourages scholastic excellence, civic responsibility and perseverance, and is held in conjunction with Bob Evans Restaurants. Student achievers had the chance to ask Blue Jackets head coach Scott Arniel and forward R.J. Umberger a question. The winning students also received a pair of tickets to a Blue Jackets home game and a voucher for a Bob Evans kids meal. (Left) Third-grader Chloe Clark, second-grader Luke Hinterschied, first-grader Andrea Gilbert and first-grader Blake Smiley cheer on the Blue Jackets at the assembly.
See CITY, page A2
Cordray will commute to job in Washington By LISA AURAND ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Despite his new job in Washington, D.C., former Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray isn’t leaving his hometown anytime soon. Cordray, recently appointed chief of enforcement at the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said he plans to commute from his Grove City home rather than relocate. “I’ll out on Monday morning, come back Thursday and work from Grove City on Fridays,” Cor-
dray said. “My twin (daughters) are both enrolled in South-Western schools, and they’re Richard Cordray doing well. They have their friends. My wife is a teacher at Capital (University) law school. This is my home.” Cordray, who graduated from Grove City High School, credits his friends and mentors in town for the values he’s held throughout his political career, beginning
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I think most of my values were formed growing up in Grove City from my parents, my friends and my teachers. It’s about treating people fairly and equally, making sure that people have someone standing on their side to protect them.
RICHARD CORDRAY
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—Chief of enforcement, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
in the Ohio House of Representatives in 1991. “I think most of my values were formed growing up in Grove City from my parents, my friends and
my teachers,” he said. “It’s about treating people fairly and equally, making sure that people have someone standing on their side to protect them. Those were all things Nemo, who was rescued from a hoarding situation, is up for adoption from the Ohio SPCA. To see a video of Nemo and Scamp, another cat looking for a home, visit www.ThisWeekNews. com. For more information on Nemo, visit ohiospca.org.
that were formed for me growing up in Grove City.” Cordray said he saw standing up for the common man as central to his job as attorney general. “I think everybody recognizes that we did a good job on the law enforcement side, if you ask police chiefs and sheriffs across the state, so we could help them protect their communities,” he said. “We prosecuted quite a bit of corruption. We took on several sitting sheriffs and about a half dozen crooked police chiefs.” His office recovered more than
$1-billion from American International Group in an antitrust case and almost $400-million from Merrill Lynch & Company, he said. “I think we established a principle that in the consumer area we were very aggressive. That’s a hallmark of my administration and has probably led to this new position.” As head of enforcement at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Cordray said he will make sure banks are following governSee CORDRAY, page A2
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