NEW POLICE CHIEF IN HARTVILLE: WILL POLICING GET BETTER?

The SCPR always loves it when a public figure retires.

Why is that?

Well, let's put it this way.

Anyone who serves in a public capacity for a long period of time has his/her admirers and has his/her detractors.

Even Dragovich has a handle on this reality.  In a letter of resignation, effective November 30th, Dragovich told Mayor Ed Tucker "in reflect[ing] over the past 32 years of service to Hartville, over the ups and downs of my career,.. ."  (emphasis added).

For yours truly, who has lived in Uniontown (next door to Hartville) for 34 years, the name George Dragovich is a very familiar name.  He is like an institution in Lake Township.  For most of his 32 years, Dragovich has had more ups than downs.

Of late, the "downs" seem to have taken over for Dragovich and the SCPR has been encouraging him to retire while Hartville residents still have fond memories of him.

The "downs" apparently started when Dragovich got on the outs with former Hartville mayor Beverly Green back in 2004 when Beverly Green became mayor of Hartville.

According to a Repository piece by Edd Pritchard, Green was likely disaffected about Dragovich from the day she took office because of an incident described thusly by Pritchard (Officials wage turf war,  October 6, 2006):

A month before Green became mayor, Dragovich left Giant Eagle without paying for two small candles and was stopped by a store security. Dragovich said he put the candles in his pocket accidentally and forgot to pay before going outside to handle a radio call. Former Mayor Owen Stoll gave Dragovich a verbal reprimand.

In the fall of 2006, the "under the radar" rocky start between Green and Dragovich showed up big on the radar screen when the mayor and police chief got into a public confrontation as to who sets the rules for the management and operation of the Hartville PD.

Dragovich sued Green in her capacity as mayor and ultimately the case got solved within mediation whereby Dragovich was given authority to run the Hartville Police Department.

Issues over?

Hardly.

In July, 2007 Dragovich was involved in another publicly reported incident, again, a Repository account:

According to witnesses, Dragovich was at the Speedway store when he approached a woman, pulled out a pocket knife and suggested that he could remove a tattoo from the woman�s arm. Store employees reported the incident to another Hartville police officer.

On the heels of this incident, Green placed Dragovich on administrative leave and endeavored to have Draogvich fired.

The Dragovich controversy played big in the November, 2007 mayoralty election and likely resulted in Green's defeat and Dragovich's immediate reinstatement by the new mayor (Tucker) in January, 2008.

However, it wasn't long before Dragovich was involved in another public controversy.  In March, 2009,

Here is an excerpt from the Hartville News that reports a summary of Dragovich's most recent "down:"

According to the Burnett article, Dordea, as acting chief, did place Bardwell on administrative leave.  Undoubtedly, Dordea's position would be that the suspension was purely a police supervision function.  And that is the correct place for Dordea to be in.

In the opinion of the SCPR, Larry Dordea is a first rate police officer and is a step up from George Dragovich (2004 through 2009 version).  He needs to stay out  of Hartville politics.

A main reason that the SCPR likes Dordea is that he appears to have the pursuit of justice as his primary aim and, though he understands the reality of politics, he is able to "rise above politics" and do and pursue justice irrespective of a person's station in life and/or their political connections.

Here is a video of Mayor Edsel Tucker providing background on Dordea coming to town, his swearing-in and his comments after the swearing-in.

SCPR SOURCES ARGUE OVER WHETHER OR NOT HARTVILLE POLICE CHIEF IS GOING TO RETIRE. WHO IS CORRECT?

The SCPR has been urging Hartville Police Chief George Dragovich to retire.

As has been documented in area media a number of times, Dragovich has been involved in number of controversies in recent years involving his conduct.  The SCPR believes these controversies have not been  a positive phenomenon for Hartville's image and that that Dragovich, if he cares anything about a community that has been good to him for many years, will move on.

Anticipating Dragovich's departure, Hartville went out and got former Alliance chief Larry Dordea to come in to beef up the Hartville police effort.  Undoubtedly, in the back of the minds of Hartville's governors, he was brought in to one day replace Dragovich.

But there has been a rub.

What rub?

Dragovich has a good thing going for him and has resisted Tucker administration (Ed Tucker is mayor of Hartville) efforts to move him on.  Dragovich announced during the Green administration (former mayor Beverly Green whom Tucker defeated) that he was going to retire (supposedly, June, 2006).

Well, he didn't.

Now a source is telling the SCPR that Dragovich is going on vacation on October 5, 2009 and will be retiring sometime in December.

The SCPR was all set to do a blog disclosing the imminent "for certain" retirement of George Dragovich.

Hold on, Martin!

Another source called the SCPR today and vehemently challenged the notion that Dragovich was going to retire.  This source says Dragovich is telling two stories in the Hartville community.

First, he is telling Tucker et al  that he is going to retire.

Alternatively, he is telling his friends that hangout at Hartville's McDonalds over coffee that is not going to retire.

Moreover, the SCPR's (not retiring) source says that Dragovich has too much to gain by staying beyond January 1, 2010.

So which account is the truth of the matter?

Probably only the passage of time will tell the tale.

You can be sure that Tucker and his key supporters on Hartville Council will push and push hard to get Dragovich to retire.  The trick on the administration's part is to get Dragovich's retirement without being sued by Dragovich.

The SCPR's (Dragovich is not leaving) source says that Dragovich is telling some village residents that "sue Hartville" is exactly what he will do, if Hartville officials make his departure involuntary.

Stay tuned folks!

DISCUSSION: ITS ABOUT TIME FOR HARTVILLE MAYOR ED TUCKER TO HAVE A HEART-TO-HEART WITH POLICE CHIEF GEORGE DRAGOVICH, JR. ABOUT MOVING ON?

Hartville Police Chief George Dragovich, Jr. is in another controversy?

According to Edd Pritchard's report in The Repository yesterday, the chief has a disgruntled officer (Officer Bardwell) on the Hartville police force because the officer does not believe his on-the-job complaints are being heard.

A key matter that The Rep writer failed to inform Rep readers of is this. Chief Dragovich, according to a source of the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report), works from his home.

Isn't this splendid?

This "little morsel" of missing information from both The Repository's report and a report by the Akron Beacon Journal (see link below) may actually be a key reason why the officer took the chief's mailbox and his complaint and put it on Mayor Tucker's door. The Report's source says that Dragovich does not regularly and consistently check his mail (perhaps as little as two times a year?). And consequently a number of important matters are not dealt with in a timely fashion which proves frustrating to folks like Bardwell.

To be nice, The Rep's article was incomplete to say the least. For a more complete account go to the Akron Beacon Journal's version, CLICK HERE.

Citizens of Hartville should be peppering Mayor Ed Tucker and Village Council with a volume of questions about what is going on here and demand swift and immediate corrective action.

The Report thinks Tucker et al have an awful lot of explaining to do. Apparently, they do not believe that The Repository and the Beacon Journal are going to consistently and abidingly press them on this bizarre way of running police administration within the Village.

Reading between the lines of the Beacon Journal's story, The Report gets the impression that council members and Tucker are appropriately indignant for media purposes, but once the press goes away very little or anything will be done by these elected officials to get the chief in line with doing prompt, efficient and effective police leadership.

The Report's take on the Mayor Tucker, Bohaychyk, Currie, Beltz, and Sullivan reaction and action is "to blame the victim."

The Report has begun its scrutiny of Hartville government and the days of getting "softball" coverage are over.

Chief Dragovich has a storied history of late involving his conduct as the man in charge of Hartville's law enforcement.

It was only on January, 2008 (with the assumption of office of Mayor Ed Tucker) that Dragovich came of paid administrative leave imposed by former Mayor Bev Green in September, 2007 as an outgrowth of a complaint received against Dragovich. The Rep's Edd Pritchard reported Green's action this way:

Green placed Dragovich on leave after hearing a complaint that he had accosted a customer at a local convenience store. She then turned the complaint over to the Stark County Sheriff's Department for an investigation.

In November 2006, Dragovich filed a lawsuit against Mayor Green in her capacity as mayor for "usurping his authority" as chief.

To just to get "a little bit sarcastic" with the chief: "Gee chief, your right. You run such a tight policing ship in Hartville that one wouldn't want anyone else to get in the way."

In October 2006, Dragovich rescinded previously announced plan to retire by retracting same during a Village Council meeting.

In December 2003, Dragovich was involved in an incident at Hartville's Giant Eagle, to wit: (as reported by The Rep's Kelli Young)

Mayor Owen Stoll gave Police Chief George Dragovich Jr. a verbal reprimand Tuesday for acting inappropriately after a Giant Eagle security officer stopped the chief outside the W. Maple Street grocery store for leaving with two votive candles without paying for them.

Back to the premises of this blog.

George Dragovich, Jr. should seriously consider, in the opinion of The Report, returning to Plan B.

What is Plan B?

Retirement, that's what.

Dragovich was scheduled to retire in June, 2006.

It was a good idea in 2006. It's an even better idea in 2009!

"THE DRAGOVICH CHICKEN" IS COMING HOME TO ROOST IN HARTVILLE?

 

The SCPR broke the news to soon-to-be Hartville police chief Larry Dordea that the current chief George Dragovich was coming home to roost in the form of a lawsuit filed against Dordea and other village officials (including, obviously, current chief George Dragovich) because of the villiage's alleged treatment of former village police officer Aaron Bardwell.

Republican Dordea was recently elected councilman-at-large in Alliance (where his home is located, and, it is widely believed that he will be running for Stark County sheriff in 2012.

Dordea told the SCPR that he had not yet received a copy of the complaint filed by Bardwell's attorney Celeste DeHoff.

DeHoff is also known in Stark County as a Tuscarawas Township trustee and defeated Democratic candidate for the Ohio House (50th) in a 2008 contest with Todd Snitchler of Lake Township.

Edd Pritcherd of The Repository summarizes the complaint this way in today's edition:

Bardwell claims he was harassed, humiliated, belittled and embarrassed because of Dragovich’s conduct and because of the lack of action by the village’s mayor and council when they were told of the police chief’s behavior.

The dispute between Bardwell and Dragovich goes back to 2007, according to the lawsuit. It’s led to Bardwell being placed on an unpaid administrative leave earlier this month.

Back in March, 2009, The Report filed this piece (CLICK HERE FOR A REFRESHER) on the Bardwell/Dragovich matter.

Dordea further said that there has been talk around village hall over the past several months that Bardwell was contemplating litigation, but that lawsuit talk from this quarter or that quarter is commonplace and that he had no specific indication that Bardwell was about to file on November 10th (this past Tuesday).

 

 

The SCPR has been amazed how long Dragovich has held on in Hartville.  There have been a number of controversies which have dogged the police chief, but he is proving to be a cat that literally has nine lives.

In an ironic sort of way, it is likely that Dragovich will "officially" announce his retirement within the next two weeks.

Had he retired in 2006 as he told village officials back then, Hartville would not be where it is today.

The SCPR sees Mayor Edsel Tucker as dropping the ball in coaxing Dragovich out.

Now he and all of Council and to be successor chief Larry Dordea have to deal with the "Dragovich chicken coming home to roost."

DRAGOVICH HAS BEEN SAYING THAT HE IS GOING TO RETIRE IN JUNE, 2009 - BUT THAT WAS SEVERAL MONTHS AGO. HAS HE CHANGED HIS MIND?

Back on March 19th, the SCPR published a piece that went into the more recent history of George Dragovich as police chief of Hartville. Click here to read the earlier piece.

Dragovich has been telling some folks on the scene in Hartville that he was going to be retiring in June, 2009.

Of late, Chief Dragovich has been in "mum is the word" mode on his retirement. And more importantly to the citizens of Hartville is the observation by one who knows that (to paraphrase) "the chief is retired in terms of his work habits."

If the SCPR's source's observation is correct, how can Mayor Tucker and Hartville Village Council sit idly by and allow the situation continue?

The dollars which they, in their official capacity, pay Dragovich are not Tucker dollars, Billings dollars, Hough dollars, Beltz dollars, Bohaycyk dollars, Currie dollars or Sullivan dollars.

No, no, no!!!

They are taxpayer dollars!

Are Hartville's elected officials minding the public trust?

FINALLY! HARTVILLE'S POLICE CHIEF DRAGOVICH TO RETIRE?

As readers of the SCPR know, yours truly has been urging Hartville Police Chief George Dragovich to retire.

Dragovich has had a long run in Hartville, but the times seem to have passed him by and retirement seems to be a good option.

The chief has been the subject of a number of somewhat controversial incidents in Hartville in recent years and the SCPR believes that is is counterproductive to the interests of Hartville's citizens for him to remain in place.

The Report has learned that Dragovich is telling his Hartville friends that he is retiring before the end of 2009.

The SCPR congratulates him on his apparent decision and wishes him well.

WHO WILL PERRY TOWNSHIP TRUSTEES TURN TO TO REPLACE ESCOLA?

With turmoil surrounding the resignation of Tim Escola as police chief in Perry Township, it likely will be a gigantic task for trustees to find an Escola replacement.

One name that has surfaced is Larry Dordea, former police chief in Alliance, who is currently a lieutenant in the Hartville Police Department and who ran unsuccessfully against Sheriff Tim Swanson in November, 2008.

Some in Hartville believe that Dordea is a "police chief in waiting," if George Dragovich ever makes good on his promise to retire. Dragovich has come under criticism in recent years over several incidents described elsewhere in the Stark County Political Report. The SCPR is critical of Dragovich and has written that it is time for him to move on.

He had been on record on saying he would retire in June, 2009. Well, let's see it's July 4, 2009 and no word on an imminent Dragovich retirement. Is Dordea going to be content to be a "police chief in waiting" much longer.

Probably not.

So, does this make him a prime candidate for the Perry job?

Dordea has told the SCPR that he has had contact from Perry Township based folks but not an official inquiry as to his availability.

It will be interesting to see whether or not the Perry trustees show any interest in Dordea.

Dordea certainly has effective police leadership credentials.

Even his opponent Sheriff Tim Swanson had nothing but positive things to say about Dordea's leadership as police chief in Alliance when the SCPR interviewed Swanson in the course of the 2008 election cycle.

Clearly, the pressure is on the Perry trustees to get the new hire right.

TWO PART SERIES: PART 1 - HARTVILLE POLICE CHIEF LARRY DORDEA TO SAVE STARK COUNTY CENTRALIZED DISPATCH A COOL $1 MILLION PLUS IN "COMPUTER ASSISTED DISPATCH" (CAD) SOFTWARE. CAN HE PULL IT OFF?

UPDATE

ORIGINAL POST

Larry Dordea became a policeman in 1977 in Alliance, Ohio.

Eventually, he rose to become chief in Alliance and is credited with withering the crime problem in Alliance.  Like many, after retiring he became restless and decided he needed to get back into policing.

But he wanted to make a large impact on Stark County.  So what did he do?  He ran as a Republican for sheriff against long term Tim Swanson, a Democrat.

The SCPR had just gotten up and running as a political blog dedicated to Stark County politics and government.  Dordea was the very first person to comment on a SCPR blog that had to do with the effort that now retired commissioner Jane Vignos and Jackson Township fiscal officer Randy Gonzalez (now chair of Stark County Council of Governments 9-1-1- Governance Committee) to sell centralized 9-1-1 centralized dispatch to Stark County's political subdivisions.

One stop along the way for Vignos and Gonzalez was Alliance City Council.  A newspaper report indicated that Dordea had reservations about centralized dispatch.

The Report picked up on the article and questioned whether or not Dordea was too provincial to be Stark County sheriff.  Naturally, very few people like to be defined as being a narrow-minded person.  And Dordea really took exception.  In fact, the blog and Dordea's comment remain on the SCPR and can be accessed with the blog search engine.

So the SCPR and Dordea did not get off to a good start.  And he was being told by the likes of Jeff Matthews (the Stark GOP chairman) and Curt Braden (a former Stark GOP chairman and now 29th District Republican Committeeman) to stay away from Olson.

Since the rocky start, the SCPR and Dordea have had a fruitful dialog going as to how to improve Stark County government and politics which is the overriding goal for the both of us.

In December, 2008 (after losing to Swanson in the November general election) Dordea associated with the Hartville Police Department.  Chief George Dragovich had been talking about retiring since 2006 and, accordingly, village officials needed to bring someone in that was capable of taking over.

In December, 2009 Dordea became chief when Dragovich finally made good on the retirement talk.

One of the most obvious discovery that Dordea made about the Hartville department was that it was back in the "horse 'n buggy" days insofar as its information gathering and reporting technology was concerned.

We all know the cliche saying "knowledge is power."  The fact of the matter is that in law enforcement the saying is not a mere cliche, it is reality.  Dordea was one of Stark's first police officials to grasp the critical importance that gathering, reporting and coordinating the dissemination of information was a key to successful policing.  In the mid-1990s he was heavily involved in working with a communications technology specialist out of Cuyahoga County in setting up a records management system (RMS) in Alliance.

From those early days, Dordea and the technician, Tom Craven - owner of TAC Computers, Inc., have worked together to grow communications technology tailored to enhance local government police, fire and EMS operations.

The expression "We have come a long way baby" is clearly applicable to the Craven/Dordea relationship.

But it is not a business relationship.  Rather it is a connection forged to grow a rudimentary technology into one which has as its goal the establishment of a seamless, integrated law enforcement tool designed to keep the good guys and gals ahead of the baddies.

And the combo is working to the advantage of both in terms of increasing the learning, and by extrapolation, to all of law enforcement in northeast Ohio.

As stated above, when he took over in Hartville, one of Dordea's most pressing needs was to find a fix to the Hartville Police Department's backwater communications profile.

So he turned to Craven.

To make a short story of the contact and get to the main point of this blog, suffice it to say that Dordea may have struck gold for Hartville and all of Stark County in making the reconnection with Craven.

In the course of the conversation about the Hartville dilemma (a need, but not much money), Craven said that he could solve Hartville's and, indeed, all of Stark County's emergency force needs (Stark has 33 fire emergency units and 22 police units according to 9-1-1 project manager Joe Concatto) for free.

Free?

Depending on how one defines "free," yes - free.

The "freebie" is in the sense that the money (probably about $1 million or so), if it comes, will be in the form of a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant through the Summit County Emergency Management Agency located in Akron.  Tom Craven tells Dordea that his company, TAC Computers, Inc., can provide for all of Stark County's emergency force communications needs with funds that can be obtained through the grant.

But Stark County officials must sell Summit County officials on Dordea's idea.  Presently, Summit is hooked in with another company which, Dordea says, does not have near Craven's proven quality.  To back up his claim, Dordea passes out a list of about 100 police departments through northeast Ohio in what is know as region five Homeland Security for disbelievers to contact for their read on Craven's work and equipment.

Clearly, with this effort to bring countywide emergency force communications, Dordea has made a telling rebuttal to The Report's 2008 suggestion that, perhaps, Larry Dorea was too provincial to be Stark County sheriff.

If he decides to run in 2012, he has positioned himself to be a prime contender for being elected Stark County's lead policeman.

The SCPR was at the Stark County commissioners meeting this past Wednesday and recorded Dordea's presentation on the need for Stark to pursue a FEMA grant.

Tomorrow, the SCPR will run Part 2 in this series and in the video portion of the blog, you will see Chief Dordea field the questions of Commissioners Bosley, Ferguson and Meeks and 9-1-1 project manager Joseph Concatto (a former Creighton City of Canton administration official and a former Canton City fire chief).

In this Part 1 video, see Dordea's core presentation to the commissioners.

Here is the video.

JUST WHEN THOUGHT THINGS WERE GOING WELL IN HARTVILLE?

With Police Chief Dragovich on his way out and "the public prayer before meeting controversy" dying down;  it began to look like Hartville was revisiting the halcyon days of Ed DiGiacomo being mayor of Hartville.  In those days Hartville was the qunitessential "all-American," bucolic community.  Stability, stability and more stability.

With the advent of the Tucker administration (who defeated Bev Green a few years ago), it was beginning to look like there were "showers of blessings" raining down on Hartville, once again.

This is probably too much of a leap, but could it be because Pastor Tom Hough is a member of village council.

At least that was what yours truly was beginning to think.

So the SCPR was amazed to get a phone call from a Hartville resident putting all the "apparent" contentment and benison  in question.

Well, what did this person have to say about the state of affairs in Hartville.

First, was a shocker-roo, if true.  According to the source (who turned out to be wrong about a possible move), Scott Process Systems, Incorporated had been sold and the new owner wanted to move out of Hartville.  And, Mayor Tucker and Village Council were just letting it happen.

The SCPR asked Ron Genovese who is Scott Process Systems, Inc's vice president of sales/marketing whether or not there was any truth to the sale/move rumor. As you can see from the e-mail (duplicated below), Genovese does not respond to the sale question, but he does say Scott Process is going nowhere and is staying in Hartville "PERIOD!"

Second, that Hartville is no longer providing school crossing funding for teacher aides who help Hartville's children to safely cross the Hartville village street that fronts Hartville Elementary  Hartville funding has been in place since the early 70s. 

Apparently, this is so.  A source in a position to know (other than the original reporter) tells the SCPR that such is the case.

Most likely, the discontinuance is just a matter of economics.  Undoubtedly, if citizens of Hartville want their government to continue to fund this function, Council would be open to reversing course.  But they will have to visit a Council meeting and let their desires be known.

Third, that the Schumacher Lumber brothers are unhappy with the security that Hartville is providing for their vacant three story building located in the heart of Hartville.

The SCPR had a discussion with "soon to become" Hartville police chief Larry Dordea about this matter.

Dordea says that he definitely thinks that the Schumacher brothers are dissatisfied with the work being done by the Hartville Police Department (HPD).  However, Dordea defends the surveillance being done by the department.  He says that the Hartville police are at the Schumacher facility daily in an endeavor to capture intruders.  He thinks the  juveniles are the culprits.

Dordea relates how the HPD spends hours upon hours in policing the security of the Schumacher property,  citing how it takes an hour to do a walk through of the three story structure.


Fourth, the source says that Hartville sold four police cruisers (that should have been put up for public auction) to a friend of Dordea's located in Alliance for $1,500.

Dordea confirms that the cruisers have been sold to an Alliance scrap metal firm but denies any personal connection.  Dordea says he sought bids from a couple of scrap metal dealers who advertise in the Hartville News, but that they were offering from $100 to $200 per car.  Moreover, Dordea says that the cars were not road worthy enough to offer to the general public.

And there were other observations by the SCPR's source that were critical of how Mayor Tucker, the Council and the police department are handling matters in Hartville.

Are Hartville's residents about to see a revisitation of turmoil?

The SCPR senses that such could be the case even in face of the political reality that there are three candidates for four seats in this November's election cycle.

Perhaps not.

The next two years is likely to tell the tale.

Will it be a period of bliss or discord in Hartville?