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YOUNGSTOWN -- The Mahoning County Clerk of Courts office will have to make do with the money it has until and unless its leader explains why he needs more.
That is the message from Mahoning County Commissioners after they say Clerk Micahel Ciccone failed to show up for a staff meeting to discuss his request for an additional $100,000.
Board Chair Geno DiFabio did not mince words, either.
"I'm not sure the clerk or anyone in his hierarchy knows how to operate the office and until they show us they do we can't give them any more money," he said. "He doesn't know anything, and I feel bad for the people who have to work in that office."
Since taking office in January 2025, Ciccone has faced allegations of workplace misconduct, racial discrimination and retaliation, including a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by a former administrator over racial abuse and being improperly fired. Other controversies include his treatment of staff; bipartisan demands for his resignation and a petition drive seeking his removal; a federal lawsuit filed by Courthouse News Service over access to court filings; and administrative problems involving delinquent financial reports that prompted the county to spend $25,000 on outside assistance.
Ciccone has resisted calls to resign and denied the discrimination allegations.
More recently, commissioners criticized his office over more than a dozen overdue FirstEnergy bills. County Auditor Ralph Meacham identified 18 outstanding bills and initiated an additional audit of Ciccone's office.
On Wednesday, commissioners approved about $14,000 for a time-sensitive purchase of specialized court filing folders but declined Ciccone's request for an additional $100,000 after he failed to attend the meeting to explain it.
"We sent him an invite, he accepted it," DeFabio said. "For him to say he didn't know we wanted him there, he doesn't understand the simplest form of county government."
DiFabio said the county already spent $75,000 to help Ciccone's office balance its books so the county could pass a state audit.
DiFabio and Jenn Pangio, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said Ciccone sent Chief of Staff Brent Hanni and another employee to the staff meeting with no documentation.
"We can't operate like that. It's not fair to the residents, the taxpayers," DiFabio said.
Pangio said Ciccone's office also requested money to cover the increased costs of postage, but provided no documentation. No papers were provided for the annual phone bill, which was about $45,000.
She said the clerk's office also had to pay for a new digital system to process certified mail, which was an unexpected expense that came out of the clerk's budget, but that cost was not mentioned in the Wednesday discussion.
Pangio said she cannot understand why Ciccone will not simply explain the need for the increase, as budget increase requests are a relatively normal function of government operations.
"I've gone through their budget with a fine tooth comb, and they aren't really spending out of the ordinary," Pangio said. "They just have to come in and explain why they couldn't stay within the confines of the budget they had."
Pangio put an even finer point on it:
"I can't see that they've misappropriated anything. He just needs to come in and discuss it."