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YOUNGSTOWN -- The office of embattled Mahoning County Clerk of Courts Michael Ciccone failed to file routine monthly reconciliation reports for well over a year until county commissioners agreed to pay an accounting firm to do the job.
Based on the recommendation of county Auditor Ralph Meacham, the commissioners voted April 28 to pay up to $25,000 to the Canfield accounting firm of Schroedel, Scullin & Bestic LLC to do the work. When SSB discovered how bad the situation was in the clerk of courts' office, the commissioners on July 18 authorized an amended agreement for an estimated $50,000 more to the firm.
County Commissioner Geno DiFabio, a Republican, said the clerk of courts' financial "books are bad. They didn't inherit bad books. They created this situation. To me, it shouldn't have been necessary. It's unprecedented."
Asked about the increase in pay to SSB, DiFabio said: "They got in there, and they learned there was more to do. There was more there than anyone anticipated. We felt it necessary to get this straightened out. The county's business has to be fixed."
Leaders in the county Republican Party, including DiFabio and Meacham, called on Ciccone, a fellow Republican, to resign Oct. 18, a day after Jennifer Ciccone, fired Oct. 17 as his chief deputy and chief of staff, posted several incriminating and embarrassing text messages from and photos of her former boss and once close friend on Facebook. That included the use of a racial epithet a number of times and slurs about elected officials.
Ciccone has refused to resign despite several issues.
Meacham said his office last received monthly reconciliation reports from Ciccone in March 2025, only three months into the latter's term as clerk of courts.
"They were not being done so we had to clear it up," Meacham said. "We had two concerns. One is year-end reports for 2025. We needed the reports to be auditable by the state. The second was where are we in 2026? That's what prompted the hiring of an outside accounting firm."
Regarding Ciccone's failure to file the reports, Meacham said, "It's his job to do it and my job to say he isn't doing it. I notified the commissioners and the state auditor."
Since SSB's hiring, the reconciliation reports for 2025 were filed by the firm, Meacham said, so a state audit for that year was able to be done.
Those reports are supposed to reconcile what money the clerk of courts collects, how it distributes it to the state and county, and what it deposits into the bank.
Ciccone didn't respond Monday to a request to comment from The Vindicator.
Brent Hanni, his fiscal officer since December, said Monday of the SSB hiring: "It was a deliberate choice to ensure forensic accuracy while keeping our day-to-day court operations running. We uncovered some historical errors which needed to be resolved to ensure a clean baseline. These errors preceded the current administration so I would have no idea how they have lasted so long, but we are working to resolve them. Under advisement of the county auditor and county commissioners, we are awaiting an acceptable reconciliation worksheet from the commissioners-approved accounting firm."
But Meacham and the county commissioners said the problems started shortly after Ciccone took office.
Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti, a Democrat, said she and the other commissioners agreed to hire SSB because Ciccone's office needed help.
"We approved it to give them more assistance," she said.
Rimedio-Righetti also agreed with DiFabio that hiring an outside accounting firm for this work is "unprecedented."
Rimedio-Righetti added: "When people come to us and need help, we offer it to get it right. Our job is to help them succeed. It's up to them to follow through."
Commissioner Anthony Traficanti, a Democrat, said: "It was brought to us by the auditor. I wouldn't have an idea as a commissioner on the internal financials of each office. It was the auditor's suggestion we do this because things were lacking and he was concerned with their inability to catch up. We honored the request to make sure the county isn't hurt. It needs to be reconciled and it needs to be corrected. We're helping (Ciccone) get the help he needs."
CICCONE ISSUES
This is just the latest in a long line of issues with Ciccone, who's been clerk of courts for 18 months of a four-year term.
Thais Scott of Girard, a former clerk of courts' administrator who is black, filed a lawsuit July 21 against Ciccone and his office contending he fired her after she reported to the human resources department that he called her a racial slur. Scott is suing Ciccone on allegations of racial discrimination, retaliation and having a hostile work environment.
In the lawsuit, Scott's attorney disclosed that his client received a text message exchange from Jennifer Ciccone that the latter had with Michael Ciccone three days after he fired her.
In the exchange, Michael Ciccone wrote: "I think George would have been a better (N-word though it was spelled out), but I (expletive) up and trusted Thais. And (she's) next to go," according to the lawsuit.
The same text message exchange has Michael Ciccone referring to another black employee with "a racial slur and stated that this employee had been fired," according to the lawsuit.
Ciccone fired Scott on Dec. 4, less than a year after she started working for him, without providing a reason or explanation for her termination, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit contends the firing was "racially motivated and without just cause and was made in bad faith."
The chairmen of the Mahoning County Republican and Democratic parties, and top officials in both parties, called for Michael Ciccone to resign after Jennifer Ciccone on Oct. 17 posted several text messages from him in which he used racial slurs as well as derogatory language about several people, including public officeholders.
Ciccone wrote in an Oct. 19 statement that he wouldn't resign. He hasn't made any other comments to The Vindicator since then.
The two political parties announced Dec. 19 they would seek to remove Ciccone through legal action that started in January. There has been little movement on that effort.
The political parties accuse Ciccone of repeatedly abusing the authority of his office, using "discriminatory and degrading language," and failing to "perform core statutory duties and administered the clerk's office in a manner that undermined fiscal integrity, employee safety and public confidence in the judicial system."
The complaint lists counts of malfeasance, misfeasance, nonfeasance, neglect of duty and negligence in office. It accuses Ciccone of mismanaging the title office, overhiring and overpaying personnel, engaging in favoritism, improperly waiving filing fees, failing to properly supervise employees and "failing to perform essential statutory duties."
Also, the Ohio Clerk of Courts Association censured Ciccone in November, and then removed him from all committees and asked him to resign from the organization a month later. Ciccone has refused to resign.
The commissioners suspended Ciccone's access privileges in December to the courthouse entrances, except the main one, for what they said were violations of security rules and protocols. At the time, DiFabio said that was an "unprecedented" decision.
Ciccone, who owed $5,896.50 in delinquent taxes on four properties as recently as February, had made most of those payments though the county auditor's website lists $1,385.53 delinquent as of Monday for his house at 18 S. Edgehill Ave. in Austintown, which is co-owned with Patrick W. Ciccone.
Ciccone's wife, Emily, was arrested Sept. 25 on a charge of domestic violence for an alleged incident involving her husband following an argument at their home. A judge dismissed a domestic violence charge against her on Oct. 14, citing a lack of evidence.
Before the case was dropped, Emily Ciccone's attorney said she "intends to offer evidence and argue self-defense in this matter. Defendant intends to put forth evidence that the alleged victim has physically abused her on numerous occasions prior to the incident that occurred on Sept. 25. Furthermore, on Sept. 25, the alleged victim physically assaulted the defendant which caused her to act in self-defense."
Emily Ciccone filed Oct. 7 for divorce from her husband, seeking custody of their three children. She dismissed the divorce proceedings Oct. 21.