CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber has opened an investigation into Cuyahoga County’s handling of its planned new jail, warning that officials could be held personally liable if his office finds public money was spent in violation of state law.
The matter is currently being reviewed by his office’s Special Investigations Unit, Faber said in a letter Friday to County Executive Chris Ronayne and Council President Dale Miller. But “from a preliminary examination,” he said it appears the county does need to get approval of the project and any spending for the planning of Garfield Heights jail from the four-member committee Prosecutor Michael O’Malley has said is required under Ohio law — and that approval is needed “before the project commences.”
As part of the review, though, Faber said he was giving the county 45 days to provide its “perspective on compliance” with the law. He specifically asked the county to respond to five questions:
- Does the County agree that the law requires approval from the majority of the following people: the clerk of the court, the sheriff, the probate judge, and a designee for the common pleas court?
- What is the County’s perspective on when the jail project commences and therefore when the committee’s vote is needed?
- Has the required committee been formed, and have they approved the project?
- What expenditures were made prior to getting the committee’s approval?
- What progress has been made on the jail project to date, and what still needs to be done to fully complete it?
He ended the letter with a warning: If investigators determine that officials violated the law and spent money illegally, the auditor “may issue” a finding for recovery, which would hold any official who participated in the illegal expenditure personally liable for paying that money back…