Securing a bond before taking public office
Mahoning county's new clerk of courts is set to begin his new job. But it almost didn't happen because of an insurance policy that's required for most elected officials.
Ohio law states that “all municipal officers who must give bond by ordinance must do so before entering upon the duties of office.”
“The surety company that they had normally go with all the time basically did not provide that bond, but the clerk's office wasn't notified until the 22nd by a letter,” said Audrey Tillis, Mahoning County Administrator.
An emergency meeting for the Mahoning County Board of Commissioners was canceled after Ciccone was able to secure a bond.
“He would have to bring in a security company, and the commissioners would have to agree to this. This is why we set up the emergency meeting if he could meet that part of the obligation. But in the interim, he was able to find a company that was able to find a company that provided him the security bond,” said Tillis.
Ciccone was also sworn in weeks early, giving him little time to fix the problem.
With less than 24 hours before being sworn in, Ciccone had yet to secure a 40 thousand dollar bond, although he says he was never worried.
“I was notified by the current administration a little after 12:00 yesterday about some sort of an issue with a company they use,” said Ciccone. “I was able to secure a surety bond without any problem whatsoever.”
The secured bonds are a kind of insurance policy that protects the taxpayer. This way, if an elected official mismanages public money, the bonding company will reimburse the county for the amount of the bond. It's not uncommon.
“I think there’s a number of cases that I can think of over the years where government officials wrote themselves checks, paid their own bills,” said Marc Dann, managing partner of Dann Law.
Before taking office, the public official needs to reach out to companies offering these bonds, and fill out an application. Dann feels this process is outdated.
“There just aren't a lot of insurance companies that offer these types of bonds. So, the market is difficult. There just aren't a lot of people offering it, and the Ohio revised code hasn't been updated to reflect any kind of modern practices,” said Dann.