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Mahoning County Clerk of Courts: $100K for folders, a missed tax filing, and a CPA contract sent to ProtonMail

$100,000 for file folders. No bids. And that's not even the weird part.
A $100K sole-source budget ask, a “we just found out” passport tax return, and a county CPA contract forwarded to the Clerk’s personal ProtonMail.

The issue

Same request as the passport story (sent October 19, 2026). Item 6 asked for the Clerk's emails with the Commissioners about budget and staffing. Item 7 asked for management hires and pay. Item 8 asked for the Clerk's request for about $100,000. Item 4 (emails with the word "passport") pulled in a lot more than passports.

What we got

  • Oct 26, 2026: Commissioners sent the $100K letter (item 8). Auditor sent a 12-row hires-and-pay sheet (item 7).
  • Oct 30, 2026: Clerk's 151-page email production + a 174-page 2025 budget workbook (attached to an internal Oct 7, 2026 email).
  • Nov 4, 2026: After we asked whether the Clerk used personal email for this, his lawyer said a search of the Clerk's personal email found one email, and sent it.
  • Missing: No emails between the Clerk and the Commissioners (item 6) have turned up yet. Still open.

What we found

1. The $100,000 ask. No bids. On October 2, 2026, Chief Deputy Brent Hanni wrote to the Commissioners asking for "a budget addition to Org #01500 from the General Fund in the amount of $100,000.00 for operating expense." It's for "printed file folders from Records System, Inc. for the Legal Department use in the year 2027." Because the office uses that vendor's color-coding, "comparable bids were not obtained," and it asks them to treat the vendor "as a single source supplier." It adds: "Along with the folders an addition to Postage is needed." The letter doesn't split the $100K between folders and postage. (Commissioners item 8 letter; same page in Clerk production 10/30, PDF p. 2)

For comparison, the office's 2025 budget workbook lists the Legal Department line "File Folders, Record Systems, file folders for next calendar year" at $4,700. (2025 budget workbook, "Attachements Continued.pdf," p. 1) Separate county-court lines budget a few thousand more for the same vendor. (same workbook, county court sections)

Our opinion: We'd love to see the folders that cost $100K. To be fair, we don't know how much of the ask is postage, and we don't have the 2026 lines yet. So we're not saying "20 times more." We're saying: $4,700 in 2025, a $100,000 ask with no bids in 2026, and no breakdown.

2. "I just found out" about the passport tax. On August 3, 2026, Brent Hanni, signing as "Fiscal Officer," emailed the Title supervisor: "I just found out that we need to pay and file a tax return for passports from 2025 and the first part of 2026." He asked for gross passport sales and the number of passport photos taken each month, July 2025 through June 2026. (Clerk production 10/30, pp. 117-118) The Title supervisor replied: "this is something I have never seen or been a part of." (p. 148) The 2025 budget workbook (prepared in fall 2024) already has a line for "passport photo sales tax collected - distributed to state," with $750 and $1,000 in its two amount columns. (2025 budget workbook, account 600800) So somebody knew there was a passport photo tax before 2025.

3. The CPA contract, forwarded to ProtonMail. The one email from the Clerk's personal account: - April 27, 2026, 1:26 PM: CPA firm Schroedel, Scullin & Bestic (SSB) sends an engagement letter to the Clerk's office. (engagement_letter_SSB.eml) - 1:52 PM: Chief Deputy Katherine Rudzik tells Ciccone the CPAs want it on the next day's Commissioners agenda. (same) - 1:58 PM: Ciccone forwards it from his county address to michaelpciccone@protonmail.com, marked Importance: High. (same) - The letter: "bookkeeping clean-up services," to bring the books "to a condition suitable for audit readiness." Fees "not to exceed $25,000" without consent. Invoices go to the Commissioners' office. And: "Our engagement does not include procedures designed to detect errors, fraud or illegal acts." (Engagement Letter 2026.pdf, pp. 1-2) - Separately, on October 2, 2026, Ciccone emailed himself an "Ohio Clerk of Courts Operations Manual 2026" from the same ProtonMail account, "Sent from ProtonMail for Android." (Clerk production 10/30, p. 12)

Commissioners' public agendas show the SSB deal growing: April 28, 2026, not to exceed $25,000; June 18, 2026, an amendment estimated at $50,000; October 29, 2026, amendment #2 estimated at $50,000. (Mahoning County Commissioners' public meeting agendas. These are public agendas, not records from this request.) That's up to $125,000 authorized. We don't know how much was actually paid.

4. Staff stamping the Clerk's signature. A July 13, 2026 recap from the president of the Clerk employees' union local says that for a union agreement (MOU), "Meghan or Katherine will get verbal authorization from Michael Ciccone and stamp with his signature due to his currently limited availability." (Clerk production 10/30, p. 139) That's the union's recap, not a Clerk policy. We're quoting it, not explaining it.

5. Who got hired, and for how much. (County Auditor sheet, item 7) | Name | Title | Hired | Annual pay | |---|---|---|---| | Ryan Kadel | Director of Operations | 4/14/2025 | $100,006 | | Meghan Hanni | Director HR / Chief Deputy Auto Title | 7/7/2025 (pay change 11/16/2025) | $120,016 | | Brent Hanni | Chief Deputy | 12/15/2025 (change 8/10/2026) | $126,000 | | (Fiscal Officer) | Fiscal Officer | 9/28/2026 | $85,010 | | Two Administrative Clerks | Administrative Clerk | 8/24/2026 and 10/1/2026 | $75,005 each | Brent Hanni signed as "Fiscal Officer" in August. The office hired a separate Fiscal Officer in late September, a few days before the $100K letter.

What's next

  • What's in the $100,000? How much is folders and how much is postage? What were the 2026 adopted lines?
  • Why were no bids obtained? The letter's reason is the color-coding system. Is there a cheaper way to get the same folders?
  • Was the passport tax return filed and paid? When? The records stop at "I just found out."
  • Why does an elected official forward a county contract to a personal ProtonMail account? Ohio treats records about public business as public no matter where they sit. The office did search and produce it when we asked, which is to their credit.
  • What does "currently limited availability" mean for a full-time elected office? We're asking, not guessing.
  • How much of the up-to-$125K for SSB has been paid, and for what?

Follow-ups

  • Open: Clerk-to-Commissioners emails (item 6).
  • Possible next requests: the 2026 Clerk folder and postage lines and spending to date; SSB invoices and payments; the passport photo sales tax filings and payment dates.

Documents

These are the records as the agencies released them. We blacked out only information that could identify a minor, our own personal contact details, and adult Social Security numbers. Any other black boxes were put there by the agency.

Everything on this page comes from public records we requested under Ohio's Public Records Act (R.C. 149.43), unless we say otherwise. Anything labeled "Our opinion" or "We think" is our opinion. Questions are questions, not accusations. People charged with crimes are presumed innocent. See something wrong? Tell us: TheMLOBROS@gmail.com · (330) 542-5449.
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