03252007 - News Article - Public paid for music, massages - North Twp. workers say Cantrell indictment helps explain the questionable $30K contract - ROBERT CANTRELL

Public paid for music, massages
North Twp. workers say Cantrell indictment helps explain the questionable $30K contract
NWI Times
Mar 25, 2007
nwitimes.com/news/local/public-paid-for-music-massages/article_95282a94-1dd8-55e7-b70d-e319e9543883.html
In the middle of a busy workday, Louis Karubas said he would kick back on a Laz-Z-Boy, turn the lights low, switch on recorded sounds of rainfall and take a couple hours to just relax.

Karubas, who supervised a staff of inspectors in the North Township Trustee's office, said he and many of his government coworkers whittled away many working hours in such relaxation sessions at the offices of Addiction and Family Care.

And he said his employer ordered him to do it on public time.

Karubas and other workers say they knew it was a waste of time and public money, but they were ordered to go. A schedule was even posted in the office for the mandatory monthly sessions.

"Nobody wanted to go because you had to leave work to go over there," Karubas said. "And if you didn't, you lost a days' pay. I didn't like it at all."

Karubas occasionally saw political operative Robert Cantrell examining records in a back office. Now Cantrell's former presence at the office makes sense, Karubas and another township employee said.

A federal grand jury indicted Cantrell on Wednesday. Prosecutor contend Cantrell induced then-Trustee Greg Cvitkovich to sign a $30,000-a-year contract with the counseling firm that lasted from January 2000 to November 2005. Cantrell faces a total of 11 charges for fraud and tax evasion.

Cantrell's involvement with the contract was illegal, prosecutors argue, because he was secretly receiving up to half of the money that the township was paying for each session while Cantrell also was an employee of the township as an inspector and office manager.

Cantrell was earning less than $38,000 a year from his township job, but his income tax returns say he reported annual incomes between $165,000 and $212,000 from 2000 to 2003, court records state.

Cantrell's attorney, Kevin Milner, has said the indictment against Cantrell lacks substance and Cantrell's activities were legal.

Nancy Fromm, owner of the counseling firm and long-time political ally of Cantrell, defended the contract in a letter to The Times in 2004, saying the sessions were run by educated and licensed therapists to improve working relationships between employees and with the public.

Fromm wrote that the sessions included alcohol and drug abuse counseling, conflict resolution, diversity sensitivity training and teaching the workers "to respect and value each other and their clients." Fromm also defended the use of massage for stress relief.

"Successful companies are using massage therapy in the workplace to increase satisfaction and productivity," she wrote.

Fromm pleaded guilty to tax evasion and obstruction of justice two weeks ago, but her attorney has said the convictions had no bearing on the quality of work performed by the firm.

Current Township Trustee Frank Mrvan said he cancelled the contract with Fromm a month after coming to office because it seemed wasteful -- particularly the stress-relief massages.

"I thought it was insane that we were spending taxpayer dollars to go send our employees to get massages for stress relief," Mrvan said.