Hilltopper Remembered After Accident
"He was a true Hilltopper, both as an athlete and as a coach." Doug Snyder
Chardon High School was shocked to learn last week it had lost a 2006 graduate, when a trench collapsed in Mentor March 29, killing Alex Marcotte, 28, while he was at work.
Marcotte was working on a water main on Heisley Road during his shift at Aqua Ohio, the private company that is the sole water provider for the City of Mentor. Heisley Road is undergoing a widening project.
Known throughout Chardon High School’s athletic community for his time as an athlete and then later as a coach and volunteer, Marcotte’s death shocked the Hilltoppers community.
“He was a true Hilltopper, both as an athlete and as a coach,” wrote Athletic Director Doug Snyder, who preferred an email response because it was “a difficult thing for me to talk about.”
He added: “He was a positive role model and worked very hard on behalf of Hilltopper athletes.”
“It’s a tragic story because Alex was a kid who really loved Chardon and loved his relationship with the school and the students,” said Andy Fetchik, Chardon High School principal. “He didn’t take a traditional path in that he worked his way through college, and it took him a little longer, but he stayed with it.
“He was a success story. He’s that model of hard work and dedication.”
Marcotte was a member of the 2006 Premier Athletic Conference championship boys basketball team under Snyder. A knee injury sidelined him his senior year, but Marcotte still served as a student assistant, which paved the way for his work as a junior varsity boys soccer and basketball coach after graduation.
He also worked for the athletic department as a visiting team host for football games Friday night, and other events.
Born in Minnesota, Marcotte moved with his family to Chardon in 2002. He and his wife, Monika, lived in Chardon with their three young daughters, Morgan, Maddie and Abby.
“They have three beautiful daughters and they are great parents,” Snyder wrote. “Family was extremely important to Alex. He loved his wife and daughters, and he treasured his parents and brothers and sister. He was a devoted husband and father, and a loving son and brother.”
After news of Marcotte’s death, Aqua Ohio released a statement that it was working with the Ohio Occupational Safety and Hazard Association to investigate the incident.
“We are tremendously saddened at the death of our valued team member,” said Aqua Ohio President Ed Kolodziej. “We extend our most heartfelt sympathies to the employee’s loved ones.”
But Howard Eberts, the Cleveland area director of OSHA, said all tunnel collapses are “entirely preventable.”
He said the law required the sides of trenches that size to be braced or shored up to protect workers, and OSHA’s preliminary investigation revealed no protective measures were used on the side of the trench that caved in.
Marcotte was working in a trench between six and eight feet deep, according to Eberts.
Aqua Ohio has been fined by OSHA before, including a $5,000 fine for a November 2013 violation in Ashtabula that was similar, although nobody was killed.
Eberts said OSHA has six months to complete its final investigation, but it suspects it to be concluded in “a few weeks.”
See Marcotte’s obituary on Page A16.
