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WARREN -- Candidates from across Trumbull County have launched their bids for various offices, including several seeking to fill the Howland Township trustee vacancy to be left by the retiring Rick Clark.
Many communities also will decide renewal or additional school and local levies and tax questions. And, in Newton Falls, voters will decide on the recall of a village council member.
Clark, who announced in May that he planned to retire at the end of his term, did not file for re-election this November.
Seven people filed to run for Howland trustee in November. Michael G. Verich, Julie Altawil, George Bakeris, Brian E. Baxter, Frank J. Dillon, Jack Finch Sr. and Daniel Sferra Jr., all filed before the deadline.
Verich has a background in Ohio politics. He was elected to the Ohio House in November 1982 and was elected to nine terms.
Another candidate who filed to run for trustee who might be familiar to Howland residents is Altawil. She was elected to the Howland Board of Education in November 2017 and has been a member on that board since.
According to township's website, Clark has served as a Howland trustee since 1994.
A new trustee has not been voted into the township since James LaPolla joined the board in 2014. Matthew Vansuch has been a trustee with the township since 2010.
The deadline for candidates to file to run as nonpartisan candidates in the Nov. 7 general election was 4 p.m. Wednesday.
The Trumbull County Board of Elections still needs to certify the candidates and issues.
ISSUES
Several areas will be voting on tax levies this November.
Bristol, Champion, Kinsman Vienna and Southington townships all will vote on additional levies.
The Eagle Joint Fire District, with voters in Hubbard Township and Hubbard city, also will vote on an additional levy. Gustavus, Johnston, Newton and Mesopotamia will be voting to renew current levies. The Newton Falls Joint Fire District also will be seeking a levy renewal by voters in the village of Newton Falls and Newton Township. Bloomfield Township will vote on a levy replacement.
The largest levy that a township put on the ballot is in Southington, where voters will be deciding on a 7-mill continuous levy for fire and EMS services. Currently, the fire department is volunteer. If approved, the levy would provide funds for a paid fire department and emergency medical services.
In addition, voters in many school districts will be deciding levies.
Lakeview schools and Brookfield schools will vote on additional levies. The districts of Liberty, Maplewood, Mathews, Weathersfield and McDonald will vote on renewal of current levies. The LaBrae Local School District will vote to replace a current levy.
The largest additional levy that a school board put on the ballot is a 4.9 mill 10-year additional levy presented by Lakeview Local Schools that would generate $1.51 million for the district. Earlier in the year, Lakeview Superintendent Velina Jo Taylor said the district has made cuts to operating expenses in recent years.
FALLS ISSUES
Newton Falls voters will decide whether to remove 3rd ward Councilwoman Tesa Spletzer from office by recall.
Residents at meetings have expressed concerns over Spletzer's representation of them and her behavior at council meetings and in public.
Earlier in the year, residents secured 139 signatures out of the 101 needed for the recall issue to be considered by the board of elections. The document cites reasons for Spletzer's recall -- her failure to conduct business of the village fairly and properly, failure to spend taxpayer money wisely and misfesance.
Newton Falls residents also will vote on two 0.25 percent income tax increases.
One would be to help add additional Trumbull County Sheriff's Department deputies to the village and / or add additional police staffing beyond 2023 staffing levels.
The other potential increase would be used to pay for the general construction, reconstruction, resurfacing and repair of village streets and roads.