WARREN – A pair of Niles City Council members — President Doug Sollitto and at-large Councilman Edward Stredney — plan to run on the Democratic ticket for Trumbull County commissioner and auditor, respectively.

Sollitto and Stredney started serving Jan. 1 in their new roles on Niles council.

“I bring a unique skill set with my city council experience and my public service and finding ways to get things done to best serve the citizens,” Sollitto said.

Sollitto served two terms as 1st Ward councilman and nearly two terms as an at-large councilman before he was elected in November as council president. Sollitto is the staff representative for the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association and previously served as union president at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown and the Mansfield Correctional Institution.

Stredney said: “I’m running because I believe our auditor’s role is to ensure fiscal integrity, accountability and compliance for county funds. I will ensure that Trumbull County Auditor’s Office operates with transparency, fraud prevention and quality compliance. It shouldn’t be a place where townships are scammed out of money, where developers are taxed out of new construction, where homeowners are taxed out of their homes and where the auditor’s office is constantly at odds with other county offices.”

A certified project manager, Stredney was elected in November as a Niles councilman at-large. He served from 2006 to 2015 as 3rd Ward councilman and was the city’s service director from February 2017 to August 2018.

Stredney said as he was campaigning for council, voters were “complaining about county offices, particularly engineer and auditor, and I had the same complaints.”

After a discussion with Trumbull Democratic Chairman Mark Alberini, Stredney decided to run for county auditor.

Trumbull was a Democratic stronghold county for decades, but that has changed with Republicans winning every contested county race during the 2022 and 2024 elections. Republicans hold all but two executive branch elected positions in the county.

Sollitto and Stredney said they can win despite the county’s changed political climate.

“To win, you’ve got to stick to messaging,” Stredney said. “I want to bring honesty and integrity back to the auditor’s office and work with county commissioners without threatening to sue them.”

Sollitto said: “I hope people can separate national politics from local politics. It’s OK to support who you want at the national level. But you can’t let it control who you support at the local level. No party line is going to tell me what to do. Those elected as Democrats or Republicans at the local level are not following a party line.”

REPUBLICANS

Bazetta Township Trustee Michael J. Hovis, a Republican, is the only GOP candidate to file for county commissioner as of Thursday.

Incumbent Commissioner Denny Malloy, a Republican serving his first term, said he is running for reelection.

Other Republicans who have taken out nominating petitions for county commissioner are: Hubbard Trustee Jason Tedrow; Jason Miner, Warren Township’s assistant fiscal officer; and Niki Frenchko, a former county commissioner.

Frenchko also pulled nominating petitions for county auditor and for the 14th Congressional District seat.

Current county Auditor Martha Yoder, a Republican, will run for her second four-year term.

Other Republicans who’ve declared their candidacy for auditor are Stacy A. Marling, Bazetta fiscal officer and Mahoning County chief deputy auditor, and Mike Loychik, a former two-term state representative.