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WARREN -- The campaign to replace outgoing Commissioner Denny Malloy is pitting political newcomer Kristen F. Rock against former Bazetta police Chief and current township trustee Michael J. Hovis.
Both candidates have been crisscrossing the county working to convince Trumbull voters they are the best person to help lead the county into the future working beside Commissioners Rick Hernandez and Tony Bernard.
Hovis, 58, and Rock, 52, for most of 2026 have been attending the commissioners’ meetings observing how the county operates.
In separate endorsement interviews, both Rock, a Democrat, and Hovis, a Republican, suggested they would encourage the next commissioner board to make faster and more firm decisions.
MICHAEL HOVIS
Michael Hovis served as a military police officer in the Ohio National Guard from 1986 through 1992.
He opened his business, Hovis Construction LLC, in 2019 when he was 20. He earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with an emphasis in law enforcement in 1987 and graduated from the Western Reserve Institute of Ohio Peace Officer Training in May 1992.
He worked as a police officer in Cortland for about a year and then was hired as an officer by the Bazetta Police Department, where he was the president of the police union for 18 years and served as the Bazetta police chief for six years. He retired from the department in 2018.
He has been a Bazetta trustee since January 2022.
"When I was first elected, I said I would end my term with a million dollars in the general fund and pave McCleary-Jacoby Road," he said. "At the end of my term, there was $1.1 million in the general fund and the road was paved."
"We were able to replace Imagination Station at no expense to taxpayers," Hovis said. "We took the American Rescue Plan funds and used that for matching funds, to get the road paved."
Hovis said he was asked to run for the commissioners seat several years ago, but decided not to at the time. He has since regretted that decision.
Hovis now is criticizing how the ARP money was used by commissioners.
"The money was supposed to be used for long term infrastructure projects," he said.
Instead, portions of the ARP funds were used to provide ambulances to cities and townships across the county, as well as for other non-infrastructure projects.
"Bazetta did get an ambulance," Hovis said. "I didn't make the rules.It would have been irresponsible for me to not get the ambulance from the commissioners."
However, the trustee said he would have preferred the money to have been directed to other infrastructure projects, such as expanding the sanitary sewer lines on Perkins Jones Road. "If we would have run infrastructure with ARP money all of the infrastructure zone area would be full right now," Hovis argues. "I know it would be. Our phones were ringing off the hook when people heard Amazon was coming there. And they built it there. It is a nice $30 million project that generates $200,000 a year for the school and about $40,000 for the township."
Hovis criticizes the often two hour-long commissioner workshop meetings held Tuesdays by the commissioners, at which department heads must attend to provide reports and request explanations that often are only a few moments long.
"They have the county's highest paid elected and appointed officials sitting in those meetings on the taxpayers dime," he said. "They could, instead, be getting important work done."
Hovis also is criticizing the commissioners decision making.
"They are afraid of making decisions," he said. "I brought them information about consolidating the two (county) courts. We still don't have a resolution by the county commissioners just to ask for a free study. They still have not made a decision."
Hovis said the state legislature is already working on language dealing with court consolidation.
"We are not reinventing the wheel," he said.
Hovis described the current process of decision making in Trumbull County as being too slow.
"I'm going to present things that make the commissioners make decisions," he said. "Time is money."
Hovis questions why the move of the 911 Center has taken so long to accomplish.
"They deserve their own building and improved technology," he said. "The safety of our county is at risk by them not having their own building. Look at every police and fire station, except Hubbard Eagle Joint Fire District, is owned by the local government. They own their police and fire departments for a reason."
Hovis suggests there needs to be a serious examination of the contract language if the county comes to an agreement to move the 911 Center onto the Kent State University Trumbull campus.
He describes Trumbull county roads as being in horrible condition.
"None of our local communities can pave their roads," he said.
He would discuss what is happening in Mahoning County, which, he says, has made significant improvements in paving their roads.
'We are leaving a lot of money on the table," Hovis said.
The trustee also said he has not been impressed with what the county's consultant, KO
Hovis believes the commissioners should have a budget administrator.
"Want to make sure the money is being spent the right way," he said."There has not been a commissioner since former Commissioner Paul Heltzel that looked at the budget in the way I'm going to look at it. I know budgets. That's what I do."
KRISTEN ROCK
Kristen Rock, 52, has been a co-owner of Liberty-based Rock Psychiatry, LLC, which is a company that provides litigation consulting since 2019.
She previously served on Liberty's zoning board in 2018 and the Liberty School District's fiscal oversight commission from 2011 to 2013.
She had a private law practice from 2005 to 2013 and worked at the law firm of Griffith, McCague & Wallace from 2003 through 2005. A Liberty resident, Rock is running for office because she believes the county can do better with the right leadership.
"I want commissioners that can be responsive and be decision makers," she said. "We need commissioners that have the political will to understand the problems we are facing and the opportunities we have."
She is concerned the commissioners often are working from a position of being two steps behind.
"For example, this situation with Trumbull 911 is very frustrating," she said. "Why is it taking so long for the commissioners to make a decision about moving the center?
Rock said the current 911 Center is not an appropriate place to have people working for a long period.
"The next 911 center should be in a facility that's owned by the county," she argued. "We should come up with several options for 911 and then get with our grant consultants, the sheriff and other interested communities."
In addition to a new facility, Rock argues Trumbull County 911 also needs to find ways to increase the number of dispatchers.
"I like the idea of coordinating with Trumbull Career and Technical Center to create a program that will train high school students to become dispatchers after their graduation." she said.
Rock questions why it has been so hard for the commissioners to make faster decisions on important county matters.
"I want to help residents now," Rock said. "It is difficult to make decisions when you're constantly measuring your decisions against the possibility of being re-elected."
If elected, Rock said she will make sure commissioners have all the pertinent facts presented to them, so it will be easier for them to make decisions.
"The more facts, the better decisions we can make," she said.
As an attorney who has worked with international manufacturing companies, Rock suggests her experience can help the county in analyzing contracts and in future negotiations. She believes commissioners must reduce waste, improve efficiency and make sure every tax dollar is being used effectively.
"I love budgeting," she said. "Cut and paste budgeting is not a way to run an organization."
Commissioners should be working closely with departments to build thoughtful and precise budget requests. Rock does not believe the county is in need of a budget administrator in the commissioners' office.
"I am a fiscal conservative," she said. "I'm not going to suggest we hire someone new or pay for something extra, until I'm 100% sure we cannot do it ourselves. We need to put in the work."
She believes the county commissioners should have open doors for job growth by going to a variety of programs, conferences and events in order to meet business and other leaders and tell them what is happening in Trumbull and the opportunities available to them.
"We need a land use plan," she said. "We should get together with townships and cities to talk to them about what they want."
She would like to make providing quality health care a key component of her time as a commissioner.
"We are in the fight of our life for quality health care," she said. "We must advocate for ourselves to ensure our healthcare needs are met."
She encourages Warren and Howland to cite the owner of the property on which the former Trumbull Memorial Hospital sits on every violation, until they are ready to come to the table and help solve the problem in getting the hospital reopened.