AUSTINTOWN – Township trustees are expected Wednesday to appoint longtime former township administrator Michael Dockry to fulfill the remainder of the term of Trustee Steve Kent, who is being removed from office after being convicted this week of a third-degree felony crime.

Trustees will hold a special meeting at 11 a.m. Wednesday to appoint an interim trustee to replace Steve Kent. Kent’s term was set to end this year, and several candidates have already filed to run for the seat in the November election. Neither Kent nor Dockry were not among those who filed to run for the seat.

Kent was convicted Monday of tampering with evidence following his trial in Mahoning Common Pleas Court. Kent, who had been accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student at Poland Seminary High School, where he also had worked as a School Resource Officer, was tried on three sexual battery charges and the tampering with evidence charge. A jury acquitted Kent on the sex charges, but convicted him on the tampering with evidence charge.

Mahoning County Prosecutor Gina DeGenova said after reviewing Ohio Revised Code and conferring with the Ohio Attorney General’s office, her office determined Kent’s conviction automatically renders him “incompetent to hold office.”

“Since a jury returned a verdict finding Steve Kent guilty of a felony, he was rendered incompetent to hold his position of Austintown Township Trustee at that time. His office is now vacant.”

Austintown Township Administrator Mark D’Apolito said the person appointed by trustees will serve the remainder of Kent’s term, until a new trustee is elected in November and sworn in.

D’Apolito declined to speculate on who the board would appoint, but former township Administrator Mike Dockry is expected to fill the seat. Dockry confirmed the rumor Tuesday.

“I expect them to appoint me at tomorrow’s meeting,” he said. “It’s only going to be four and a half months, and based on my experience, I don’t expect anything that surprises me to come before the board in that time.”

For more on this story, read Wednesday’s Vindicator print edition, or www.vindy.com.