YOUNGSTOWN — Four of the seven incumbent members of Youngstown City Council will face challengers in the Democratic primary.

Wednesday was the filing deadline for the May 2 primary.

Filing to take on Councilwoman Anita Davis in the 6th Ward’s Democratic primary is Janet Tarpley, a former two-term councilwoman. Tarpley couldn’t run for a third term in 2015 because the city’s term limits law at the time prohibited it. That opened the seat for Davis to run for the ward seat that takes in most of the city’s South Side. Davis is seeking her third four-year term.

The term limits law was repealed in 2018 and then reinstated in the November election to take effect with this election. The law prohibits council members from holding the seat for more than two consecutive four-year terms starting with this upcoming election.

Tarpley unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat in 2014 for an Ohio House seat and came in a distant third in 2015 for Youngstown mayor as an independent candidate.

In the 2nd Ward, which includes most of the city’s East Side, incumbent Jimmy Hughes is facing Ra’Cole Taltoan, owner and partner of Rockbrook Business Services. In the 2017 Democratic primary, Hughes, a retired Youngstown police chief, beat Taltoan 457-162.

In the 5th Ward, which includes the lower West Side, Pat Kelly, who was appointed to fill the vacant seat Jan. 7 by Mahoning County Democratic Party central committee members in the ward, will face Carie Watson, a teacher and literacy coach at Youngstown Community School, in the primary. Watson and Kelly were among seven candidates who sought the party’s appointment.

In the 1st Ward, incumbent Julius Oliver will face Dionne Dowdy Lacy, housing director for United Returning Citizens, in the Democratic primary.

Republicans filed to run for council seats in the 1st Ward — Tracy Randall of Alexander Street — and in the 7th Ward — Josie Lyon, president of the 7th Ward Citizens Coalition. Randall would face the winner of the Democratic primary in the 1st Ward while Lyon would challenge incumbent Councilwoman Basia Adamczak, D-7th Ward, in the November general election. Oliver and Adamczak are seeking their third four-year terms on council.

The Mahoning County Board of Elections has to certify all of the candidates who filed by Wednesday’s deadline to the ballot after determining the validity of their nominating petitions.

The independent filing deadline is May 1, the day before the primary.

CITY CLERK OF COURTS

Also, city Clerk of Courts Sarah Brown-Clark, who was first elected in 1999 to that position, chose not to seek re-election and will retire when her term expires Dec. 31.

The only candidate to file to succeed her is Richard Vincent Hill, who worked in the clerk’s office for nearly 23 years. He is the criminal and traffic division supervisor.

Brown-Clark “laid out the blueprint for me to take over the office,” Hill said.

Hill, who finished a distant fourth in 2021 for Youngstown mayor as an independent, filed to succeed Brown-Clark as a Democrat.

During Hill’s mayoral bid, he had Brown-Clark’s support. She also supports his clerk of courts campaign.

STRUTHERS RACES

In Struthers, all the incumbent council members as well as Mayor Catherine Cerone Miller and Auditor Christina S. Bohl are running unopposed in the Democratic primary with no Republican challengers filing by Wednesday’s deadline.

There is a competitive race for Struthers Municipal Court judge.

Incumbent Judge Dominic R. Leone III will face James A. Melone of Sturbridge Place in Struthers, an attorney for the past 25 years,in the Democratic primary.

Also, Jennifer Ciccone of Four Seasons Trail in Poland, an attorney for nine years, filed as a Republican for the seat.

Struthers Municipal Court’s jurisdiction is Struthers, Lowellville, New Middletown, Springfield Township and Poland village and township.

Campbell Municipal Court Judge Patrick P. Cunning, who was first elected to the job in 2005, cannot seek re-election this year because of the state’s age limit law for judges.

The only candidate to file for the seat by Wednesday was Democrat Brian J. Macala.

Macala was elected Campbell law director in 2011 and has served the past 11-plus years. Before that, he was law director from 1996 until 2007, when he lost re-election.

There are two tax renewals on the ballot in Beaver, a renewal in the Youngstown school district and an additional tax for fire services in Beloit.

Voters in Beaver and Beloit will only have issues to consider on the May 2 ballot.

Beloit voters in November rejected the fire levy 151-146.

While there is typically a primary in Youngstown, only Democrats in four wards would be voting this year. But all the polling locations in the city school district will be required to open because of the tax issue.

Also, there are liquor options in two precincts in Boardman and one in Austintown that don’t have anything else on the ballot. There’s a liquor option in a Springfield precinct that has the Struthers Municipal Court’s Democratic primary race on the ballot.