AUSTINTOWN — Four candidates are vying for the available seat on the township’s board of trustees, and all of them want to help Austintown put the board’s past couple of years behind it.

Andrea Paventi, Bruce Shepas, Eric Vereb and Warren Bo Pritchard are all seeking the seat previously occupied by Steve Kent. Kent was elected in 2019, but was ousted from the office Aug. 14 — one day after a jury found him guilty of tampering with evidence in a trial that focused on allegations of sexual battery against a Poland Seminary High School student in 2021. They jury acquitted Kent, the former school resource officer in Poland, of those three charges.

On Aug. 15, Mahoning County Prosecutor Gina DeGenova informed the township that Kent’s felony conviction for tampering with evidence rendered him legally incompetent to hold office. Trustees Monica Deavers and Robert Santos appointed former township administrator Mike Dockry to hold the position until a new trustee is elected in November.

The winner of the race will be sworn in immediately.

ERIC VEREB

Eric Vereb, a Jackson Township police officer and owner of Austintown Lawn Maintenance, is the son of local radio personality Ron Verb. He said he would value the input of township employees in devising policies to the township more effectively.

He also said he believes the township’s hiring practices should be revised to ensure “the most qualified person is being hired.” Vereb said he does not believe township administrator and Road Superintendent Mark D’Apolito meets that bar.

“The street maintenance in winter is unacceptable,” he said. “I do this on the side for a living, and I wouldn’t have a business if I did it this way.”

He said the township needs to stop mixing the salt solution with aggregate, which other local communities and the Ohio Department of Transportation do not do.

Vereb also said he wants the township to pay more attention to blight and raise the standards in the zoning office, hiring more personnel if necessary to help the township better meet its responsibilities.

Vereb said he opposes the township’s fire levy and believes the township needs more fiscal accountability.

“I’m against the fire levy and any new property tax,” he said. “I’ll never support any continuous levy. How did we get this far in the hole? This township brings in a lot of money every year, so where are we mismanaging it? We’ve got new names (on the board of trustees) but it’s the same situation.”

ANDREA PAVENTI

Andrea Paventi also has a background in law enforcement. She serves as bailiff for Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Donofrio. Paventi ran for the position in 2016, but lost to Pastor Rick Stauffer who resigned in 2018 and moved to Sharon to pursue his ministerial ambitions. Bruce Shepas also ran in that race and came in third.

With 27 years working in nonprofits, currently as executive director of Mahoning County Treatment Alternatives to Street Crimes (TASC), Paventi touts her fiscal management and grant writing experience as a major asset for her candidacy.

“I’m used to forecasting, knowing when a grant is about to end,” she said. “I’m a great planner. I can look at a vision and see it from beginning to end.”

Paventi said she would like to see the township use grant and levy funds better to keep more money available in the general fund.

She specifically mentioned revisiting Austintown’s 8-mill parks levy to bring it up to current valuation. It still operates at 1986 valuations, and Paventi said her conversations with township and county officials suggest that replacing it with 2023 values would increase it by only $20 per year on a $100,000-valued home, which would be enough to reduce the strain on the general fund.

She also said she would like to help grow the parks budget by encouraging the department to invite more big events such as sports tournaments and large craft shows, and attracting more business sponsorship for summer events.

Paventi said she supports the 3-mill continuing fire levy.

“We have great safety forces. Our fire department is the first on the scene as paramedics,” she said. “The fact is that our fire department is there and doing what they need to be doing. Looking at our levies, our parks department is in trouble, and our fire department will be in trouble, too, if this doesn’t pass.”

She said she disagrees with Vereb on maintenance and believes township roads are maintained well, while the trouble in Austintown during winter months is with the roads maintained by the county.

As for capital improvements, Paventi wants to make access to the schools safer and easier for students. She said she would like trustees to “work with the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments and the Austintown Local Schools to collaborate on Safe Transportation to Schools to help replace and create new sidewalks in the areas surrounding the school campus as well as routes students use to walk to school.”

Paventi said she is aware of residents’ concerns about dollar stores and car washes, and would like to see Austintown focus on learning what businesses fill needs in the community and actively courting them. She said hotels at state Route 46 and Interstate 80 always are booked, so adding another hotel and building conference space similar to what is available in Boardman and Canfield would be sound economic investments.

Paventi also opposes the proposed roundabout at Route 46 and New Road, and said she understands that residents feel the state left them out of the conversation.

BRUCE SHEPAS

Bruce Shepas is another candidate with law enforcement experience. Shepas retired in 2023 after a 23-year career as a counselor for the U.S. Department of Justice. He has owned his business, Austintown Bounce, since 2007.

Shepas also sits on the Austintown Zoning Board of Appeals and previously served on the township’s zoning commission board, from 2017 to 2022.

Shepas said township government is about building and maintaining relationships.

Shepas touts strong relationships with Deavers and Santos, from serving not only as a zoning official but as the township’s Fourth of July Parade chairman. He said he wants to use his know-how in this area to develop a local business ownership panel, which he proposes would meet quarterly, to help the township make smart decisions that will attract new businesses and a support existing ones.

“I think maybe the racino did not bring what we initially hoped it would,” he said. “I think the focus for development right now still is Mahoning Avenue, and then Route 46 later. And if trustees have to look at different types of abatement to achieve that, then we’ll look at it.”

He also intends to leverage relationships he has in the school district to find ways to save taxpayers money through resource sharing and bulk purchasing. Shepas said he would seek to hold joint meetings of the trustees and school board to better facilitate collaboration and make it easier for residents to attend and participate in the business of the township and school district’s governance.

Shepas said he thinks the roads department needs help but does not lack the knowledge or skill to maintain the roads.

“I think it’s about funding and staffing, and maybe it could use some newer equipment,” he said. Shepas added, “in a perfect world,” he would consider hiring a separate roads superintendent as well as two new zoning employees.

Shepas also supports the fire levy, he said, because helping the department to offset its rising costs is worth the safety and security it provides.

“My concern is if we have to use an outside ambulance service and it takes 20 minutes for them to arrive, versus the fire department getting there in five to seven minutes, if it’s someone in my family, I want the shorter time.”

He said he is not entirely comfortable with Lane LifeTrans now that the company is under new ownership.

WARREN BO PRITCHARD

Pritchard was the first to file for the race, telling The Vindicator that he was not sure if anyone else would run, but wanted to be sure someone challenged Kent in the event he was acquitted of all charges.

A private practice attorney, Pritchard said his priorities would begin with support for the township’s safety services.

“Safe communities attract home buyers,” he said. “We want to be known as a safe community. We want the best in training and equipment.”

But Pritchard did not say where the funding would come from, and he took a hard line on levies.

“The board must move beyond tax increases to resolve the township’s fiscal issues,” he wrote. “If we cannot move forward without taxes being increased, then we do not do the project or make the purchase.”

dpompili@vindy.com