Trustees honor athletes in initial meeting

Austintown trustees, far right, from left, Robert Santos, Bruce Shepas and Monica Deavers, stand with the Austintown Fitch girls softball team after presenting the players and coaches with proclamations celebrating their-back-to-back state championship wins, at the first meeting of the year on Monday. Front row, from left, are Kylee Mitchell, Vita Kelty, Miley Summerville, Veda Burt, Morgan Roby, Lily Stevens and Abby Toth. Back row, from left, are coaches Steven Ward, Becki Spalding, Rich Raymer and Jerry Bruff, and players Ayla Ray and Kylie Folkwein, and coach Bob Jones.
AUSTINTOWN — Bruce Shepas’s tenure as chairman of the Austintown Township Board of trustees began with one of the more enjoyable duties of the job — celebrating the achievements of the community’s youth.
Shortly after he was unanimously appointed chair, Shepas switched seats with last year’s leader, Robert Santos — who will serve as co-chair this year — and they joined Trustee Monica Deavers in honoring the Austintown Fitch girls softball team. The girls won their second consecutive state championship in June, and trustees presented the players and coaches with official proclamations to mark their success.
Shepas lauded not just the players, but the coaches and the families for their support of the team.
“The time and money you spend on your children, to support them like this, for them to win one state championship, let alone back-to-back championships, they are very fortunate, they are truly blessed,” he said.
Coach Steve Ward thanked the trustees and the community.
“Austintown has represented Fitch softball in every state tournament that we’ve been in, we’ve had great community support, we couldn’t do it without you,” he said. Ward also praised his players for having the resilience to win again with a target on their back as the defending champs.
“These young ladies did it the right way, they came out and they worked hard, and they did things right in the classroom and in the hallways, and everyone in Austintown, especially their coaching staff, is very proud of them,” he said.
BUSINESS
Then it was down to governing, and Shepas and his fellow trustees heard from each department head, though there was little excitement.
While much of the agenda was passed, without debate, trustees tabled two motions — one from fire Chief David Schertzer and another at the urging of Township Administrator Mark D’Apolito.
Schertzer recommended that the township retain attorney and Western Reserve Joint Fire District Chief Chip Comstock to provide legal assistance to the department at the rate of $165 per hour.
However, Santos suggested tabling the motion until trustees could consult with the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office, which typically represents the township in all legal matters. Santos said that if the prosecutor’s office does not have anyone on staff with that specialized legal understanding, he would like to have them cover the township’s cost for any matters on which Comstock might consult.
After the meeting, Schertzer said the motion is standard and Comstock, or an attorney with special expertise in fire service matters, is usually retained, although rarely used.
“There is a lot that the Ohio Revised Code says about fire service,” he said. “Also, with NFPA standards for turnouts, gear, trucks, etc. Not to say that somebody at the prosecutor’s office couldn’t probably explain it for us, but Chip just has so much experience and knowledge about these things.”
Another matter tabled was the renewal of the 0.6-mill levy that supports the township’s general fund. The levy must be renewed every five years, D’Apolito said. However, the forms that must be submitted to the Mahoning County Board of Elections by early February require the township to provide real estate valuation that it receives from the Mahoning County Auditor’s office, which in turn receives it from the State Auditor’s office.
D’Apolito said that information is usually available by now but the state has not yet provided it to the county. He said the motion will need to be passed this month at an emergency session of the board in order to meet the board of elections deadline.