Girard welcomes two new at-large council members
GIRARD — Girard City Council will welcome two new at-large council members.
The unofficial and incomplete results in Tuesday’s election showed Gordon Byrne as the odd man out, as Tod Latell and Wes Steiner took the open at-large seats and Lily Martuccio — who had been an at-large councilwoman for eight years — returning.
Latell took 29.24% of the vote in the four-person race, where voters were asked to select three. He was closely followed by Steiner, who captured 27.93%.
Martuccio and Byrne received 22.88% and 19.95%, respectively.
No independents or Republicans filed to run in November, so all three of Tuesday’s winners will start their terms in January.
Latell was the former Trumbull County recorder for two terms until his loss to Republican Dawn Zinni in November.
He explained in his candidate questionnaire that he has been attending council meetings since the start of the year and wants to promote growth by working with officials.
Latell expressed faith in Girard’s downtown area and locations across the city, suggesting that capitalizing upon grants and networking with other city councilmen, as well as state and countywide officials, would be beneficial.
Steiner, a first-time candidate who has been a surveyor for the past decade and involved in the community as a coach in various positions at Girard Junior High School for nearly as long, said he hopes to use his surveyor and zoning knowledge to help update and improve the community.
Steiner wrote in his candidate questionnaire that he’d also like to collaborate with the county’s Office of Economic Development to attract businesses to vacant storefronts — namely the ones located along State Street from Interstate 80 to Churchhill and West Liberty Street.
“Many of these storefronts have been vacant for several years, most of my adult life,” Steiner wrote. “I would also work with Lake to River to help bring businesses to the area. This initiative will generate additional tax revenue for the city.”