EDITOR’S NOTE: The Vindicator will present the views of the two challengers in an upcoming edition.

BOARDMAN — Two seats on the township’s Board of Trustees are up for grabs in November’s election, and the current occupants see no reason they should give them up.

“You keep hearing that we need change, we need change. Well first of all I’m a big proponent that change for change’s sake is never a good thing,” said Trustee Steve Yacovone. “But what I also say is that I am that change.”

Yacovone was appointed to the seat in March after Brad Calhoun moved from trustee to fiscal officer following the retirement of William Leicht. Calhoun also is up for reelection, but is running unopposed.

Yacovone and fellow Trustee Tom Costello are not. They face challenges from local attorney Matt Gambrel and Amazon area manager Cody McCormick.

Costello served from 1999 to 2005, when he was defeated. He rejoined the board four years later and has been a mainstay ever since.

“I’ve never run for another position, and I’ve been approached,” he said. “This is where my heart is. My children graduated from Boardman schools; my wife and I have enjoyed a good quality of life. I want that quality to continue.”

He’s since retired from the insurance business but said he has always been a full-time public servant.

“In all my years, I’ve never missed a meeting. I’m very proud of that,” he said. “I was hired by the voters of Boardman to do a job. I like that job, I’m honored to do that job, and I would like to continue to do that job and to serve.”

While he said he sees more gray hair than dark in the mirror these days, he still has fuel in the tank to serve the township. Costello believes his experience and the relationships he has established are critical to getting Boardman through what could be a very difficult period.

Costello sits on the OPWC board, where he is one of nine votes that decide how state funds for roads and utility project funds are spent locally, and on the E911 committee for Mahoning County.

“You don’t get those seats in your first term as trustee,” he said. “It’s about relationships.”

He also spent about nine years on the board of the Coalition of Large Ohio Urban Townships before leaving the body in 2020.

Costello also chaired a committee to explore regionalizing emergency medical response services, potentially joining Boardman’s fire department with Canfield’s Cardinal Joint Fire District to cover both communities. While that effort failed, Costello said he’s been asked to reform the group and try again.

“We came very close to merging with Cardinal, and we should have. One person pretty much killed that deal,” he said. “We’ve got to get people to come to the table with the right mindset.”

With all the challenges Mahoning County faces in those fields, Yacovone said regionalizing services like EMS and fire just makes sense.

“Regionalization is an option that is out there for us to be able to provide better service for a lower cost and make it stable,” he said. Yacovone said the current model puts more burden on local communities to provide those services independently while trying not to ask their residents for more money to support them.

Both said they understand residents’ frustrations with property taxes and similar issues like problematic business owners.

“When businesses come in there are times where they’ll want tax abatements, or CRA’s (community reinvestment area), things like that,” Yacovone said. “We’re always very cautious of those because then you’re essentially putting the burden back on the taxpayers. And that’s not something we want to do, we understand the climate, the burden on the taxpayers.

Yacovone and Costello said the board wants to do everything it can to make Boardman a welcoming place to do business because when businesses open it also often means residential growth as well.

They also both said that communication with residents and businesses is vital to solving problems, even complex ones, or at least giving residents a clear understanding of what can and cannot be done.

“We can’t force businesses to come here, and we can’t force businesses to sell, the big one being Southern Park Mall. It’s a private entity. They can do with that business what they want,” Yacovone said. “What we are here to do is enforce zoning, enforce roads and be the head of police dept fire dept and make sure they are in compliance with the township ordinances we have.”

Costello praised Yacovone, a criminal prosecutor, for being the only candidate for the trustee job to come into his interview having read all of the Ohio Revised Code sections on what townships can and cannot do.

Both men said there isn’t much to be done if mall owner Kohan Retail Investment Group does not want to communicate, and so far they have not.

“We’ve called them, we’ve emailed them, we’ve snail mailed them, we even certified mailed them, and got no response. That’s frustrating,” Costello said. “They’re saying we ought to do more. Well I think we’ve gone halfway…At one point I logged 10 phone calls with no return call. I quit calling.”

Costello said he, Yacovone, and fellow trustee Larry Moliterno have been putting their efforts toward every problem they can hope to solve, and Costello said he is proud of the township’s record.

They will open the new Forest Lawn Stormwater Park next week, thanks to $4 million in outside funding. The township obtained a $47 million grant from FEMA to fix flooding problems within the Cranberry Run floodplain along Route 224 at Boardman Plaza.

He said they have built strong relationships with state legislators like Sen. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, and Rep. Tex Fischer, R-Boardman, and are all constantly in contact with them to see how the state can help Boardman find funding and solve problems.

As the newest member of the board, Yacovone touted his success as an attorney, as well as his love for the town where his wife grew up and where they have since built their life and family.

“I’m doing the best I can to make the best decisions for the businesses in Boardman, the residents in Boardman, for my family, and for all the other people that have young families,” he said. “I’m not going to promise things I can’t get done. What I can promise is to be accessible and be here for the people of Boardman. I really do love the position and I really want what’s best for Boardman, and I really think myself and Tom are the best choices.”

Costello took a chance to explain why challengers Matt Gambrel and Cody McCormick should not take their jobs.

“The people running against us, I think combined they’ve been to four meetings,” Costello said. “They’ve not sat down with (Township Administrator) Jason Loree and asked ‘What does it take?’ They’ve not sat down with our fiscal officer and said ‘What’s your budget and how does this work?'” he said. “It helps to have some idea what you’re doing when you take the seat. Steve came in as prepared as you can be, but it takes time to learn the job, and it takes time to build relationships with other local officials.”

With Boardman and all of Ohio facing the prospect of property taxes — which comprise at least two-thirds of the township’s annual operating budget — being eliminated by a ballot measure, Costello believes his experience is critical and Yacovone’s new perspective is the only change Boardman needs or can afford.