AUSTINTOWN — Residents cast votes of confidence in the township’s Board of Trustees Tuesday night, reelecting the two incumbents and narrowly passing a hotly contested police levy.

There are two seats up for grabs, to be claimed by the top two vote-getters.

As of 9 p.m. according to unofficial results from the Mahoning County Board of Elections, Trustees Monica Deavers and Robert Santos retained their seats, defeating challengers Michael Rapovy and Carl Clay and former trustee Jim Davis.

Deavers and Santos led with 32.2 percent and 29.3 percent, respectively.

Deavers, owner of Charly’s Family Restaurant, said she was grateful for the support of her fellow residents.

“I’m here for the people, and I appreciate the confidence they have in me,” Deavers said. “I love this town and I hope that they know I will be honest and transparent and I respect them.”

Deavers’ campaign for her second term was based on her efforts, along with Santos and Bruce Shepas, to control spending and keep the police department stable amid a critical budget shortfall.

During her first term, the township passed three state audits with A+ ratings, worked with police chiefs Robert Gavalier (ret.) and Valorie Delmont to cut nearly $200,000 from the police budget, including the police dog program, pulling task force officers and detectives back onto the road to fill the roster spots opened by departing and retiring officers, and deferring police cruiser purchases.

Santos said he believes in the township’s board as it is and is grateful to have both himself and Deavers returned to office.

“I cannot find the words to express my unbelievable gratitude. It shows that they saw the work that we as a board are doing and have the faith and trust in myself as well as Monica Deavers – I want to congratulate her on winning another four years as well.”

Santos based his campaign on his efforts to secure external funding for the township, and to ensure that excise tax funds promised to the township by the passage of Ohio’s law legalizing recreational marijuana would not be clawed back by Columbus.

Santos led delegations to the state capital, bringing local community leaders from Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana Counties, to testify before house and senate committees, and ultimately convinced leaders in the Statehouse to leave host communities’ 36 percent share of the 10 percent tax alone.

He also led the charge for township officials to go to Washington to petition Congress for a $5.1 million grant that would have extended the sewer line running into Austintown Township park to allow for renovations to park facilities and new residential development in the surrounding area. The grant failed, but Santos and his fellow trustees said they learned much about the process that will help them going forward.

He said the key to the township’s success is to build on what they have started, pursue more efforts to gain state and federal support, and petition Ohio legislators to reconfigure the way townships are funded, to take more of the burden off taxpayers in the form of property taxes and give trustees more tools to provide services and build up the community.

Davis was defeated four years ago when Santos and Deavers stepped into office. He said Austintown is facing grave challenges to its stability and security, both from a loss of revenue – including the potential loss of residential property taxes, which comprise 90 percent of the budget – and a lack of strong decision-making by trustees. He said his experience as a trustee for 12 years, and as a law-enforcement officer before that, are what the township needs to tighten its belt and make hard calls.

Davis also said that while he supports the revised police levy on this year’s ballot, he also understands that voters do not want any new taxes. Assuming the levy fails, he said no new levies would be on the ballot during his term if he can help it. As of 10 p.m. the 2.22-mill levy, which would generate about $2 million per year for police services, was passing by a margin of 51.7% to 48.3%

Clay was roundly criticized by his opponents throughout the election season, for a lack of understanding about the workings of township government and inability to articulate a clear and valid plan for how Austintown will weather the challenges ahead.

Similarly, Rapovy, a former Youngstown City Councilman, failed to make a case for why he would represent a meaningful change or improvement over the incumbents or an experienced challenger like Davis.

In discussions with The VIndicator, both Davis and Clay criticized the board for what they called a lack of transparency but could not provide substantial insight as to how that problem — or others facing Austintown — might be improved.