CAMPBELL — As he prepares to serve his fourth two-year term, city Councilman Timothy O’Bryan has no grand plans, except to build on what he sees as continual progress while doing his part to keep the city of nearly 7,800 moving forward.

“I want to play the field and see how this plays out,” said O’Bryan, D-1st Ward, who was officially sworn in after Wednesday’s regular council meeting.

O’Bryan ran for the position as a write-in candidate and received 75% of the vote, with 30 votes in the Nov. 4 general election.

O’Bryan, who works as a security officer for the Carl Nunziato VA Clinic in Youngstown, said he is perhaps most proud of having “cleaned up the ward.” Specifically, this entailed being a driving force behind long-term efforts to demolish an estimated 70 derelict, dilapidated and abandoned Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. row houses on Robinson Road and in adjoining neighborhoods.

Years ago, the structures were home to many immigrants who came to the Mahoning Valley to work in the steel mills. Over time, and after the demise of the local steel industry, many of them fell into disrepair.

O’Bryan, along with Mayor George Levendis and other city officials, secured funding to tear down the structures, which many people complained were dangerous and contributed to large-scale blight.

The work fulfills a promise O’Bryan made in 2019 to complete the project, with the help of many others, he said.

The councilman added that he’s proud of having been part of an effort to work on a new map to restructure the city’s four wards that, once adjusted, will result in an improved population balance in each section of the city. Such a move promises to bring “better numbers and representation,” he said.

Moving forward, he hopes to continue to work with the Campbell schools and have more outdoor classrooms in which students can not only learn about, but see more, of the city’s history. Before solidifying that effort, he wants to work closely with the new council members, Ioannis Kalouris, who ran unopposed for the 2nd-Ward seat and received 484 votes, and Mary Janek, an educator who defeated Ryan J. Young for the 3rd-Ward seat, 253 votes to 92.

Young had been appointed to fill Joseph G. Mazzocca Jr.’s seat when Mazzocca became interim council president. He replaced Levendis, who became mayor statutorily after Bryan K. Tedesco died unexpectedly in early April at age 67.

“I don’t want to make any promises yet,” O’Bryan said, adding that he wants his ideas to also include input from his fellow council members.

Also, Bill Valentino, who works for the city’s park department and served 10 years on the Campbell Board of Education, defeated Joseph G. Mazzocca Jr. for mayor, 900 votes to 697.

Valentino, who was a good friend of Tedesco’s, said he intends to do the job in the same manner as his late predecessor, who was known for engaging in work outside of his official duties, such as shoveling snow from people’s driveways and mowing lawns.

In addition, O’Bryan envisions spearheading a celebration next year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of when Campbell became a city in 1926, in honor of James A. Campbell, who was the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. president and a primary force in the area’s development. Before that, Campbell was an industrial center known as East Youngstown.

“I’d like to see a celebration of how it began,” as well as have in attendance people of many nationalities that reflect the makeup of those who worked in the mills during the city’s early days, he said.

For the immediate future, O’Bryan’s heart lies largely with a strong desire to continue building on the progress he feels the city has made in recent years under his watch and those of his colleagues.

“I don’t want to go back in time; I want a better place to call home,” he said, adding, “I want to keep climbing up the mountain to see how far I can go.”