Staff photo / J.T. Whitehouse ... The Canfield 12U girls softball team was recognized by Canfield Mayor Don Dragish at Wednesday’s Canfield City Council meeting for their championship season.From left are Kate Broderick, Bethy Zorella, Kylee Kritz, Sloan Vodhanel, Cam Griswold, Mia Tieche, Dragish, McKayla Lang, Savina Knepper, Hailey Reigrut, Leah Griswold and Jordan Greenhaw. The girls won districts and the state title then went on to U.S. regionals in Indiana, where they lost two games but walked away with a rich experience. Not pictured is team member Lydia Handel.

CANFIELD — The Canfield 12U girls softball team was honored at Wednesday’s city council meeting when Mayor Don Dragish declared the day “Canfield Girls 12U Softball State Champions Day.”

The girls attended the meeting with family members for the presentation.

Coach Lou Zorella noted the girls had won districts then took the state title that qualified them for the U.S. regional championships in Indiana.

“We lost two games at regionals, but the girls had a great experience,” Zorella said.

Also named in the proclamation was Zorella and coaches Ron Griswold, Derek Knepper, Mike Narducci and Jeff Handel.

Each girl was issued a copy of the proclamation to keep for themselves.

Following the presentation, the meeting returned to normal flow, during which resident and park board member Kathryn Young addressed council.

“I heard there could be a fee, as high as $50, for not being on a smart meter,” she said. “I think we should have a choice.”

City Manager Dave D’Apolito said a fee is being discussed. He said the city has more than 3,500 water customers and only three or four are in opposition to the smart meters.

“To read a meter of someone who opts out of the smart meters, we would have to pull an employee off their normal job and send them out to read the meter,” D’Apolito said.

He said a fee would help cover the cost of the employee who would have to read a couple meters every month, so recouping the cost would warrant a fee.

Council President Christine Oliver asked, “With our new software, will we be moving to monthly bills?”

D’Apolito said the goal is to go monthly. He said right now a lot of retired customers have been paying monthly. They simply divide their average bill in thirds and pay it each month to avoid a big quarterly bill. He did agree that the new software and the smart meters will make monthly billing a good thing.

In other business, council approved a list of appointments to boards and committees as follows:

● Planning and zoning: Mark Graham was approved as council member and Charles Tieche was approved as citizen member. Louis Zarlenga was appointed as the exempt member.

● Design review / historic preservation: Residents Eric Axelson and Joseph Testa, and council member Anthony Nacarato.

● Civil service: Thomas Kupec and Adam Guerrieri.

● Parks, recreation and cemetery board : David Schialdone will serve as the council member and Bruce Neff as the citizen member. Also appointed were Daniel Wilson and Robert Macabobby.

● Income tax review board: Andrew Zunic, Richard Yager and Charles Teiche.

● Cardinal Joint Fire District Board: Christine Oliver as council appointment and Gary Ditullio as the citizen representative.

● Community Reinvestment Area Council: Lori DiRenzo and Chris Vecchione (mayor’s appointments); resident Breanna Fitzgerald and council member Mark Graham (council appointments); and Julio Williams as planning and zoning appointment.

All will serve terms that run Jan. 1, 2026 through Dec. 31, 2028.