WARREN — Incumbent Trumbull County Commissioner Denny Malloy is competing with Bazetta Trustee Michael J. Hovis to win the Republican nomination for one commissioner seat available in the May 5 primary election.

Hovis, 57, said a new mindset is needed in the way the county operates if there is to be further financial and other growth in the county.

“It needs to begin with the commissioners,” he said. “If you’re going to be a CEO of a $60 million corporation, you better start thinking like a businessman. Government is a service industry. We need to provide good quality services to our residents and all of our taxpayers.”

Hovis is the owner/founder of Hovis Construction LLC. He served as chief of the Bazetta Police Department until his retirement in 2018. He served in the Ohio National Guard from 1986 to 1992. He earned a degree in criminal justice at Youngstown State University, is a graduate of the Western Reserve Peace Officer Training Academy and earned a real estate license from Hondros College.

He has served as a Bazetta trustee since 2019.

Although Hovis is campaigning on reduction of taxes as a priority by whomever eventually wins the commissioner seat, he does not believe abolishing property tax collection in Ohio is the answer.

“We definitely do need reform; there is no doubt about that,” he said. “Abolishing property taxes is not a good idea. The state Legislature has done a decent job about getting us reform that will take place in 2027.”

Hovis noted the majority of Ohioans are willing to pay for police, fire, roads, zoning and cemetery services in their own communities.

“School funding needs to be squared away and gotten off the property taxes,” he said. “That’s my philosophy.”

Hovis added that counties should receive more than 1% of the sales taxes that are being collected.

“Trumbull is operating on a shoestring budget and there needs to be some tightening of the belt,” Hovis said. “There needs to be an assessment of all of the departments. We need to make sure that everyone that is being paid are doing the job.”

When he took over the Bazetta Police Department in 2013, Hovis said he scrutinized every invoice that was paid for with taxpayer dollars to make sure they were being spent wisely. Hovis criticized how the last board of commissioners spent the $38 million they had available through American Rescue Plan funds.

“We (in Bazetta) took those and used them as local matches to bring in outside grant money,” he said. “We took our money and turned it into more free money. That’s what the commissioners should have done with the other $38 million.”

Hovis supports finding someone to replace the transit administrator.

He does not support investing $5 million to $6 million into a building the county does not own for a new 911 center building.

“Any police and fire station in Trumbull county is owned by the government entity,” Hovis said. “You don’t put the safety of your community at risk by the building being owned by other entities.”

He argues the 911 Center should have its own freestanding building.

“They have a terrible morale problem with the retention of employees,” Hovis said. “If you build a new building, put their name on the front of it and take down some new equipment, I think you will increase morale there.”

Hovis said the county has money to pay cash for the whole project in the opioid funds.

“There is no planning or prioritizing of projects in Trumbull County,” he said. “They had ARP money that could have been used, before they had the opioid money. They just chose to spend the money on pickleball courts instead of infrastructure. Trumbull County is not keeping up with anything.”

Hovis said the county should be putting more water and sewer lines in areas where contractors can build new housing for employees expected to move into the area as new jobs are created by Kimberly-Clark, Amazon and other businesses expected to open and expand in the area.

“We have the land here, we need to make sure the infrastructure gets put in place,” he continued. “We need more jobs and housing.”

DENNY MALLOY

Malloy, 56, a commissioner since being elected in 2022, is completing his first term. He is a 1988 graduate of Cardinal Money High School, completed American Wilderness Leadership School in Wisconsin and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife and forestry from West Virginia State University.

Over the past 20 years, Malloy has worked as a regional director with Whitetails Unlimited, which promotes conservation and preserves hunting, especially of the white-tailed deer. He oversees programs in nine states.

Since being elected commissioner, Malloy said he has tried to work with his fellow commissioners to fix the county budget, keep communities safe and expand opportunities across local municipalities, including investments from Foxconn, Kimberly-Clark and Amazon.

“If the voters choose to reelect me, my first priority will be to tackle property tax reform head on,” Malloy said. “I’ll work to increase the homestead tax exemption for seniors, double the owner occupancy exemption for all homeowners and lead negotiations at the state level to keep more tax dollars in the county.”

Malloy, like his opponent, does not think the effort to eliminate property taxes statewide is the correct way to go.

“I’m not for total repeal of property taxes, but I’m for a rollback,” he said. “If we don’t get property taxes, we (Trumbull) will lose $28 million.”

He said the only thing commissioners can do is to decrease homestead tax and the single-owner occupancy credit.

Malloy recognizes that leaders of school districts and those elected to serve township needs worry that any changes in the current system will negatively affect their budgets.

“I’m worried that any extra money we collect is hurting residents,” he said.

Malloy defends the choices made by commissioners to use some ARP funds to allow the purchase of 14 ambulances and do EMS upgrades, to support broadband expansion, allow parks and recreation improvements, and provide funds for upgrades for wastewater and sewer projects.

“I would not change anything about the process the commissioners took in providing ARP funds to communities after I began serving on the board,” he said. “The first couple of years were much different from what they are now (because of his service with former Commissioner Niki Frenchko),” Malloy said. “We (former Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa, a Democrat, and himself) played a lot of defense. We had to react if we tried to initiate something. We were doing anything we could to keep the ship afloat.”

After both Frenchko and Cantalamessa were defeated in their reelection races, Malloy said it took about a year for the current board to begin moving in the same direction, with Tony Bernard and Rick Hernandez joining him as commissioners.

However, he believes, they all are looking at issues to improve the county’s operations.

“Some of the things that had been ignored and overlooked for a dozen years or more, including the maintenance of buildings as well as the structure of departments are now being addressed,” he said. “We are seeing buy-in from county employees and other county elected officials. We are moving in the same direction.”

The county last June hired KO Consulting Inc. of Youngstown to work with it in writing and obtaining state and federal grants as well as other available grants. The company was paid $5,000 a month for the first six months, which increased to $6,000 per month based on their profitability.

“They have not delivered, as of yet,” he said. “We speak to them pretty regularly. They have about nine different irons in the fire. They’ve obtained a small grant for the sheriff’s department and a small grant for dog food for the pound.”

Malloy noted if the commissioners do not see success (at obtaining grant dollars) soon, they will reevaluate the process.

“I believe they are going to bring in money soon,” he added. “I believe they will have some successes.”

Attorney Kristen F. Rock is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination for commissioner in the May 5 primary and will face the winner of the May 5 race in the fall.