AMPBELL — As city council prepares to take its annual summer recess, several city officials reflected upon what they feel have been key short- and long-term achievements, as well as what they envision for the city’s future.

“We have done millions of dollars, in conjunction with the (Mahoning County) Land Bank, of demolitions in the city of Campbell,” council President George Levendis said after Wednesday’s final regular council meeting before early September. “We also had matching money to go after grants — $200,000 (from the city) to get $1 million in demolitions.”

For several years, Levendis has maintained a strong voice and helped lead the charge in tearing down many of the former Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. rowhouses that had fallen into disrepair, were uninhabitable and contributed to blight in many neighborhoods. Levendis said he’s also proud of being out front regarding code enforcement across the city of about 7,900.

About a month ago, the Lucky Rooster, a tavern at 3294 Wilson Ave., was torn down, as have been homes throughout the city over the past year or two that had been deemed beyond rehabilitation and were eyesores that added to the blight problem, he noted.

In addition, Levendis expressed gratitude toward officer Jim Conroy for his work in enforcing the city’s anti-tethering, breeding and enclosure ordinances and other means to crack down on people who abuse or neglect their pets.

“We are one of the strongest cities in Ohio in protecting animals,” Levendis said, adding, “Jim does a great job.”

During Wednesday’s session, council adopted a pair of similar ordinances to prohibit and penalize those who engage in the illegal sale, breeding and transfer of companion and unaltered animals within city limits, making such violations third-, second- and first-degree misdemeanors.

Unaltered pets are companion animals that have not been spayed or neutered.

Since he took office 17 years ago, the city’s finances have gone from being in the red to being “very strong.” For the past 13 years, Campbell has been out of fiscal emergency, Levendis said.

“Wasteful spending is gone,” he said, adding that combining jobs and not replacing certain workers who leave also has been a factor in the city’s financial situation.

Moving forward, the longtime council president hopes that which has been torn down will be replaced by something more being built up. Specifically, he said he wants to see further development, new homes and businesses come in to strengthen the tax base.

“We’re trying, believe me,” Levendis said.

“I’m most proud of the Memorial Day service returning,” city Councilwoman Mary Janek, D-3rd Ward, said, adding that the event was absent for a year.

Janek, who taught chemistry and other sciences for 30 years at Campbell Memorial High School and who took office in January, also has focused much of her energy in writing four American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) grants for the city’s betterment. They were for establishing two walking trails in each of the four wards, setting up planters to further beautify Roosevelt Park, building a trail around Jackson Field’s perimeter and having an artistic sidewalk to connect the city hall property with nearby available parking.

So far, she has secured a $2,500 grant for signage along the trails, she said Wednesday.

Also, Janek helped spearhead a cleanup in March at Jackson Field, the first of a three-prong effort to bring the little-used space back to life.

For that project, Janek thanked Terence Walker, a 2011 Campbell Memorial High grad and one of her former students, for spearheading the effort.

Walker’s late mother, Geri Butler, had many enjoyable times as a child at the park, and she was dismayed to see its use diminish, so Walker took the initiative to improve the park in his mother’s memory, Janek continued.

In addition, Janek conducted talks with city Councilman Timothy O’Bryan, D-1st Ward, about the effort before volunteers were assembled to take it on, she said.

Another of her focuses centers on changing all streetlights and others to LED lighting, in keeping with a campaign promise to make the city more energy-efficient, Janek continued.

Even though it’s several months away, she is helping to plan a Veterans Day service, set for 10 a.m. Nov. 11 in the Roosevelt Park Community Center. During the gathering, five Ohio Military Hall of Fame inductees from Campbell will be recognized and honored for their service to the nation, and it will include the presentation of a commemorative plaque to honor the men’s valor and military accomplishments, Janek noted.

Renovations and improvements to Roosevelt Park have been a high priority for Mayor Bill Valentino, who ran the Campbell Girls Softball League for 12 years, including as its president. One enormous improvement has been reviving the grandstand, which had been condemned and deemed unsafe in 2002, Valentino recalled.

In addition, the mayor pointed to a recent situation in which all four baseball fields in the park were used on the same day — something that had not occurred in about five years.

He also is pleased to see lawns being mowed at some of the city’s investment properties — as many of them have out-of-town owners, along with property managers who neglect to properly maintain them. Valentino said he also wants to see the same level of care and maintenance regarding the closed Rite Aid store, 693 McCartney Road, which is for sale for about $375,000.

In 2023, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which resulted in the closing of 10 such drug stores in Ohio and Michigan.

City officials also want to do something with a closed Burger King that’s near the shuttered Rite Aid, though the structure is not for sale, so the city’s hands are tied, the mayor continued.

Valentino expressed gratitude regarding a contract the city recently received for paving portions of Blossom Avenue and Jackson Street as well as Ensley, Park and Cynthia drives — work that likely will get underway this summer. Funds left over will probably go toward a six-bay parking lot, he said.

“I think he would be happy,” Valentino said, referring to his late predecessor and close friend, Mayor Bryan K. Tedesco, who died unexpectedly at his home April 2, 2025, at age 67.

Valentino, who also served 10 years on the Campbell Board of Education, added that he recently received a grant for a mini bus for senior citizens, another project that was on Tedesco’s wish list.

“Bryan was big on the mini bus and he was big on the park,” Valentino said.