AUSTINTOWN — Several more township residents have expressed interest in the vacant seat on the Austintown Board of Trustees.

Last week, the township released the names of those who submitted letters of interest to be appointed as interim trustee in the wake of Robert Santos’ resignation from the board earlier this month.

At the beginning of the July 6 regular trustees meeting, Santos announced he was stepping down immediately after having accepted a position with Mahoning County as Project Manager-Capital Programs.

Per Ohio law, trustees Monica Deavers and Bruce Shepas must appoint an interim successor within 30 days. Whoever takes the seat within the next month will have to run in November 2027 for the remainder of Santos’ term, which expires at the end of 2029. Shepas also is running for reelection to his seat on that same ballot.

The township said it would only accept letters through July 16, via mail. As of that deadline, the township had received letters and resumes from seven people — former trustee and Mahoning County commissioner David Ditzler; former Youngstown City councilman and 2025 trustee candidate Michael Rapovy; Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Bailiff Andrea Paventi; Salvation Army of the Mahoning Valley Director of Operations and Programs Jonathan Guerrier; local attorney Michael Kachelries, CareSource community health professional Tadarrelle Lett, PhD; and Youngstown State University Professor Emeritus of Communications Fred Owens.

The township’s statement last week said trustees are not bound to make a selection from the pool of seven, but those applicants will be reviewed and considered first. If Shepas and Deavers cannot agree on an appointment, the decision goes to Mahoning County Probate Judge Robert Rusu.

On Monday, the township released another list of residents whose submissions came in after the July 16 deadline.

These include Austintown State Farm Insurance agent Jamie Ciccone; local mechanic and 2025 trustee candidate Carl Clay; YSU Recycling Program Administrator Erica Nielsen; Hubbard Exempted Village Schools Financial Administrative Assistant Jacqueline Palermo; and CCA Daytime Reporting Officer and private investigator Brenda Rider.

Rider filed to run for the board in 2023, when Shepas ultimately won, but she was disqualified from the race for failing to fill out the required statement of candidacy at the top of the nominating petition. That pitfall was among several filing errors that ultimately led the Mahoning County Board of Elections to drop 22 candidates from that November’s ballot for races for various elected positions across the county.

Noticeably absent from the list of interested candidates is former trustee Jim Davis. Davis placed third in November’s election, which saw Deavers (32.2%) and Santos (29.5%) retain their seats. Davis won about 17% of the vote, while Rapovy and Clay were within three total votes of each other, each receiving about 7.85% of the vote.

Shepas and Deavers have said they would like to be able to announce their appointment at the regular trustees meeting Aug. 3.