We have little doubt that residents of Austintown, the Mahoning Valley’s second largest suburb, would be competently represented by any of the four candidates — Andrea Paventi, Warren Bo Pritchard, Bruce Shepas and Eric Vereb — vying for township trustee this election. Each would bring strengths to township governance.

Pritchard, an attorney and the only candidate who previously served as township trustee, said topping his list of priorities is ensuring Austintown retains its image as a safe community for home owners. Pritchard, however, has not been campaigning actively and decided not to seek this newspaper’s endorsement.

Shepas, owner of Austintown Bounce and a retired counselor for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, long has been active in township affairs. He sits on the Austintown Board of Zoning Appeals and has served as chairman of the Austintown Fourth of July Parade Committee, as well as a member of the Austintown Fireworks Celebration and Austintown Night Out committees for many years.

Shepas, who has sought the trustee position several times over the past 15 years, proposes creating a township business panel to help and advise trustees on attracting new businesses to the township and to support existing ones. We also like his plan to work more cooperatively with the township’s school system on mutually beneficial projects and cost-saving measures. His close ties to Bounce business partner and school board member Harold Porter would facilitate that initiative.

Paventi ran for township trustee in 2015 and finished second behind former trustee, the Rev. Rick Stauffer, but ahead of Shepas in the three-person race. She also brings public service experience to the table as a bailiff for Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Donofrio.

Her nearly three decades of work in nonprofits, currently as executive director of Mahoning County Treatment Alternatives to Street Crimes, have enabled her to gain valuable skills in fiscal management and grant writing. Those skills, particularly seeking outside funding sources to ease growing strains on the township’s general fund budget, could prove invaluable to the community’s financial long-term stability.

The remaining candidate in the race, Vereb, also has experience in law enforcement as an officer in the Jackson Township Police Department. He’s a much younger candidate than his competitors and incumbent trustees, and therefore, could offer some fresh new perspectives to township governance.

During his interview with this newspaper’s editorial board this month, he had no shortage of ideas and observations. His spontaneity and forceful and articulate viewpoints were refreshing compared with the traditional wishy-washy generalities and reluctance to take firm stands that characterize many candidates today in local, state and national races.

Vereb does not hold back.

“Our street maintenance is horrible,” he said. Vereb who also owns a lawn maintenance company, said if his finished work resembled the state of township roads, he would not have a job. He argues that the township must stop mixing road salt with aggregates for better road treatment. He said other local communities and the Ohio Department of Transportation abandoned such diluted mixtures years ago.

Vereb also comes down hard on perceived problems in hiring of township workers. As an example, he cites township Road Superintendent Mark D’Apolito, who also serves as township administrator. Vereb does not believe D’Apolito, a former county assistant prosecutor, has the requisite skills or experience needed to lead a road department. If elected, Vereb said he would meet with township employees to get their input and ideas on operations before hiring decisions are made.

Unlike his two challengers interviewed by the editorial board, Vereb opposes passage of the township’s 3-mill additional levy for its fire department and shares the lament of many taxed-off property owners: “I’ll never favor a continuing levy with no end.”

He also emphasized his priority to listen seriously to the input of township residents and offer them easy access to him for their ideas and opinions in shaping the future of the township.

For those reasons and more, we endorse Vereb for Austintown trustee.

We believe he would raise good questions in discussions with the other trustees, prompting good discourse that sometimes is lacking in local government.

We would urge him, however, to strive to avoid becoming too harsh or abrasive in discussions with those who may disagree with his ideas and style. At the same time, he should not hesitate to present his views — most of which struck us as well reasoned and articulate — as directly as possible.

In so doing, he may shake up the governing board of Austintown Township a bit. But a shakeup that inspires productive change and continued controlled growth may be just what the doctor (as well as voters) orders.