Boardman Township voters have four choices for two available trustee seats in Tuesday’s general election. Incumbents Tom Costello and Steve Yacovone are seeking reelection, while challengers Matt Gambrel and Cody McCormick have positioned themselves as potential agents of change.

Costello, retired after decades in the insurance business, is one of the Mahoning Valley’s longest-serving trustees, having served from 1999 to 2005, and then returning in 2009 and remaining in office since then. Yacovone, an assistant prosecutor in Columbiana County, was appointed to his seat earlier this year when then-trustee Brad Calhoun became Boardman’s new fiscal officer.

Gambrel is an attorney, and McCormick is an area manager for Amazon, based at its North Jackson facility. Both stressed passion, new ideas and problem-solving to help Boardman continue to grow and move forward.

The Vindicator editorial board believes the township has made strides recently with the trio of Costello, Yacovone and Larry Moliterno. Two projects unveiled last week are examples of that progress.

The Clarence R. Smith Jr. Family Mahoning County First Responder Wellness Center opened Tuesday in the former Smith family homestead on Raupp Road. The next day, the Forest Lawn Stormwater Park, which incumbents Costello and Yacovone say will protect as many as 1,400 homes from the township’s historic flooding problems, was officially opened.

A press release from McCormick last week criticized the timing of both events because they came in the final week before Tuesday’s generation election. But the fact is that Boardman’s flooding problems have been an issue for decades as the township has grown and the stormwater park didn’t come about overnight.

The first responder facility also will serve an important role not just for police officers, firefighters and EMS personnel in Boardman, but across Mahoning County.

Of course, the work in the township is far from over. More flood prevention work is coming to the Boardman Plaza area and a lengthy Ohio Department of Transportation project is set to begin on Route 224.

In addition, all four candidates have expressed concerns about the township’s future in light of ongoing problems with Southern Park Mall owner Kohan Retail Investment Group, which owes unpaid property taxes and utility payments. And like most Ohio townships, there are concerns about the possibility of a state ban on property taxes getting enough signatures to make the ballot.

With all those concerns and the impending medial-leave status of Boardman Township Administrator Jason Loree, we believe it’s important for voters in the township to keep Costello and Yacovone where they are.