Liberty is expected to also get a new fire chief Monday.

Liberty is expected to also get a new fire chief Monday.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LIBERTY -- Former Youngstown Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro has been offered the job of township administrator.
Whether he will accept remains up in the air.
Ungaro said Friday he will be talking to trustees during the weekend to try to clarify "a couple of issues."
Darlene St. George, who is leaving to become Howland Township administrator, said trustees have settled on Ungaro as her replacement, and he will be officially hired at Monday's trustees meeting.
A new township fire chief also will be named Monday, she said.
Salary: Ungaro, assistant principal at Youngstown's West Elementary School, would be paid $59,000 annually as administrator.
St. George said the effective date of the hire is June 3. Until then, trustees would run the day-to-day operations.
Ungaro would be on probation for six months and then be required to move into Liberty.
Ungaro said he would rather have a one-year probation period, although he'll know in three months if he wants to keep the job.
Residency issue: Residency is an issue, the former mayor said, noting he lives on Youngstown's upper North Side, just minutes from Liberty.
As part of his benefits package, he would get four weeks' vacation, and the township would pay his contribution to the Public Employees Retirement System.
Ungaro said that although he's used to being in charge, he can work for the trustees.
One of the difficulties in hiring Ungaro is that he has a political base and may seek another elected post.
Liberty's township administrators have not stayed around, leaving before they have to establish residency in the township.
The township's first administrator, Joseph Caruso, a former Mahoning County employee, left to become special projects director with Mahoning County Job and Family Services.
St. George was hired in December 2000.
Trustee Gary Litch said Ungaro was offered the job because he did a "great job" as mayor.
He would be an asset in developing vacant land in the township to increase the tax base while maintaining residential neighborhoods, Litch said.
Longtime career: Ungaro, 61, has been in politics since the 1970s.
He served as Youngstown's 3rd Ward councilman from 1976 to 1981 and president of council from 1982 to 1983 and then as mayor for 14 years.
St. George said trustees are expected to name a new fire chief, replacing Robert Catchpole, who has resigned to return to the rank of captain.
Catchpole had come under scrutiny of trustees and St. George because of what they called a lack of leadership qualities.
Mike Orellana, Willoughby fire marshal and Youngstown Fire Capt. Mike Durkin were interviewed for that post Thursday by trustees.