WEATHERSFIELD, HOWLAND Trustee races will be closely watched

Flooding is a major issue in the Howland trustee race.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
Weathersfield Township voters have seen this one before.
In 1981, James W. Price, George F. Buccella and John W. Vogel were engaged in a three-way race for Weathersfield Township trustee.
Buccella and Price finished within 100 votes of each other, and each got a seat on the township board. That time around, Vogel finished about 400 votes behind, and got nothing.
In November, the same three candidates will face off, but this time for only one seat on the board.
Price, who has served on the board since 1992 after winning one term in the 1980s, said he wants to keep the township on the same track.
"We have done a great job of keeping our expenses in line with our budget and continue to do so," he said in a candidate questionnaire.
Buccella, who served 16 years as a trustee but was voted off two years ago after testifying at the trial of his former employer, U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant, D-Poland, is running on a long list of things he said the township should pursue.
That list includes new equipment for the police, fire and township administrative departments, more grants and more road projects.
And Vogel, who has been active in politics but never elected to public office, said he will try to reform the ethics of township government and make its work more transparent.
He wants to end "business welfare," projects that help local businesses at taxpayer expense and try to re-kindle community spirit.
In Howland
In another closely-watched trustee race, Howland's Rick Clark will defend his seat against two challengers, including a man who is one of the architects of an effort to remove two Trumbull County commissioners.
Bill Jobe, who ran unsuccessfully for trustee two years ago, said Commissioners Joseph Angelo Jr. and James Tsagaris should be removed for their roles in the purchasing scandal. A few years ago, his inquiries into Sheriff Thomas Altiere's campaign finances resulted in hearings before the Ohio Elections Commission.
Jobe said that flooding is the major issue facing the township, and he faults trustees for not following long-term development plans that he says could have prevented it.
"We just let developers do what they wanted," he said.
Clark, who has been trustee since 1994, said trustees are doing their best to fix problems that were handed to them. Trustees just hired an engineering firm to study how drainage problems in the township can be fixed.
He said his priority would be to continue the township's wise fiscal management and to work on water and traffic problems.
The third candidate, John F. McCloskey, said that if elected, he will make sure the township treats all residents equally.
The son of former Trumbull County Commissioner John McCloskey, he said he would also fight to have police and fire stations open to the public 24 hours a day and work to reduce annexation.