2 seeking appointment as auditor

The county's chief deputy auditor would take a pay cut if he becomes auditor.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- What appeared initially to be no contest has turned into a two-horse race to replace David Hines as Trumbull County auditor.
Daniel Sferra, former mayor of Warren and former 64th District state representative, has told party officials he would like to be appointed to the position when the Democratic Party's precinct committee meets Jan. 10.
Hines backs his chief deputy, Adrian Biviano, for the position. Commissioner Paul Heltzel said, as a "housekeeping matter," he sees no reason Biviano won't be appointed by the commissioners at their Jan. 3 meeting to serve as auditor until the party makes its selection.
Heltzel said commissioners consulted with the county prosecutor's office and were instructed that, because one payroll will have to be paid between Jan. 1 and 10, someone needs to be appointed to sign the paychecks.
Replacement process
County Treasurer Christ Michelakis, the county Democratic Party chairman, said Sferra and Biviano are the only two Democrats so far who have expressed an interest in the position. He said he learned of Sferra's interest earlier this week.
Normally, those wishing to be elected in such situations do make their intentions known ahead of time to the party, though nominations are accepted from the floor at the meeting, Michelakis said.
The Jan. 10 meeting will be at DiVieste's Banquet Hall on North River Road in Warren. The executive board will meet at 6 p.m. to select a replacement for Nick Melfi as board of elections member. It will be followed at 6:30 by a meeting of the 274-member precinct committee to vote for auditor.
Related experience
Biviano has been chief deputy auditor for 10 years and was controller at the county sanitary engineer's office before that for 14 years. He was a state examiner and quality control coordinator with the Ohio Auditor's office for four years before that.
Biviano, of Niles, has a master's of business administration degree and is a certified public accountant with 32 years in public accounting and taxation.
He has taught accounting, finance and management at Kent State University Trumbull Campus, Youngstown State and Penn State universities over the past 27 years and is a licensed residential real estate appraiser. He has been treasurer of the county Democratic Party for eight years.
Biviano would take a pay cut to become auditor. His current salary is $85,841. He would earn $82,364 as auditor, minus $7,413 -- a 9 percent deduction elected officials must pay for their retirement, Biviano said. In his current position, he does not pay a portion of his retirement.
Sferra could not be reached Thursday.
Sferra served as Warren mayor from 1980 to 1995 and served on Warren City Council from 1972 to 1979. He served as state representative from Warren from 1995 to 2004, when he was defeated for re-election by Republican Randy Law.
runyan@vindy.com