At forum, candidates answer questions

One candidate said commissioners should be willing to accept whatever cuts they impose on county workers.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The five Democrats and one Republican candidate for Trumbull County commissioner speaking at a candidates forum mostly agreed on two points: that county government has a problem with corruption and that government should become more efficient.
The candidates, speaking at Warren G. Harding High School Wednesday at the invitation of the Trumbull County Chapter of the Asa Philip Randolph Institute, fielded questions from a community panel on various issues.
The Republican candidate, Niki Frenchko, who is unopposed in the primary, started off the corruption theme. "I want to transform government into something trustworthy," she said.
"The culture of corruption has to stop," agreed Niles Councilman Frank Fuda.
"I am not beholden to anyone," said political newcomer Mauro Cantalamessa, who runs the Enzo's restaurant in Warren.
"The county needs honest and ethical people," Warren Council President Robert Marchese said.
Credentials
On running government efficiently, Girard Mayor James Melfi told the audience that he has the credentials for that job, having taken a city through years of tough economic times, including fiscal emergency, and cut expenses year after year. He said he has presided over a reduction in city employees from 116 to 86 in the years since he became mayor in 2000.
Frenchko, who works in the Austintown office of CT Consultants Inc., doing community development and grant writing, said she thinks the county could save money by eliminating some contracts and doing the work in-house.
Meanwhile, she said too many county department heads are political holdovers from a previous administration. "Do we really need a county administrator when we have three commissioners who are supposed to administrate themselves?"
When asked what concessions he might be willing to ask county workers to make, Marchese said he might be inclined to ask workers to share in the cost of health care. Cantalamessa noted that county workers already contribute to health care and added that commissioners should always be willing to take the same cuts as the workers.
Grouping plans
Political newcomer Ted Harrell said he thinks money could be saved by grouping health care plans across the county or with other counties.
The panel consisted of Clarence Bowles from Youngstown, Thomas Conley, president and chief operating officer of the Warren-Trumbull Urban League, and Steve Oravecz of the Tribune Chronicle.
Asa Philip Randolph Institute is a grass-roots community group.