Thursday, April 26, 2007
One candidate is from Delaware.
WARREN -- A citizens panel searching through 56 applications from those seeking to be the next Trumbull County administrator stayed away from many of the recognizable local names presented to them.
Instead, the panel recommended seven relative unknowns.
The panel did recommend Gary Engstrom, current director of the county's Office of Elderly Affairs, who retired in 2001 after a 31-year career with First Place Bank. It also recommended Rocky Riviella, controller for the Trumbull County Engineer's department.
Also recommended
The others recommended by the panel come from as near as Liberty Township and as far as Cheswold, Del.
They are:
*Henry DeJulia of Ashland, administrator/zoning inspector for North Baltimore, Ohio.
*M. Robert Flanagan of Elyria, an assistant Lorain County prosecutor.
*Thomas Grabarczyk of Sylvania, Ohio, president of Labor Relations Management Inc.
*David Hannan Jr., chief of staff of the 11-member Summit County Council, the only county in the state with such a form of county government.
*John P. Lynch of Meadville, planning director for Crawford County.
*Edward Ryan Jr., town manager of Cheswold, Del., and a Trumbull County native.
*Antoinette Smith-Clark of Liberty, financial services officer at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna.
Process
Chuck Joseph, one member of the citizens panel, said the recommendations were unanimous, and all nine were recommended equally. Commissioners had received applications for the position after Tony Carson Jr. resigned unexpectedly last July. Commissioners appointed the panel of nine citizens to help narrow down the list of candidates and add credibility to the search.
The committee made the recommendations Tuesday to the county commissioners after holding two meetings and having time to study the r & eacute;sum & eacute;s at home, said James Keating, the county's human resources director.
County Commissioner Dan Polivka said the commissioners would look at the recommendations sometime next week, when Commissioner Frank Fuda returns from vacation. He said he felt the commissioners would make a selection soon.
Among the original applicants bypassed by the committee were Bob Kubiak, who served as Trumbull Children Services director from 1999 through fall 2006; John Zechariah, who announced his resignation earlier this year as director of Mahoning County's Department of Job and Family Services; Frank Flaminio, Trumbull County One Stop systems supervisor; William J. Turner, One Stop program administrator; Randy Fabrizio, Niles superintendent of water and wastewater; Robert J. Jacola, a social studies instructor at Warren John F. Kennedy High School and former Bazetta police chief; Terry Nicopolis, former Warren director of environmental services; and Michelle "Niki" Frenchko, who failed in her bid to be elected county commissioner last fall.