Elections deputy to resign

The deputy director will leave after the primary
election next year.

By D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

LISBON — The Columbiana County Board of Elections plans to make sure the 2008 presidential election goes smoothly.

Lois Gall, the veteran Republican director of the elections board, will oversee the entire election.

But the board will have to find a new deputy director early next year to replace Thomas Edgell.

The board voted Friday to advertise for a deputy director after Edgell announced he plans to resign.

Edgell, a Democrat, was appointed last January to replace John Payne, who left as director to join the staff of U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson of St. Clairsville, D-6th.

But the board also had passed a resolution saying the deputy director and director would have to rotate positions every two years.

Edgell said he is not knowledgeable enough to take the director’s post in 2009.

In a letter to the board, he wrote, “I’m neither comfortable with nor qualified in making such a transition. I’ve worked hard but have not yet been exposed to enough of the many and ever-changing complexities of the election process in Ohio.”

He added he was resigning effective March 14 so “the integrity of this office goes unquestioned and the voting public of this county are properly served.” That will be after the March 4 primary election.

Edgell is a former East Liverpool police officer who was awarded the Carnegie Medal for saving the life of a boy in 1978. He crawled upstairs in a smoke-filled house to find and rescue the child.

He still runs a private security company that employs about 12 people.

Edgell said the board should pick someone with experience who can be “up and running” on their first day on the job.

The board agreed to advertise the opening and take applications until Jan. 14.

The board is requiring the deputy director to be a county resident. Job Web sites in other areas may pick up the job opening.

But Ronald J. Massullo, a regional liaison officer for Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, said the latest guidelines require the deputy director to be “a registered voter in the county and live in the county for 30 days.”

The state guidelines say the deputy director must have a high school diploma and have general skills, such as being able to work with the public.

In other action, the board gave Gall a 4 percent raise, which brings the director’s annual salary to $49,900. The deputy is now being paid $22,000 a year.

wilkinson@vindy.com