GM supervisor retiree taking on two-term trustee

The incumbent wants to seek completion of a park.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

POLAND — A retired General Motors supervisor is challenging a two-term trustee for the seat.

This marks the first time Felix M. Carbon, 58, Lyon Boulevard, has sought public office. Annette DiVito, 46, Candywoods Drive, is seeking a third term.

Carbon says he doesn’t want Poland to end up in a financial position, like Boardman and Austintown, where finances dwindle.

He says he wants to make sure that money is spent only for necessary expendittures. He referred to a trustees meeting in the summer, where the township hired four or five seasonal employees to mow grass on property that Browning Ferris Industries donated to the township and will be used as a soccer field.

“Why not turn it over to the soccer association and let them maintain it?” he asks.

Carbon also wants the village and township to combine police and road departments. Both entities now maintain their own. Carbon believes that it will save money for both communities.

Carbon also says that he won’t take the township’s health coverage. He already has coverage from his job at GM.

DiVito, a licensed Realtor and a PetSmart associate, agrees that combining services may be a good idea.

“But we’ve discussed it between the village and the township and it’s not going to happen right now,” she said, explaining that officials in the two communities weren’t able to reach an agreement.

DiVito said that flooding continues to be an issue in part of the township, and that the township has received grants and completed projects to alleviate it. That’s ongoing, she said.

DiVito listed completion of a township park as a goal for her third term. The property, donated by BFI, is at the intersection of Cowden and Moore roads.

“We’ve spent no taxpayer money on it,” she said. “It’s all been grants and contributions.”