3 seek 1st Ward position

By Jordan Cohen

Wednesday is the deadline for applying for the vacant council position.

NILES — Three residents, including former 1st Ward representative David Wilkerson, have applied for the 1st Ward council seat vacated by the resignation last month of Lee Smith.

Wilkerson, 45, Morris Place, had been appointed to the position by the Democratic precinct committee in January 2007 to fill the vacancy after Frank Fuda was elected Trumbull County Commissioner. However, Wilkerson’s attempt to run for a full two-year term in the May 2007 primary ended when the Trumbull County Board of Elections determined that he had failed to complete circulation statements on his candidacy forms.

Wilkerson, a construction company foreman, later tried to run as an independent write-in candidate but was disqualified by the board, a decision upheld by the 11th District Court of Appeals.

Smith subsequently won the council seat over two other write-in candidates, but resigned after only four months in office citing “very personal and private circumstances.”

The other two candidates are Brenda Claypool, Lawnview Ave., and Thomas Connelly, Gypsy Lane.

Claypool, 47, was recently appointed to the city’s Nuisance Abatement Board. She is the chief executive officer of Check ‘Em Out, Inc., a background screening company.

Connelly, 66, is a retired U.S. Postal Service letter carrier. He was one of the organizers of the Fishing Derbies held in Niles in the early 1990s and is a member of the Niles SCOPE senior center.

Applicants for the position must be voting-age residents of the city. The deadline for applying is Wednesday.

Since Smith was elected as a write-in candidate, city council must name the replacement. Council has scheduled a special meeting for 5:30 p.m. May 28 in the city hall conference room to make that choice