Race for Poland trustees heats up

Flooding and traffic are among the issues being discussed.

By Denise Dick

POLAND — Two challengers — both of whom have run before — face two incumbents for the township trustee seats.

Felix Carbon, 60, a retired General Motors supervisor, and Albert Sciulli, 50, who works as an operating engineer at Trispan Corp., New Middletown, are challenging Mark Naples, 52, and Robert Lidle, 48.

Sciulli, who also ran for the seat in 2001 and 2003, says he wants “to open government up to the people,” proposing to begin monthly trustee meetings at 7 p.m. instead of 5 p.m. so “the common working person can attend.”

He also says he wants to end nepotism and refers to Naples’ stepdaughter, who works parttime in the zoning office.

Both Naples and Lidle said the part-time job was advertised at Poland Seminary High School — they wanted a youth — and no one applied. Naples asked his stepdaughter to do the job and initially paid her out of his own pocket, he said.

“Bob Lidle and Annette DiVito [the other trustees] came to me and asked if they could hire her,” Naples said.

He abstained from the vote when she was hired.

Carbon also acknowledged a family tie.

He said that Charlie Carabbia, a reputed mobster, was his godfather and that the car Carabbia was driving when he disappeared was Carbon’s Cadillac. “He liked my car,” Carbon said. “He liked to drive it.”

Carbon, who ran for a trustee seat in 2007, favors joining the village and township police and road departments as a way to save money.

Naples said that officials in the village and township work well together, and though the idea of consolidating the police and road departments has come up before, both he and Lidle said an agreement has never been reached.

Carbon said he would address flooding within the townships, talking with county and state officials to seek help. He also would open Moore Road, he said, and make Cowden Road two lanes to alleviate traffic on Miller Road.

Miller Road sees additional traffic since the township created a park off Struthers Road where the youth soccer league plays its games.

Naples said the high traffic is a short-term problem, only occurring during the fall soccer season.

The township, though, is trying to come up with solutions to alleviate it, including seeking grant dollars to extend Moore Road out to U.S. Route 224.

Naples is proud of the fact that in the 12 years he’s been in office, taxes haven’t been raised.

The township also is seeking grants to address flooding problems, Naples said.

Lidle said flooding problems affecting the township affect communities throughout the Mahoning Valley.

“It’s not something one person can give an answer to,” he said.

Retention ponds installed when a development begins and then not maintained contribute to the problem, he said.

The township, by law, isn’t permitted to maintain a retention pond on private property, Lidle said.

He’s approached state officials about giving townships tools to address retention ponds, he said.

“This is an infrastructure issue,” Lidle said.

The onus on retention-pond maintenance is on developers, homeowners or homeowners’ associations, he said.

“There has to be a mandated responsibility for this,” Lidle said.

denise_dick@vindy.com

Four candidates are vying for two township trustee seats. An (*) denotes an incumbent.

FELIX CARBON

Age: 60.

Home: 2392 Lyon Blvd.

Education: Struthers High School graduate.

Employment: Retired from General Motors.

Family: No information provided.

Priorities: Saving money for the township and servicing the people. I can implement this by following through and being a hands-on trustee.

A photo was not provided by the candidate.

ROBERT LIDLE*

Age: 48.

Home: 2552 Stoner Ave.

Education: Poland Seminary High School graduate.

Employment: Electrician, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 64.

Family: Wife, the former Paula Bilas, and three children.

Priorities: To provide the residents with adequate safety services (police/fire), the maintenance of township roads (paving/snow removal) and zoning (also the maintenance of township cemeteries).

MARK NAPLES*

Age: 52.

Home: 7262 Youngstown-Pittsburgh Road.

Education: Poland Seminary High School graduate.

Employment: Cable splicer at First Energy/Ohio Edison.

Family: Wife, Kathy, one daughter.

Priorities: To maintain a desirable environment for the residents of Poland Township. I will continue to work closely with Poland Village so that we may all enjoy the setting of Poland now and in the future.

ALBERT SCIULLI

Age: 50.

Home: 5027 Miller Road.

Education: Lowellville High School graduate.

Employment: Operating engineer at Trispan Corp., New Middletown.

Family: Wife, Susan, two daughters.

Priorities: Reduce if not eliminate the position of township administrator. With three trustees I feel as though the people elected them to conduct the township’s business.