Ex-Warren mayor seeks council seat

By Ed Runyan

WARREN — Dan Sferra seeks a return to city government, but to get there he’ll have to unseat one of three incumbent at-large

When Sferra thinks back to 1972, when he was a 22-year-old member of Warren City Council, he remembers men like Ted Long, owner of the Warren manufacturer Taylor-Winfield, and Ted Hurt, president of Thomas Steel.

Both were ward councilmen, but both served on council because they felt it was their civic duty, not for the pay or to climb to higher office, Sferra said.

“I’m basically in that position now,” Sferra told The Vindicator, about his candidacy this year for an at-large council seat. “I’m not doing it for the $9,000. I’m doing it because I want to help the city.”

Sferra, who also served as Warren’s mayor from 1980 to 1995 and retired after losing re-election to the Ohio House of Representatives in 2004 at age 55, is a little off on the salary paid to council members. It pays $11,110 this year.

Sferra, 60, said his years working for the city have left him financially secure, and he has done relatively little the past five years.

He has no intention of using a council seat as a steppingstone to a position as Warren mayor or county commissioner, he said. But he does have a few complaints about the administration of Mayor Michael O’Brien.

Sferra said the administration “did nothing” to brace the city for the loss of jobs resulting from the bankruptcy of what was the city’s biggest employer, Delphi Packard Electric. Instead of hiring workers in the spring of 2008, the city should have been preparing for loss of revenue from Delphi, Sferra said.

In April 2008, O’Brien swore in four new police officers, Sferra said. In November, he laid off those four and 16 others, along with 11 firefighters and eight other employees to shave $1.2 million from the 2009 budget. An additional $1.5 million was cut from the budget during the second half of 2009.

Sferra said O’Brien’s decisions have resulted in a loss of trust between city employees and the O’Brien administration.

“I think they trust me,” Sferra said of employees, adding that he thinks his presence could help the city negotiate with its employees even though council members are prohibited by law from engaging in negotiations.

Warren is one of a few cities that still has a statutory form of government, meaning it is governed by state law, not its own rules, Sferra said. He thinks the city should look into creating a charter form of government, which would allow a reduction in the number of council members to seven and give the mayor more power.

Sferra would make better use of council’s power by “standing up every two weeks” at council meetings and holding the mayor accountable, he said.

Dan Crouse, 52, one of three incumbent council members running for re-election to three at-large council seats, said the O’Brien administration has spent $10 million in reserves over the nearly six years he’s been mayor. Crouse has been on council one two-year term.

Whenever council questioned the administration about spending in recent years, it was always told “the fund is in balance,” Crouse said, adding that he failed to see through those explanations because he was “green.”

Crouse says in his next term, he will focus on energy savings through consolidating city offices into fewer buildings and cost savings through police department rank reductions. Having 24 ranking officers supervising 37 patrolmen is a bad ratio, he said.

He said the police department’s dispatching system will need a $4 million upgrade in the next couple of years, and he recommends that the city look into creating a joint dispatching system with the county, which already has the “latest and greatest” system.

Helen Rucker, 57, serving her fifth term on council, noted the city’s 20,000 loss in population in the last 40 years, and said one of the “right-sizing” measures needed is to eliminate the executive secretary position in most departments of city government.

She agreed with Crouse that the number of ranking officers in the police department is too high, and the city cannot wait for attrition to take care of the problem. “We’ve been top-heavy in that department for about six years,” she said.

Rucker said cuts made over the past year have only been “Band-aids,” which is why she has been asking for creation of a long-term financial plan.

If the city would have been looking at long-term solutions, it might have reduced more employees last year, she said.

“I hate to lay off people, but if we would have laid off more people in the spring, the city would have struggled with people, but the city could have started [2010] a little more stable,” she said.

Bob Dean, 67, did not attend an interview with The Vindicator. He has been on council since 2004, and said his first priority as council member is the “safety of every Warren citizen as well as full support for our safety service forces.”

A former contract compliance/security manager for the Cleveland Port Authority, Dean said his other priority is “seeking avenues for jobs and future businesses” and supporting the work of an economic development director with the Western Reserve Port Authority.

runyan@vindy.com

Four candidates are running for three seats. An (*) denotes the incumbent.

DAN CROUSE*

Age: 52.

Home: 2947 Crescent Drive N.E.

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Youngstown State University; a 1975 graduate of Howland High School.

Employment: Realtor, home sales for more than 20 years.

Family: Wife, Darlene Mink-Crouse; daughters, Pam Martuccio and Kim Griffin.

Priority: The energy committee I chair has found many ways to save money across the city that are being studied now. They range from projected savings nearing $1 million in water pollution control, to garbage tipping fees and basic costs to heat buildings.

BOB DEAN*

Age: 67

Home: 4110 Sunnybrook Drive S.E.

Education: Attended University of Houston, U.S. Air Force Community in Maxwell, Ala., graduate of Warren Harding High School.

Employment: Retired as compliance/security manager for Cleveland Port Authority, retired from the Air Force.

Family: Wife, Nedra Dean.

Priority: Safety of every Warren citizen as well as full support of our safety service forces, seeking avenues for jobs and future businesses long and short range. HELEN RUCKER*

Age: 57.

Home: 1400 Beechcrest St. N.W.

Education: Attended Youngstown State University, Kent State University Trumbull Campus, ATES Technical School, graduated from Warren City Schools.

Employment: Retired from Delphi Packard Electric

Family: Two daughters, Gloria Powell and Kia Rucker; four grandchildren.

Priority: Warren needs to look outward to increase revenue by aggressively marketing our city and redeveloping our assets, such as waterways. Two other priorities are a Warren business incubator and combining office space and combining office-staff duties.

DAN SFERRA

Age: 60

Home: 1175 Eastland Ave. S.E.

Education: Attended Kent State University, graduated from Harding High School.

Employment: Retired state representative, former Warren mayor, former Warren councilman.

Family: Wife, Deana; children, Dan Sferra Jr. and Melissa McCauley; two step-children.

Priority: Working with the other council members and administration on the budget and trying to find ways to bring our police and fire departments back to full strength.

Source: the candidates