County government election augurs well for new direction

Come January, there will be a new commissioner, sheriff and engineer in Mahoning County, which should give residents who have advocated change in the way government operates reason to be optimistic. After all, the candidates for those positions made it clear during their campaigns leading up to Tuesday’s primary election that change was inevitable because of the challenges facing county government, especially with regard to the budget.

As a result of the Democratic Party’s primary, Jerry Greene will be the new sheriff, given that no Republican or independent candidate filed to run. Greene, who has served in the sheriff’s department for 23 years, wasted little time in outlining his priorities after the complete but unofficial results showed him with 55.6 percent of the vote in the three-man field.

The sheriff-elect said he wants to get the jail fully operational, which means bringing back deputies who are now laid off and reopening two prisoner housing units.

Although former Youngstown Police Chief Jimmy Hughes and Poland Township Police Chief Brian Goodin, both experienced officers, competed for the nomination for sheriff, voters obviously felt that Greene’s experience and background would provide a seamless transition from Sheriff Randall Wellington, who is retiring at the end of the year.

Mahoning County is also getting a new engineer, Patrick T. Ginnetti, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Like Greene, Ginnetti does not have Republican or independent opposition, which means he will take the oath of office.

He will succeed Richard Marsico, who decided not to seek re-election after he failed to win the Democratic Party’s endorsement.

Ginnetti, who has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Youngstown State University and works in Cranberry, Pa., for an engineering firm, has described himself as “a hands-on engineer and hands-on surveyor.”

His top priorities would be public safety on county roads and bridges and the use of technology, such as the geographic information system, to establish a routing program for snow plow trucks and a road-paving and reconstruction plan, and laser-scanning for surveying.

Internal Revenue Service lien

News reports late last month about a $27,687 lien on his home by the Internal Revenue Service gives us pause. He has said the IRS debt, along with unknown interest and penalty, would be paid off in three to five years — while he is the county engineer. We would hope Ginnetti finds a way to expedite the payment to the federal government.

The credibility of the engineer’s office is tied to how the public views the person at the top in terms of integrity.

In the race for the county commissioner seat being vacated by John A. McNally IV, Austintown Trustee David Ditzler received 50.1 percent of the vote in the six-man contest. Ditzler will face three challengers in the general election: Republican David Rossi, Green Party candidate Howard Markert and independent Edward L. Goldner Jr.

Given his convincing win in Tuesday’s primary, the veteran officeholder goes into the November contest with a good head of steam.

If he is elected commissioner, Ditzler says he would focus on consolidation of services. The creation of a countywide court system below the common pleas level has been put on the front burner with the decision by Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor to host a meeting of local officials in Youngstown later this month.

Democratic Party Chairman David Betras invited the chief justice to get involved in the court consolidation issue and says it must be put on a very fast track.

The full support of the current board of commissioners and of McNally’s successor is warranted.