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Dragish elected as new president of Canfield City Council
By ROBERT CONNELLY
CANFIELD
Don Dragish Jr. was unanimously approved as the new president of Canfield City Council.
Council voted in Dragish during its organizational meeting before its regular meeting Monday night. “I’m looking forward to 2015 to see which new things we can push forward for the city of Canfield,” Dragish said. “Obviously, there’s very highly experienced people surrounding myself and I’m taking the leadership role of having those people with me. So any questions or things that ever come to my way I can get the expertise of people around me.”
Steve Rogers will remain as a council member, but stepped down as president. Mayor Bernie Kosar Sr. was out of town and absent from the meeting.
The council meeting was the first under the new charter amendment rules. Members from the zoning, fiscal and public works departments were present and gave reports. Canfield City Police Chief Chuck Colucci was absent as he was on vacation, said Joe Warino, city manager.
Todd Beeson, public works foreman, noted that city crews have been out nine times this winter, three times to plow and put down rock salt and the other six times just to spread rock salt. He said five of those six times were to melt ice left from freezing rains. Beeson estimated the city has used 150 to 175 tons of rock salt so far this winter.
Resident Frank Micchia, who led the effort on the charter amendments, said, “I would like to compliment everyone on their reports.”
Micchia then got into a spat with city attorney Mark Fortunato over how the reports and questioning allowed for the reports was done. “These meetings aren’t going to be a free-for-all,” said Fortunato about Micchia’s wanting to directly question Beeson.
Lawmakers acted on the one issue brought before them, authorizing the police chief or the city’s finance director to sit in for the city manager if he or she is sick or on vacation.