Rev. Stauffer makes run in November for full Austintown trustee term official

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Rev. Rick Stauffer, pastor of Tabernacle Evangelical Presbyterian Church on Raccoon Road, was surrounded by his family as he turned in his forms to run for a full Austintown Township trustee term this November.

He handed in the paperwork Monday at the Mahoning County Board of Elections.

“I was trying to [file] as early as possible,” Stauffer said of his early filing. He collected 42 signatures; 25 are needed to get a name on the ballot.

Stauffer has been an interim trustee for almost two months after being appointed by the campaign committee of former Austintown Trustee Lisa Oles after her departure from the area. She resigned effective Feb. 1, and Stauffer was sworn in for the remaining 10-month term March 6.

At his swearing-in ceremony, Stauffer was unsure if he would run for the full term in November, but he said Monday that “deciding [to run] was probably not long after we did the swearing-in of the interim [term].”

During the interim- trustee search, township Trustee Ken Carano had said that he did not want to appoint someone who would run in November. He cited the precedent of Stauffer’s not running after filling in David Ditzler’s vacancy in 2013 when he left to become a Mahoning County commissioner.

Stauffer has formed a committee — the Committee to Retain Rick Stauffer — as well as a Facebook page and a website, www.rickstauffer.com.

His committee has five members: Pat Simms, Leah Stauffer, his daughter-in-law; Jim Berni; Jim Aeppli; and Nick Cocca.