Natale successor to serve 16 months as Warren auditor

Staff report

WARREN

Whoever Warren Democrats select Friday to serve as a replacement for former Warren Auditor Anthony Natale will serve 16 months before the election that will determine a permanent replacement.

The Trumbull County Board of Elections announced Tuesday the first chance for voters to decide who they want to be auditor will be the November 2017 general election. The replacement will serve the last two years of Natale’s term.

Stephanie Penrose, elections board director, said the law requires a vote for a municipal position such as Warren auditor must be done during a municipal election, not a presidential election like the one coming up in November.

So far, three people have expressed interest in being appointed by Warren Democratic Party Central Committee members: Warren councilmen Vince Flask and Eddie Colbert and Valdeoso Patterson, director of financial services for North East Ohio Network, a regional council of governments for 14 county boards of development disabilities.

The 38 Trumbull County Democratic Party Central Committee members for Warren will vote at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Trumbull Business College, 3200 Ridge Road, Suite 17, to select a temporary replacement.

Natale resigned the job at the time he pleaded guilty in federal court to conveying false information related to use of a weapon of mass destruction for sending a white powder in an envelope to a former employer, causing an evacuation.