Youngstown school board candidates dropped from 7 to 3

August 16, 2017 at 12:04a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown school board field has gone from a crowded one to having only three candidates vying for three seats.

That’s because the Mahoning County Board of Elections disqualified three candidates Tuesday and another withdrew from the Nov. 7 election.

Youngstown school board candidates need at least 150 valid signatures on petitions to be certified to the ballot.

Steven Carter of Fairgreen Avenue and Reenae S. Miles of Tracey Lane, who circulated nominating petitions as a team, turned in 158 signatures, but only 92 were determined to be valid, while Melanie Rudolph Ross of Bradley Lane had 208 signatures, but only 136 were deemed valid.

Also, Don L. Hanni III of Bears Den Road, a former school board member, withdrew his candidacy.

That leaves incumbents Ronald Shadd of Cabot Street and Jackie Adair of Kenneth Street along with Tina Cvetkovich of South Maryland Avenue with their names on the ballot seeking the three seats.

Nia L. Simms of Ferndale Avenue has filed to run as a write-in candidate. The write-in deadline is Aug. 28.

Also disqualified by the board of elections Tuesday was incumbent Craig Beach Councilwoman Kathleen Davidson of Woodland Avenue for failing to fill in the number of signatures she filed on her nominating petition’s circulator statement.

That’s considered an automatic disqualification for a candidate under state law.

That leaves incumbent Camille Gaia III of Lynfield Road as the only candidate seeking a seat on that village’s council. There are four seats available in this election.

The board of elections also tossed two liquor options off the ballot for failing to have enough valid signatures.

The liquor options removed are Marino’s Italian Cafe on Mahoning Avenue in Austintown and Papa’s Paradise on 12th Street in Campbell.

Also, Jeff Vrabel Jr. of Centennial Drive withdrew as a candidate for Poland school board.

Vrabel, who graduated from Poland Seminary High School this year, has a history with the school board.

In spring 2016, he went to the school board to challenge the high school’s charging students for field trips.

Vrabel contended that the practice violated state law, and later told The Vindicator that he received threats and harassment after the high school canceled field trips for the remainder of the school year.

With Vrabel’s withdrawal, there are three candidates seeking the two available seats on the Poland school board in the fall election.

They are incumbents Larry Dinopoulos of Shady Glenn Trail and Richard Beau Weaver of Tara Drive, and challenger Gregg A. Riddle of Lee Run Road.

Meanwhile, the board of elections set a meeting for 5:30 p.m. Sept. 6 at which it will determine whether its members will certify or disqualify two proposed Youngstown charter amendments that may conflict with state law.

One proposal is a fracking ban that’s been rejected six previous times by voters and the other changes how elections are run in the city.

A state law, that took effect April 6, requires a board of elections to invalidate a local initiative petition if it determines any part of the petition falls outside the local government’s constitutional authority to enact it.

If rejected by a board, it can be appealed to the secretary of state, and after that decision is rendered, it can head to court.

The first proposal requires Youngstown to ban fracking and any activity related to it. However, state law gives jurisdiction over fracking to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

The other proposal offers a variety of changes to how elections are held in the city, including making them nonpartisan. But the proposal would restrict political contributions to only $100 per ballot measure and candidate with those funds coming from only registered city voters.

The proposal would ban corporations, labor unions, political action committee, political parties and other campaign funding entities from giving campaign contributions.

That contribution restriction could conflict with free-speech issues and campaign-contribution decisions made by the U.S. Supreme Court.