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Five submitted applications to serve on Trumbull citizens budget review committee
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Five people submitted applications for a seat on the Trumbull County Citizens Budget Review Committee by Monday’s deadline, but the county commissioners also are encouraging several other people to participate.
Of the five, two spoke out in April 2015, when the commissioners had public hearings to get input when they considered raising the sales tax rate the last time.
Ron Knight of Howland, who argued for cost cutting instead of revenue increasing in 2015, acknowledged that his position as a member of the county’s board of elections board might make him ineligible to serve on the committee.
Mike Bollas of Warren, who volunteered in 2015 to head up an independent group of taxpayers who would examine the county’s finances, has submitted a letter to do that very thing as a member of the citizens budget-review committee.
Bollas retired from the Ohio Auditor’s Office with 40 years of experience in auditing, he said.
Richard Musick of Cortland, who is a member of the Trumbull County Planning Commission, also served several years on the Western Reserve Port Authority, which runs the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport and assists companies with financing and tax-savings programs.
Musick, who might have the same conflict as Knight because of the commissioners having oversight of the planning commission’s budget, has spent 40 years in the insurance business.
John Talstein of Niles worked 34 years for GM-Delphi Packard Electric and was senior industrial engineer and trained in lean-management principles. He served in 2007 on the citizens committee to review candidate resumes for county administrator.
Stephan Stoyak of Liberty has been master production scheduler with Resco Products of Warren since 2014 and was supply-chain manager for Thomas and Betts Corp. of Mercer, Pa., for 19 years before that. He is the husband of Liberty Township Trustee Jodi Stoyak.
Commissioner Dan Polivka said two people he has talked with are willing to serve – Mike Matsas of Cortland, budget director for Lake County, Ohio; and Paul Clouser of Warren, president of National Fire and Water Repair.
He also believes Tony Iannucci Jr., executive director of Warren Planning and Redevelopment and Sunshine Inc., is interested.
None of the three turned in applications to the commissioners office by the deadline.
Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa said he still is talking to two people he did not want to name about joining the committee. Neither submitted an application to the office by the deadline.
Commissioner Frank Fuda said he encouraged Musick and one other person to apply, but the woman did not apply by Monday’s deadline.
Fuda has been encouraging the commissioners to increase the income tax by a quarter percent since 2015. County Auditor Adrian Biviano advised the commissioners late last year that they should ask department heads to cut their budgets by 5 percent for 2017 compared with 2016 because of a potential $700,000 Medicaid-related sales-tax loss in 2017 and other issues.