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6 apply for Youngstown Muni Court judgeship
YOUNGSTOWN
Six candidates are seeking to succeed Elizabeth Kobly as the next Youngstown Municipal Court judge.
Friday was the deadline to submit applications for the rest of the judge’s term, which expires Jan. 1, 2020.
Judge Kobly’s last day on the bench will be Aug. 30, but her official retirement date is Sept. 21.
The candidates who applied are:
City Magistrate Anthony Sertick, who unsuccessfully ran last year in the Democratic primary for municipal court judge.
Former city Law Director Martin Hume, an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor.
Renee DiSalvo, who works in private practice and is a former assistant city prosecutor.
Mark Hanni, private practice attorney who unsuccessfully ran last year as an independent for municipal court judge.
Anthony Farris, a former law director and ex-chief assistant city prosecutor who is a senior assistant Ohio attorney general in the downtown Youngstown office.
Terry Grenga, who has a private practice.
Judge Kobly’s replacement will be selected by Gov. John Kasich, a Republican.
At the request of Kasich’s office, Mahoning Republican Party Chairman Mark Munroe is putting together a screening committee to interview applicants for the appointment.
The committee could meet as early as next week or the week after, depending on the schedules of its members and the candidates, Munroe said.
The committee would send the names of three candidates, though it’s possible it could be more, to the governor’s office as soon as possible, he said.
“We’ll try to move this along fairly quickly,” Munroe said.
While the appointment would run to Jan. 1, 2020, there’s an election next year for a full six-year term for this particular judicial seat.
One person notably absent from the list is city Law Director Jeff Limbian, who said he planned to seek the appointment.
Limbian had told Munroe and a Vindicator reporter that he was going to apply for the position.
But Limbian, who previously said he also planned to run for the seat in next year’s election, didn’t submit an application to Munroe by Friday’s deadline.
Limbian couldn’t be reached Friday afternoon by this newspaper to comment.