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  VOTE NOV. 8: Township, Local School District Renewal Tax Issues On Nov. 8 General Election Ballot  
  County Races For Judgeship, Treasurer Draw Particular Interest:   November 3, 2016 Edition  
     Three tax renewal issues and two liquor issues are the only local issues on the election ballot on Tues., Nov. 8.
      Boardman Township, that operates on a $17 million general fund annual budget, is seeking renewal of a 3-mil issue for five years; and a seventh-tenths-mil issue that raises funds for five years.
      The 3-mil issue generates about $1.32 million a year, while the seven-tenths-mil levy raises about $260,000 a year. Both issues were first-approved by the electorate in 1976. With no additional tax funding, township trustees have pledged to construct a new, main fire station at Stadium Dr. and Market St. Groundbreaking for that project is expected to be held next year.
      Most of the funding for the new fire station is expected to come from the sale of township property at Southern Blvd. and Rt. 224 (where the main fire station is now located.) The site is valued at some $1.2 million, according to an appraisal done by Vantell & Associates.
      The fire station project was finalized last month in a property exchange with the Boardman Local School District, at a cost of some $275,000 to the township, to be paid to the school district in annual payments of $25,000.
      The public school district, that received failing grades on the most recent Ohio Department of Education report card, says it is fighting ‘voter fatigue’ and is combining two levies into one 5.5-mil renewal issue that will raise $4.647 annually over a ten-year period.
      In its most-recent five-year forecast, discussed at a special school board meeting held at 8:00 a.m. last Saturday, the system’s treasurer, L. Greg Slemons, said the district’s $45 million yearly budget “cannot and will not support the natural increase in expenditures due to natural inflationary growth over the next five years.”
      The forecast also said “trends in hospitalization insurance suggest sustained increases in insurance premiums.” Employees in the district contribute 10 per cent of their pay to their health insurance premiums.
      The combined tax levies for the school district were first approved in 1984 and 2012.
      Both township and local school district budgets are expected to lose tax funding in 2017, due to unfavorable property tax rulings from the Mahoning County Board of Revisions.
      Local option liquor issues include one in precinct 1 at The Casual Pint, 393 Boardman-Poland Rd.; and one for Fushimi restaurant, 840 Boardman-Poland Rd., in precinct 3.
      Precinct 1 votes at the Georgeanna Parker Activity Center in Boardman Park, and precinct 3 votes at Trinity Fellowship Church, 4749 South Ave.
      Mahoning County Races
      There will be one contested seat on the ballot for a full term on the Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas.
      Currently serving is Judge Shirley Christian, a Republican.
      She says she represented clients in the common pleas courts on over 500 cases during a 28-year career as a lawyer; and has presided over 1200 civil and criminal cases, including 300 felony sentencing hearings.
      Christian, 61, resides at 13980 Beaver-Springfield Rd., Spiringfield, Oh.
      Christian will be opposed by Atty. Anthony D’Apolito, son of current Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge Lou D’Apolito.
      D’Apolito has served for more than 14 years as a magistrate in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court/Juvenile Division.
      D’Apolito says he wants to help “expand the focus of the adult criminal justice system to ask ‘why’ people commit crimes, rather than just asking what they did.”
      His position suggest he favors rehabilitation of criminal suspects who come before the court, ranging from counseling to drug rehabilitation, and in some cases, incarceration.
      D’Apolito’s legal experience includes presiding over 12,000 cases as a magistrate.
      D’Apolito, 46, a Democrat, resides at 36 College St., Poland, Oh., where he has also served as village solicitor.
      According to the Mahoning County Board of Elections, some $500,000 has flowed into the combined campaigns of Christian and D’Apolito for this race. The judgeship carries an annual salary of about $118,050.
      Uncontested on the ballot for re-election a seat on the county court is Judge David D’Apolito, of 320 Russo Dr., Canfield, Oh. He is a cousin of candidate Anthony D’Apolito and nephew to Judge Lou D’Apolito.
      Republican candidate for Mahoning County Treasurer is 48-year-old Christine Lucarell-Oliver, of 545 Oak Tree Dr., Canfield, Oh. seeking to unseat Democrat incumbent Dan Yemma, 58, of 232 Center St., Struthers, Oh.
      Lucarell-Oliver has provided ‘spice’ in this year’s pre-election campaign, most recently at a press conference held last Friday at county GOP headquarters in Boardman.
      There, she handed out what were purported to be e-mail transcripts of conversation between Yemma and a female Struthers office-holder that dated back to 2007 and 2008, when Yemma was employed as an assistant at the county treasurer’s office.
      She suggested the e-mails violated county policy on computer use, although there is no clear indication a county computer was used for the transmissions.
      The many e-mails detail apparent political battles in 2007-08 in Struthers, and generally conclude with suggestive remarks.
      For example one e-mail (sent Dec. 27, 2007) reads-
      “You are killing me. Every tine I try to behave and keep these thoughts out of my mind, something happens and drives me crazy! Just thinking that we were alone and what could have been. You probably think I’m some kind of pervert!! I should have just pulled the door shut and pushed you into the corner, where no one else could see..Oh..my...God!! You need to slap me.”
      The reply, dated Dec. 27 at 3:22 p.m., reads-
      “Well, I have to admit the same thing happens to me! I try to behave, but it’s just I’ll never stop wanting you and when I think about wanting you, it drives me crazy too! Yes, you should have locked the door, pushed me in a corner and then we wouldn’t be wondering what could have been!! We would have been planning to do it again!! And, don’t you dare say I think you are a pervert!! I would never think that of you!! No, I hmmm..Okay, I’ll slap you if you’ll slap me.”
      Yemma began his career in the county treasurer’s office in 2007, and was appointed treasurer in 2011. In his capacity, Yemma is also chairman of the Mahoning County Land bank that oversees some $6.5 million in federal grants used for demolishing vacant buildings.
      Also at last Friday’s press conference, Lucarell-Oliver released a redacted copy of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission discrimination complaint filed against Yemma, alleging females in his office were the subject of discrimination from Sept. 1, 2014 to June 2, 2015.
      Yemma has made public statements denying an EEOC complaint was ever filed against him.
      Seated with Lucarell-Oliver at last Friday’s press conference was Mahoning County GOP chairman Mark Munroe.
      “It gives me no pleasure to bring this information to your attention. It has nothing to do with how anyone conducts their private life. But, when conduct occurs in the course of the public’s business, we felt that with election day just 11 days away, the public needed to be aware of these issues, that are in addition to our concerns about the way the [treasurer’s] office is run,” Munroe said.
      Other Races
      In Mahoning County
       •Mahoning County Commissioner: Incumbent Democrat Anthony Traficanti (good guy) vs. Republican Adam Rutushin.
       •Mahoning County Commissioner: Incumbent Democrat David Ditzler, a former Austintown Township Trustee vs. Republican George Levendis, member of Campbell city council.
       •Incumbent Dem Mahoning County Prosecutor, Paul Gains, is unopposed.
       •Mahoning County Clerk of Courts: Incumbent Democrat Anthony Vivo vs. David Shaffer. Vivo, a Boardman native, has served the office since 1994, following in the footsteps of his legendary father, Tony Vivo, who was Clerk of Courts prior to his son’s election.
       •Mahoning County Sheriff: Incumbent Democrat Jerry Greene, of Boardman, is unopposed.
       •Mahoning County Recorder: Incumbent Democrat Noralynn Palermo is opposed by Republican Steven Carter.
       •Mahoning County Engineer: Incumbent Democrat Patrick Ginnetti is unopposed. (Every time you drive down Southern Blvd., south of Rt. 224, as you bounce over the roadway where a water line broke, the engineer’s office is responsible; the same as the huge outcrop on McClurg Rd., off Market St., by St. Elizabeth Hospital).
       •Mahoning County Coroner: Incumbent Democrat David Kennedy is opposed by John Vargo
     
 
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