Youngstown residents vote for change

By Benjamin Joe

Senior Contributing Writer

Youngstown voters opted for change on Tuesday, as unofficial election numbers show almost two-thirds of the people chose the challengers over the incumbent board.

Rick Stortecky, an incumbent trustee who ran for mayor, found himself bested by Mike DeDario, a former history teacher, by a count of 332 to 148.

DeDario said he was surprised by his margin of victory, expecting the vote totals to be closer. He said he is excited to see what’s next. 

“The first thing I'm doing is to learn about all the processes we need to go through and listen to people to find out what they want done,” DeDario said Wednesday.

In the trustee race, Colleen Mary Summerville and Steven Suitor, who with DeDario ran on the We the People party line, also took seats from incumbent mayor, Rob Reisman, who was running for a trustee position, and an incumbent trustee, Catherine Stella. Suitor netted 333 votes and Summerville 307, topping Stella’s 160 and Reisman’s 141.

In a group statement Stortecky shared after the polls closed and votes were tallied, he, Reisman and Stella shared, “We all care about the village and will continue to do what is best for ALL residents.”

Stortecky said he will use his remaining two-year term as a trustee to “fight for the village.”

As for the victors, Suitor said he was very happy.

“I’m not a man of a lot of words normally. I think the three of us: Mike, Colleen and I, were running together and we got out to the community,” he said. “The numbers of the election showed the community spoke pretty loudly. The numbers right now won’t be official until the morning, but unofficial numbers were pretty one-sided.”

Suitor credited the level of outreach he and his fellow candidates had as the reason for what will ultimately be a new face on Youngstown’s local government.

“We had people making phone calls. There were many people going door to door. We had people just calling registered voters and saying, ‘Here’s our candidates,’ ” he said.

Suitor said he believed everyone running had the village’s best interest in mind.

“Everyone was a qualified candidate,” Suitor said. “So, this is just the way the cards fell this time.”

Summerville said, “I’m very pleased with the outcome of the election, and I feel honored to serve the Village of Youngstown. My appreciation to Rob, Rick and Catherine for serving.”