BY JOHN A. DARNELL JR.
      associate editor
      On Mon., Apr. 20, the fifth administrator in the history of Boardman Township will assume office. Mark Ragozine, 37, will replace Jason Loree, 44, in the position.
      The position of township administrator was created in 1976 when State Rep. Thomas J. Carney, a democrat and a former Boardman Township Trustee, introduced House Bill 983 to the 111th General Assembly.
      At that time, Boardman Township’s zoning inspector was Robert A. Schaal, a former employee of the Mahoning County Engineers, who led Democrat Boardman Trustee Robert W. Bannon’s successful campaign for office and was rewarding by being named to the zoning post.
      In 1978, Democrat Thomas Barrett was elected as a Boardman Trustee, unseating longtime Trustee and Republican Harold Perkins.
      With Boardman Township’s first-ever Democratic Party majority on the Board of Trustees, Schaal assumed the office as Boardman Administrator in 1978. He was the first township administrator ever appointed in the state of Ohio.
      Under the new Democrat majority, the Board of Trustees, including William H Houser, developed a plan to attempt to improve drainage flows in 17 areas throughout Boardman. In an attempt to remove politics from hiring police and fire personnel, and with help from Rep. Carney, a civil service commission was established; and unions in the police, fire and road departments were organized and recognized.
      Schaal, Bannon, Houser and Barrett also developed a plan to build a new government center and organized a group of community volunteers to raise money for the project. Key contributors to the effort were Clarence R. Smith, who donated 11 cares of land, and Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. whose contributions allowed the new government center of have a police department and public meeting room.
      It was personnel matters with the unions as well as health issues that led to Schaal’s resignation after ten years in office, and the hiring of a former Steubenville Central Catholic High School quarterback, Curt B. Seditz, as Boardman’s second administrator in 1996.
      During Seditz term, John Cox was elected as a Trustee and Cox helped to create the Coalition of Large Ohio Urban Townships (CLOUT).
      The coalition helped to develop legislation that provided increased powers for larger townships in the state, particularly those with populations of at least 15,000 residents.
      Following Seditz’s term, Jason Loree, just out of college, networked throughout Ohio to bring more than $55 million back to Boardman Township in grant monies, saving local taxpayers money and improving services to residents and businesses.
      He helped develop a plan to reshape the Southern Park Mall when the facility was transferred to the ownership of the Washington Prime Group (WPG) under the leadership of Lou Conforti. However, when WPG sold-out to Kohan, Conforti’s well-intended plans for the facility died, and Loree, as well as many others, have been unable to establish any rapport with the current owners, whose marketing of the site falls far below the efforts of its biggest rival, the Eastwood Mall.
      While Eastwood continues to grow, Southern Park dims, attracting a significant portion of its shoppers through free transportation from urban areas provided by the Western Reserve Transit Authority.
      The mall notwithstanding, Boardman new administrator takes office while negotiations are underway with township unions in the police, fire and road departments during a time when township finances are dependent upon passage of three renewal levies.
      Monies from the renewal issues have taken-on an added importance since township government failed to place a 2.5-mill renewal levy on the ballot in 2025 resulting in the loss of some $1.876 million in revenue.