AUSTINTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Residents of Austintown will have a chance to meet with nominees looking to become the new directors on Wednesday evening.

Four candidates are seeking to fill two seats.

Jim Davis and Ken Carano are both seeking re-election. The other two candidates are Monica Deavers and Rob Santos.

“No matter who takes this seat after November 2, we all need to work together to continue to make sure Austintown is the best community to live in,” said Davis.

Each candidate has a unique reason why they are the right choice.

“Experience matters. and I am the most experienced person. when they have a problem, whatever the problem, I can help them, ”said Ken Carano.

One of the other two applicants is a local business owner and former sailor. Monica Deavers owns the Charley Family Restaurant. The struggles of the pandemic and the way the community rallied around her business inspired her to join the race.

“They cried with me. and I was like, well, what can I do to make this happen? We have to show the support we have for this community and bring the pride back here because we have it here, ”Deavers said.

Rob Santos, a retired Marine has seen it all. He says that during his service he learned a lesson that is important and essential for him to be the best choice.

“We’re used to working with people we don’t always agree with, but we agree on the mission. And right now the mission is Austintown, ”Santos said.

His priority, like many applicants, is to make Austintown a place where people want to live.

“It could be better. I want to improve Austintown so that we have residents. We have businesses,” Santos said.

Deavers wants people to know this is a great place to have a local business.

“I want everyone’s roots to stay here. I want there to be a reason to be here, ”Deavers said.

Current Austintown administrator Carano says he has the connections to bring business to the township.

“I am completely open to researching other companies to come to Austintown, especially in certain available areas,” Carano said.

But Davis and Carano agree these aren’t the township’s only big issues. Both spoke about the drastic budget cuts they suffered from the state. Davis says his biggest priority is more practical.

“What people really want, and they tell us they want the roads to be paved. you know, they want their neighbor to make sure they maintain their property. So these are the things that we’ve always looked at, ”Davis said.

They will all meet in a public forum and respond to questions submitted by the public. Each candidate will have to answer all the questions asked.

Tonight’s meeting is a great opportunity for everyone to get to know the people who want to serve the community. The forum begins at 6 p.m. at Austintown Fitch High School.

You can always submit a question to the online forum here. A voter information guide is available here.

You can view all candidate electoral profiles here.