West Akron residents vie for County Council spot
By Kathleen Folkerth
WEST AKRON — Summit County
Democrats from District 4 will meet this weekend to
choose a new Summit County Council representative.
Two West Akron residents —
Frank Comunale and DeAndre Forney — are in the
running for the post, formerly held by Pete Crossland,
who was elected to an at-large position on Council in
November.
About 50 West Akron Democrats
who are on the precinct committee in that Council district
will select the new representative. They will meet Jan.
20 at 11 a.m. at the Memorial Meeting Hall, 440 Grant
St. in Akron, according to Russ
Balthis, executive director of the Summit County Democratic
Party.
Balthis said Comunale and Forney
are expected to be nominated at the Saturday meeting.
They will each get five minutes to address those in
attendance before the vote is taken.
“I want to have the opportunity
to work with the other members of Council,” Comunale
said he plans to emphasize. “I want to be able
to make a contribution and try to do my part.”
“The only thing I want
to talk about is what I believe I can do as a councilman,
and what my vision is,” Forney said. “I
believe in talking about my strengths.”
The two hopefuls are
not strangers to the political
process, although neither one has held public office
in the past.
Comunale, 58, ran in the May
Primary Election for a chance to get on the November
ballot for one of the three at-large seats available
on County Council. He came in fourth, with 167 votes
separating him and third-place Jon Poda, of Green, who
also won in November along with Crossland and Ilene
Shapiro, of West Akron.
Forney, 24, made headlines in
2005 when he ran against incumbent Reneé Greene
for the Akron City Council Ward 4 spot in the September
Primary Election. Only 11 votes separated the two.
“It was a great race,”
Forney said. “It was
close, and I learned a lot.”
Forney also ran for a spot on
the Shelby County Board of Commissioners in Memphis,
Tenn., in 2001, where he lived while attending the University
of Memphis.
Both Forney and Comunale were
born in Akron but have spent some time living in other
parts of the country.
Comunale is one of nine children
who grew up in West Akron, attending St. Sebastian Elementary
School and Firestone High School. He was president of
his senior class at The University of Akron, where he
received a degree in political science and history.
Over the years he lived in Knoxville,
Memphis, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York City
for his careers in college basketball coaching, banking
and the hotel industry.
In 1991, Comunale returned to
Akron and has worked since 1994 at S.A. Comunale, a
fire protection contracting company based in Barberton.
He is currently vice president.
Forney lived in the area until
the fourth grade. He has lived in Indiana and Tennessee
but returned to Akron four years ago. Since August he
has worked for Buckeye Community Health Plan as a community
relations representative.
Both said they have worked on
campaigns for others. Comunale said he has been a volunteer
for political campaigns, while Forney served as coordinator
for Shapiro’s recent campaign.
That experience is what led Forney
to consider the County Council post now open.
“I learned so much about
County Council — things that I liked and things
that I didn’t like,” Forney said. “I
began to look at the issues that came before County
Council, and I found they were things I was passionate
about.”
Chief among those issues is the
Summit County Children Services Board, with which Forney
had firsthand experience.
“As a child I had to go
through that system,” he said. “Reading
the paper every day with their problems, it’s
become a hot button issue for me.”
Forney said his young age should
not be seen as a detriment to his being able to be an
effective member of Council.
“Economic development is
an important issue for me,” he said. “I
love Summit County. It would be unfortunate that I would
have to leave because I couldn’t find a job. A
lot of my friends have left. These are issues that County
Council deals with.”
Forney, who has not completed
his college coursework for a degree in political science,
said the rising cost of higher education is also a concern
of his.
Comunale said he has been prompted
to run for County Council because it’s the next
logical step for him as someone involved in the community.
He is currently president of the Board of Trustees for
the Akron-Summit County Public Library and a member
of the boards of OPEN M, Good Samaritan Hunger Center
and the United Way of Summit County.
“Akron has been wonderful
to my family,” Comunale said. “Public office
is a way to continue to do the things I’m interested
in, such as protecting jobs in the community.”
He said he wants to do what he
can to help make Summit County a place “where
businesses can thrive and people can feel safe.”
He is interested in regionalism
and how that might help the county do business more
efficiently.
“There are great opportunities
to really work collectively,” he said. “We
cannot have a vibrant, progressive community without
good government and good leadership.”
While the voters of District
4 won’t be showing up to cast their votes for
Forney or Comunale, the two have had to wage campaigns
during the past few weeks to get their messages communicated
to the several dozen precinct committee members who
will be making the choice. Both candidates have sent
out letters and made phone calls to the members.
“It’s an interesting
race, very personal,” Forney said. “What
other race can you have where every person who’s
voting can talk directly to the candidate?”
David Hannan, County Council’s
chief of staff, said it’s likely the chosen candidate
will be sworn in immediately after being selected at
the Jan. 20 meeting. They will begin their duties with
the Council’s committee meetings scheduled for
Jan. 22 at 4:30 p.m.
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