Longtime administrative assistant Niki Wilkinson was sworn in as the Columbiana County Board of Elections deputy director during Wednesday’s meeting. Wilkinson was sworn in by Charley Kidder. (Photo by Stephanie Elverd)

LISBON — The Columbiana County Board of Elections re-established the position of deputy director and then promptly promoted longtime administrative assistant Niki Wilkinson to fill the role.

“Niki has basically been in training and now qualifies by the virtue of her being a registered republican,” Board Chair Dave Johnson said. “She now qualifies to be the party’s appointment to the position of deputy director.”

Wilkinson was officially welcomed aboard after an executive session and she was sworn in by Charley Kidder during a board meeting on Wednesday.

The board also passed a 7% pay raise for the office staff after considering the rate of inflation at 3% and the projected increase of another 3%. Johnson said that the board had been weighing a staff pay increase but held off until the county tax renewal passed.

Once it did, it allowed the board to move forward on the matter.

“We are free now to continue to operate our office in an efficient manner as possible and in a manner that will retain and keep capable staff,” he said.

In the same motion, the board approved an 85 cents per hour increase for Wilkinson to put her “on par” with Director Kim Fusco and a dollar-an-hour increase for Jonna Call for merit and the additional work with the internet connectivity and programming.

“I think this is incredibly fair. I think I mentioned before this staff I was unbelievably impressed with seeing an election from this side for the first time,” Kidder said. “I think the raise is both well-earned and still responsible for the budget we are duty-bound to follow.”

In other matters, the board tackled the certification of independent candidates that were to be filed the day before the May 6 primary. In non-partisan municipalities, 12 positions plus one declaration with an intent to be a write-in were certified.

They were Wellville Village Council candidate Michael Lombardozzi, East Liverpool City Council candidates John Torma (President of Council), Tom Beagle (1st Ward), Jeffrey Kreefer (2nd Ward), Brian E. Kerr (Council-at Large), Craig Stowers (4th Ward write-in) and Lisbon Village Council candidates Patricia Kronenberg, Susan Temple, Joe Vitko, Jerry Cox and Joe Morenz.

“The petitions were properly circulated and are valid to be placed on the ballot,” Fusco said. “There are no issues with these ones at all for the November ballot, and I want to make note that these ones did not vote in the primary on a partisan ballot.”

Four petitions were represented as being in question, including two that were later invalidated due to the petitioners declaring themselves independent and circulating independent petitions but voting partisan.

Ryan Burgess (Wellsville Village Council) and Suzanne Tobuck (Leetonia Village Council) both took a Republican ballot in the primary — one day after the filing deadline.

“The rules are very clear and the precedent has been set,” Johnson said. “It’s clearly a violation.”

Another petition for Lisbon council candidacy — filed by Michael J. Miller — was invalidated due to it being placed in the dropbox at 4:48 p.m. on May 5, 48 minutes past the 4 p.m. deadline.

Of the four, only one candidate was decided to be valid for the ballot. Jereme Kliner, a candidate for Lisbon Council, was certified after it was determined that despite circulating the wrong petition — the nonpartisan petition instead of the independent — the correct number of signatures required was obtained and the information on the wrong petition would have been the same on the correct one. Kliner’s petition was considered valid because it was under “substantial compliance.”

Also at Wednesday’s meeting, the board approved $144,776 in bills — the bulk of which were from the May primary and included $36,789 for poll workers and another $60,991 in contract services (polling place locations, site support, printing ballots and dropbox archiving). Most of those expenses will be covered by $135,000 in grant money.

selverd@mojonews.com