LISBON — Former longtime Leetonia village administrator Gary Phillips, who previously served as a councilman and as village police chief, filed recently to run as a write-in candidate for a seat on Leetonia village council.

Phillips is one of four write-in candidates for the Nov. 4 general election who will have to rely on voters writing their name on the ballot, but out of the four, only Scott Caron who’s running for Columbiana school board will face a contested race with five candidates for three spots. Caron is an incumbent.

Incumbent Michael Clark and candidates Dylan Fletcher, Nicholas Clemmer and Jake Ward will all appear on the ballot for Columbiana school board.

Phillips will join Democrats William Merdich, William Garlough and Leisa Lorch as candidates for four available seats on Leetonia Village Council, with Garlough an incumbent and Merdich an appointed incumbent.

Former Leetonia Council Republican candidate Roman Ferry did not withdraw as a candidate for the general election until Aug. 6, which was past the deadline for the Columbiana County Republican Party Central Committee to be able to name a replacement for the ballot, according to county Board of Elections Director Kim Fusco.

According to Ohio Revised Code section 3513.31, the name of the replacement candidate to fill a vacancy on the ballot must be filed by the party not later than 86 days before the date of the general election. She explained that by the time Ferry withdrew, it was too late.

Other write-in candidates include Alana Amato, who’s running for one of two seats open for Wellsville village council, and Daniel Winston of Wellsville, who is running for one of three seats open for the governing board of the county Educational Service Center.

The only candidate appearing on the ballot for Wellsville village council will be Independent Michael Lombardozzi. For the ESC Governing Board, the candidates appearing on the ballot for three seats include incumbent Richard Stoudt of Salem and Alia West of Hanoverton.

The deadline for write-ins to file their intentions was last week.

mgreier@mojonews.com