Only one contested race for Twinsburg City Council
By Jeremy Brown
Early voting for Summit County comes to a close on Sunday, Nov. 2, with Election Day right around the corner on Nov. 4.
In Twinsburg, three of its seven City Council member spots are on the ballot. Incumbents David Post, representative for Ward 4, and Greg Bellan, representative for Ward 5, are running unopposed for their seats. Only At-Large Council Representative Scott Barr faces opposition in the race from newcomer Shaun Castillo.
Barr is in his eighth year as council person at-large for the city of Twinsburg. He is a small business owner and has served as both president and vice president of council, as well as chair of the Finance Committee. He was also a member of the Twinsburg Environmental Commission and the Twinsburg Redistricting Commission.
Barr and his fellow council members are currently seeking to replace the service department and are devising a plan to develop and bring businesses to the downtown area. They are also working with township trustees to improve Twinsburg Township Square.
Twinsburg Township Manager Robert Kagler said township trustees have already begun to do major preliminary improvements on Township Square. The sidewalks, street lights, electrical lines and the irrigation system are being replaced, along with some additional grading, landscaping and more.
“We plant trees all the time, we improve things, but this is something where it is a major improvement project and there hasn't been anything done since the stage was built 50 years ago,” Kagler said. “This is very comprehensive; it encompasses the whole thing.”
Barr said the city is in good shape and has a healthy general fund balance. A streetscape survey is underway to further the progress of those plans to beautify the downtown area.
“I’m running because I want to continue to see those things through,” Barr said. “I’ve been there for eight years and have a great relationship with our department heads and our mayor and my fellow peers on council, and I want to kind of work on what we started.”
Castillo is a local realtor. He serves as vice chairman of the Twinsburg Parks and Recreation Commission, previously served as chairman of the Twinsburg Charter Review Commission and was a corporate executive of community relations for a national media company.
Castillo said there needs to be more thorough communication between the city and its residents regarding current plans and issues, something that he believes is a problem due in part to the shuttered Twinsburg Bulletin newspaper, which ceased print publication in March 2023.
“Some of the issues we’re running on are our transparency and communication within our city government. People have talked about the local newspaper that we once had, and they don’t feel that they have a full understanding of what’s happening within the city, or they get the information secondhand, or they get it on Facebook. There's just this natural confusion, seemingly, within our residents,” Castillo said. “I've talked to people who are younger and older and they both seem to come together in that thought of, we just don’t have a full understanding of what is happening within the city, and they feel like they are left out.”
Early voting for Summit County comes to a close on Sunday, Nov. 2, with Election Day right around the corner on Nov. 4.
In Twinsburg, three of its seven City Council member spots are on the ballot. Incumbents David Post, representative for Ward 4, and Greg Bellan, representative for Ward 5, are running unopposed for their seats. Only At-Large Council Representative Scott Barr faces opposition in the race from newcomer Shaun Castillo.
Barr is in his eighth year as council person at-large for the city of Twinsburg. He is a small business owner and has served as both president and vice president of council, as well as chair of the Finance Committee. He was also a member of the Twinsburg Environmental Commission and the Twinsburg Redistricting Commission.
Barr and his fellow council members are currently seeking to replace the service department and are devising a plan to develop and bring businesses to the downtown area. They are also working with township trustees to improve Twinsburg Township Square.
Twinsburg Township Manager Robert Kagler said township trustees have already begun to do major preliminary improvements on Township Square. The sidewalks, street lights, electrical lines and the irrigation system are being replaced, along with some additional grading, landscaping and more.
“We plant trees all the time, we improve things, but this is something where it is a major improvement project and there hasn't been anything done since the stage was built 50 years ago,” Kagler said. “This is very comprehensive; it encompasses the whole thing.”
Barr said the city is in good shape and has a healthy general fund balance. A streetscape survey is underway to further the progress of those plans to beautify the downtown area.
“I’m running because I want to continue to see those things through,” Barr said. “I’ve been there for eight years and have a great relationship with our department heads and our mayor and my fellow peers on council, and I want to kind of work on what we started.”
Castillo is a local realtor. He serves as vice chairman of the Twinsburg Parks and Recreation Commission, previously served as chairman of the Twinsburg Charter Review Commission and was a corporate executive of community relations for a national media company.
Castillo said there needs to be more thorough communication between the city and its residents regarding current plans and issues, something that he believes is a problem due in part to the shuttered Twinsburg Bulletin newspaper, which ceased print publication in March 2023.
“Some of the issues we’re running on are our transparency and communication within our city government. People have talked about the local newspaper that we once had, and they don’t feel that they have a full understanding of what’s happening within the city, or they get the information secondhand, or they get it on Facebook. There's just this natural confusion, seemingly, within our residents,” Castillo said. “I've talked to people who are younger and older and they both seem to come together in that thought of, we just don’t have a full understanding of what is happening within the city, and they feel like they are left out.”
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