Voters in Monroeville will cast their ballots for three open seats on the municipal council in the general election, and candidates are focused primarily on public safety concerns and keeping the town a vibrant place for business.

The municipality is split into wards. In Ward 2, Democratic candidate and incumbent Eric Poach will face Republican Timothy Lionelli. In Ward 4, former council member and Democrat James Johns Jr. is looking to win a new term and will go up against Republican William Krut.

And in Ward 6, incumbent Bob Williams is running unopposed.

Ward 2

Timothy Lionelli said he chose to run for council “because I just wanted to see if I can make any kind of change.”

“When you retire, you’re on a fixed income, and I wanted to see where our tax money was going,” said Lionelli, 65, who is retired after a career with the Monroeville Municipal Authority. “Coming from the authority, I know a lot about the infrastructure in town and wanted to make sure we’re not wasting money.”

Lionelli said if elected, his first goal would be to examine Monroeville’s budget “and see where we can save on expenses.”

Incumbent Eric Poach said he’d like to focus on Monroeville’s emergency services.

“The demand has steadily increased over the past six years, with a decrease in the available resources and assets to stay ahead of that demand,” said Poach, who works remotely as emergency manager for the Maryland Hospital Association. “Currently, one of our fire trucks is three years past its recommended 20-year lifespan and is mired in post-covid supply-chain shortages. I’d like to increase our technological capability to improve response times using the recently implemented automatic vehicle locators, and integrate that with law-enforcement body cameras, dash cameras and our secure records management and communication systems.”

Lionelli said emergency services are also among his priorities.

“Everyone worries about the mall and about businesses leaving Monroeville due to safety concerns,” he said. “I’d like to look at the police and EMS budget to ensure everyone is funded well, and that they can hire additional people if they need to.”

Ward 4

James Johns Jr., 77, is looking to return to council after spending eight years there previously and beating the Democratic incumbent in the primary.

“I was asked to run again, and that was a lot of motivation,” said Johns, who is self-employed and a member of the Monroeville Convention Center Visitors Bureau board of directors. “Monroeville is a great place to live and work, but we have to get together and control some of the spending that’s going on.”

Johns said he’d like to see council working more closely together “instead of butting heads all the time.”

“Four beats three all day long at Monroeville council, and if you’re on the side with three, it’s tough,” he said. “But we need to work as a team and remove some of the negative baloney.”

Retired Monroeville police officer William Krut said his main interest is public safety and how it relates to the town’s businesses.

“Public safety’s what I did for almost 28 years with the police,” he said. “We have a councilman who’s an attorney, one who’s a former public works director, one who retired from the water authority, and I don’t think it could hurt to have someone with a good deal of law enforcement experience to help bridge the gap between the police and council.”

Krut said Monroeville’s business district benefits from so many major roads converging there. But those same roads also bring a lot of the crime that municipal officials have dealt with over the years.

“A lot the crime here is perpetrated by people from outside Monroeville,” he said “And a lot of communities west of Monroeville are high-crime areas. And crime affects business here.”

Ward 6

Incumbent Democrat Bob Williams is running unopposed in the municipality’s Sixth Ward.

“Monroeville’s a great place. I was on the planning commission for a number of terms,” said Williams, 80. “I just want to give back to the community.”

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