

Sitting at the Canfield town mayor’s desk is Don Dragish, who took the oath of place of work for his initially time period on Jan. 5. He mentioned he is eager to get began to move the town in the ideal course in 2022. He previously served on Canfield Town Council.

CANFIELD — The town has a new mayor.
Don Dragish was specified the oath of place of work Jan. 5 by Mahoning County Frequent Pleas Courtroom Decide R. Scott Krichbaum. Dragish replaced Mayor Richard Duffett, who chose not to operate for re-election.
For Dragish, politics have been far from his ideas when he completed faculty. He grew up on the West Aspect of Youngstown and attended Ursuline Higher School, graduating in 1991. He went on to attend Youngstown Condition College the place he gained his diploma in design and style, marketing and advertising and promoting.
“My very first occupation was at Ski Minimal in Boardman,” Dragish claimed. “I was planning catalogs for the company.”
He mentioned each individual yr the company would ship out a couple of million catalogs. That all changed in 2000 with the world-wide-web explosion and folks commencing to get on the net. Dragish stated he experienced to convert the catalog he served layout and make it electronic.
“In the 1st thirty day period, we created $30,000 from the on line product sales,” he claimed. “Plus we had considerably less printing fees.”
Soon after 5 many years with Ski Constrained, Dragish moved on to the Cafaro Business. He mentioned he was tasked with internet marketing and setting up websites for 16 Cafaro malls. He also worked with the Cafaro actual estate division as perfectly, and served with the concert events at Eastwood Discipline. He stayed with Cafaro for five a long time right before relocating on.
He place in a few a long time at the Prodigal Media Company, then made the decision to open up his individual organization he identified as Adtronico, which was ideal in line with his skills in promoting and income. He said he stored the organization going while he labored for B.J. Alan for a few of seasons.
All around 2011, Dragish moved to Canfield and alongside with his new bride, Tasha Dragish, started a loved ones when his son George was born.
When he moved to Canfield, he had stepped up his small business and renamed it Dragish Advertising. As a resident of Canfield, Dragish desired to be extra concerned in the group, so he joined Canfield Rotary. He discovered a great deal about the town, and he said it was at a Rotary conference that he was urged to get included in local politics.
He mentioned in 2012, voters authorized charter amendments that lowered the conditions for council members from 4 years to two several years. That meant in 2014, the late Councilman Andy Skrobola had to phase down early, and there was a need to fill the seat.
“A good deal of individuals in Rotary reported I must operate for place of work,” Dragish claimed. “I did operate and was unopposed.”
From 2014 through 2018, Dragish served as a councilman, with the latter a few several years as council president. He was able to be a section of Mahoning County’s initial Joint Economic Growth District (JEDD) when the Windsor JEDD was finalized with a partnership among the metropolis and township.
“The four decades I served as councilman was a great practical experience,” he reported. “I uncovered a large amount about our metropolis, the ins and outs, and what helps make it get the job done.”
He also served during a time when metropolitan areas were being caught in a tricky fiscal posture. Point out cuts to entities like Canfield had council customers scrambling to fulfill the wants of the metropolis.
“We experienced very little (from the state) and it was tricky to do the job with out income,” Dragish claimed. “That is when we actually pushed the problem of expanding the metropolis and annexing the Crimson Gate residence the town owns.”
During his council time period, he extra to his relatives when his daughter Genevieve was born.
In the vicinity of the finish of his term, Dragish dropped his council seat and resolved to make a operate for mayor. Then Mayor Bernie Kosar announced he was stepping down, and Richard Duffett also threw his hat in the ring and won the election.
4 decades later on when Duffett decided to step down and Dragish made a decision all over again to operate, he was elected. He took business officially Jan. 5 prior to the first council conference of 2022. Choose R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court docket issued the oath of business.
Dragish will have to just take a special class on working a mayor’s court docket in advance of he can set on the robe and deal with instances.
As for the foreseeable future, he claimed he enjoys Canfield and thinks it is a fantastic and a safe area to elevate a relatives.
“Canfield is evolving from exactly where it was 10 decades in the past,” he said. “We have a excellent local community, and individuals want to shift here. I think as council we can do so significantly much more. We will be able to do some actually great issues in the coming months.”
Dragish is a devoted, tough-functioning person, but he does have two passions that allow him unwind and be creative. 1 is a passion for golf, and the other is cooking.
“I appreciate to cook dinner,” he explained. “Anything from backyard barbecues to Sunday dinners. During the years, my good friends and I would get alongside one another for soccer video games or other gatherings, and we just started cooking. Now I just appreciate undertaking it.”
His father, Don Dragish Sr., served as a Youngstown police officer for 30 years and as a federal deputy marshal for 25 a long time. Don Sr. attended the swearing-in ceremony and said he was proud of his son.
To advise a Saturday profile, call functions editor Burton Cole at [email protected] or metro editor Marly Reichert at [email protected].










