Only one person cast a vote for Brookfield’s newest school board member and he isn’t even a township resident.

’It was a difficult decision to make,’ Trumbull County Probate Judge Thomas A. Swift said Tuesday after swearing in Kelly Bianco as the new school director.

After reviewing the applications of 11 candidates, Swift said Mrs. Bianco, a business appraiser, got his nod because of her accounting background.

’A number of school districts have financial challenges,’ the judge said. ’She knows her way around a balance sheet.’

After talking with her last week over the phone, Swift said Mrs. Bianco seemed like she could ’be a catalyst in moving the board forward.’

The seat opened Feb. 16 when Stephen J. Varga, the board’s vice president, resigned in a letter read at a meeting by Superintendent Steve Stohla.

The board allowed interested residents to submit applications for the seat and on March 5 school directors interviewed those candidates in a closed session.

President Joseph Pasquerilla slapped school director Dr. Ronald Brennan in a dispute over who to appoint, police said, and the meeting was adjourned without the board appointing a new member.

By law, the next step required Swift to decide among those interested.

Swift, a Vienna, Ohio, resident, said he selected Mrs. Bianco because she had a ’cooperative spirit’ and ’no preconceived ideas’ about board issues.

’She doesn’t have an agenda here,’ he said.

Mrs. Bianco agreed, noting she is ’independent’ and can ’appreciate everybody’s views.’

’I put my name in because I thought I could add some value and I hope that comes to fruition,’ she said.

A Brookfield graduate herself, Mrs. Bianco, 39, said she was the valedictorian of her class before majoring in math and accounting at Grove City College.

’I care for the kids,’ she said. ’I want the best education that we can provide to them.’