Etna Township Trustees don't appoint Evans to any duties, look to hire administrator
It's a new year, but the Etna Township Trustees' behavior remains the same after the first meeting of 2023.
The infighting that dominated the board in 2022 continued as appointments were assigned during the organizational meeting on Jan. 3.
Of the 15 appointments for positions such as president, vice president, supervisor of township employees, township representative on the West Licking Joint Fire District board and others, Trustees Rozland McKee and Jeff Johnson were appointed to all of them in split votes, with Johnson given nine and McKee appointed to the other six. Trustee Mark Evans didn't receive a single appointment even though he nominated himself for each position. McKee will continue to serve as the board president, a role she took over in April.
Midway through the process, after McKee nominated Johnson as the fire board representative, Evans nominated himself, saying, "because I think for the $24,304 (salary) that I should have some responsibility in this township, especially being the number one vote getter in the last election and charged with providing proper administration of this township."
After a few more responsibilities had been decided, Evans said he felt that the other two trustees wanted to exclude him from everything.
"I was hoping we could start fresh this year, but apparently, we're not," he said.
Even standard board practices that are adopted each year were changed, such as each trustee's and the fiscal officers monthly spending allowance. For 2022, board members and the fiscal officer could spend up to $2,500 per month "for needed items between meetings or for emergencies," according to the minutes from the 2022 organizational meeting.
It was changed to $500 per month for office supplies, postal expenses, and emergencies between meetings.
Moving forward with an administrator
One of last year's early clashes was over whether to hire a township administrator. Evans was in favor of hiring a full-time employee while Johnson and McKee wanted to contract with a consultant, and ultimately contracted with Bill Vance in April. Vance's contract states he works for the township for two eight-hour days each week and is paid $4,250 per month for his services.
Later in Jan. 3 meeting, the board approved McKee advertising for a full-time administrator position and having it available until Feb. 1.
McKee said she hopes to find a candidate with a legal background, including having a juris doctorate degree. McKee said after the meeting that it was through Vance's work over the last eight months that she realized a full-time position was warranted. She said she expects the salary to be about $120,000, with benefits in addition to that.
Evans raised concerns over not having a full job description prepared before posting the position and questioned why the administrator would need to focus on legal matters when the township can use attorneys at the Licking County Prosecutor's Office for free.
McKee attempted to respond, saying she didn't say an administrator would focus on legal matters. Evans interrupted her, saying he didn't ask her question. "I'm trying to be respectful here," Evans said, before talking over McKee again.
After the meeting, McKee said she will draft a job description and bring it forward for board approval at a future meeting.
McKee said she would like to do a national search to find the right person for the job.
"I think with Intel being here you got a lot of new people from all over, from everywhere that may come in and may be good person that could do a good job," she said.
Once an administrator is hired, McKee said Vance will stay with the township for about a month to train them before the township will end the contract. Etna Township must give Vance a written 30-day notice to terminate the agreement.
2023 Budget approved
A permanent 2023 budget was approved 2-1, with Evans voting against it after McKee and Johnson amended it and removed line items for a $100,000 salary for a fiscal officer assistant, fiscal officer office supplies for $3,000, and fiscal officer assistant office supplies for $5,000.
Johnson said the township secretary purchases the office supplies and separate line item wasn't need for Fiscal Officer Julie Varian to purchase items. Varian said she had budgeted $3,000 to cover purchasing a new computer, file folders, postage and more.
"I was separating it out for clarity and transparency," Varian said.
Regarding the fiscal officer assistant, Evans said the board wasn't supporting Varian by removing the item. Johnson said he didn't think it was a matter of not supporting the fiscal officer, but rather a matter of need. He said townships that have fiscal officer assistants typically have their own fire or police department or a large public works department.
Road work invoice paid after prosecutor investigation
The township has paid a road work invoice after a discrepancy led the board to refer the matter to the prosecutor's office.
Back in August, the trustees unanimously voted to authorize Evans to contract with the Cleveland-based company Pavement Technology, Inc. to provide asphalt rejuvenator on 32 residential roads as well as on Columbus Parkway, Columbia Road and Lynns Road. According to documents Pavement Technology, Inc. provided the township, the work cost $154,730.20.
After the work was completed between Sept. 28-Oct. 3, the township received an invoice for $157,229.15 — a difference of $2,498.95 — that stated five roads listed in the original agreement were not treated. Another road, Rome Drive in the Orchard Glen subdivision had been added.
Evans said during the Nov. 1 meeting that it had been the board's intent to treat all roads in Orchard Glen and that it was not included in the original agreement. He said the difference between the original project cost and the final invoice was under the $2,500 monthly spending allowance and he used his township credit card to pay the difference.
The township chose not to pay the bill, instead sending the matter to the prosecutor's office during the Nov. 1 meeting.
McKee said in an interview Jan. 6 that the prosecutor's office told the township to pay the bill in full in an email on Nov. 23 and it was approved at the next board meeting, Dec. 6.
The vendor proposal, McKee said, gave the vendor the ability to make changes to a certain extent.
"We should have been more vigilant on this contract. We should have made some changes to it before we gave it back to them," she said "We'll know now to make sure it's a tighter contract so these roads will be paved, not something else if something else is different once they get out there."
mdevito@gannett.com
740-607-2175
Twitter: @MariaDeVito13
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Etna Township Trustees don't appoint Evans to any duties, hiring admin
