Seven Men Apply To Be Appointed Township Trustee
Updated on 12/05/08: In early January, township trustees, Fred Abraham and Bill Habig must appoint someone to serve the last year of Wes Sargent's term. Seven residents of Granville Township have sent a letter to Norman Kennedy, township fiscal officer, stating their qualifications and reasons for desiring the position.
According to Kennedy, "The following are individuals from whom I received Statements of Interest, in chronological order of receipt:"
Bill Mason
465 Llanberis DriveTim Sawyer
94 Thornwood DriveSteve Hiles
80 Parkshire CourtDan VanNess
3679 Morse RoadRob Schaadt
2523 Burg StreetDon Andrews
197 Louise DriveLeonard Hubert
3808 Columbus Road
The Granville Press will publish their letters of application as soon as they are released by Kennedy. He said, "I will distribute materials received from these gentlemen in the next couple of days."
Interviews of the applicants will be conducted during a public meeting on December 17, 2008.
When asked about the selection process, Kennedy told The Granville Press, "December 17th will be a regular meeting in lieu of December 24th. Interviews will be held in a public session prior to the 7:00 pm start of the regular portion of the meeting."
"I anticipate the Trustees could make a decision at the regular meeting portion of the meeting later that night." Kennedy said.
The deadline for receipt of the application letters was December 3, 2008.
The vacancy was caused when Sargent handed a letter of resignation to his fellow trustees at the end of their regular meeting on October 8, 2008. His resignation is effective December 31, 2008.
The resignation leaves one year of his term to be filled by an appointment.
With an appointment to replace Sargent, the trustees will be left with only one elected member, Fred Abraham. Bill Habig was appointed to replace Jim Havens after he resigned.
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7 Men
Here's Farmer Dan's conflict. He cash rents properties to farm all over Granville Township. Over the years in his position on the zoning commission, he has failed to recuse himself on land-use issues relating to those properties.
By the way, it would be interesting to take a survey of the public and see how many feel that the Village is better managed than the township. Hiring (and paying big bucks for) a manager
is no guarantee of good management. Past surveys in connection with various master plan updates have shown strong support for the township way of doing things.
Did the GP think the handling of Burke Hall was good government?
Burke Hall was a long time ago
Burke Hall occurred decades ago before the village realized that construction of such monstrosities could occur.
Fortunately those on village council at the time enacted provisions which prevent such errant structures in the historic area of downtown. This is why the more recent Cleveland Hall disaster was averted.
I too am not certain that hiring a manager makes sense. I would settle for three halfway competent trustees who actually understand what township residents want.
7 men
Doesn't Leonard Hubert live on Columbus Road?
Dan Van Ness has too many conflicts
Don Andrews is #7 on this list!
Abe is right..this is a "rag"; it's obvious to most people that it was created to boost a few egos
Township Trustee Conflicts
Our local farmer has "too many conflicts?" Yet it's grand for an actual Trustee to have lease conflicts so severe that the Ohio Attorney General needs to prohibit them twice, and then the Trustees respond by wasting $750,000 on a garage whose primary purpose is to let Angry Abe stay in office.
The other trustee (Habig) is a real estate development consultant who's never revealed his clients. He replaced a trustee who worked as a lawyer for a developer trying to get $10 million in open space funds for that developer (only to have the deal rejected by voters).
So for anyone to say a local farmer has "too many conflicts" is downright comical. For these trustees, Dan doesn't have enough conflicts. The farmer needs to get hired by a developer to boost his qualifications. The annointed one -- Bill Mason -- has already written Bill Kraner a letter saying how great the developer is and how he'll testify to that in court if need be. Now, there's a man ready to be trustee. He's got the right kind of conflicts.
Dan's real conflict is that he puts Granville residents first.
Bill Mason's Kraner conflict of interest
I did not realize that Mason thinks Kraner is a great developer.
That is the last kind of judgment we need in a trustee.
Fred's right. This site is comical
are we really going to resort to name calling?
be careful... you guys promote yourselves as a news source. I'm assuming that holds some higher level of professional courtesy.
SELECTION SHAM
A very simple solution would be to the appoint the next
person with the most amount of votes in the last election
case closed the people would have a least a voice in this selection
Otherwise ITS A SHAM
Don Andrews however would be a great choice !
Does anybody know if we can recall the trustees?
I think we should all get together, pass a petition, and exercise a recall of the trustees.
Why don't we have an election next year for all three trustee positions and start over with a group we elect?
Is this America or not?
70%
Fred, Wes and Jim Havens were elected by landslide proportions. Habig was chosen legally and is doing his job.
Your post reminds me of all the whacky Californians protesting the Prop 8 landslide election decision. Someone doesn't get their way, so they cry foul.
Comedy gold you guys are.
Keep it up. It makes for fun banter for the other 70%
Won't make that mistake again
Buckeye,
I am part of that 70%.
I won't make the same mistake next time.
ot
buckeye,you're kidding,right?
So, you equate small town politics (where we all know each other and where essentially things go on smoothly in our little town except for a few big disagreements)with legislation in California that denies basic rights to a segment of society? You must have been REALLY pissed off in the 60's when the 'whacky" blacks wanted freedom to vote...what about when 'whacky" women wanted to vote?
I appreciate your"support" of Jim, Fred and Wes, I am part of the "70%" who voted for them. You do them and all of a us a disservice by being a dimwitted bigot.
basic rights are afforded.
first of all... please stop with the 'bigot' and sexist references. You have no basis for those remarks, and are way off target.
Though we are getting way off topic, let me explain...
Everyone in California and the rest of the country is not being denied any 'basic right'. Each person has the 'right' to marry a member of the opposite sex. period. California simply reenforced the law of the land, nothing more.
No one is being denied any right available to someone else, so stop with the false equivalence argument. It carries no weight in this argument.
If you think that two members of the opposite sex should have the right to marry, then create a new law and let's vote on it. But don't use the current law to read as something it is not.
Thanks.
It won't happen but we can hope
I know it probably won't happen but wouldn't it be wonderful if Habig and Abraham actually considered the whole community and appointed someone with a different point of view as well as expertise.
I suggest Don Andrews.
He's an attorney and his legal attempt to save his trees and his willingness to speak out about a racist slur all cry out for his appointment as Sargent's replacement.
We can hope.
Dream on Jimmy...
Gee, I wonder why Bill Mason was suddenly showing up at the last couple of trustee meetings before Sargent made public his decision to resign?
Sure seems interesting doesn't it? (For those who don't know, Bill Mason is the selected one.)
If the existing trustees had wanted to have a truly open process, Wes Sargent would have resigned in time for people to openly run for the position. That would of course have the disadvantage of leading to a chance that the trustee's hand-picked successor would not get the position.
Let's face it. The trustees have become very used to their little club giving no-bid contracts and being non-accountable to the public. Why would they ever want to risk losing that?
Hey RockOn, shouldn't we at least try?
I'm an optimist - I think if enough of us write to the Trustees and show up at their meeting, we can influence them.
I think they might actually recognize that we, the citizens of Granville Township, want change. We want a representative government.
Let's shout at them until they listen.