LIBERTY Departing two-term trustee lists her accomplishments

Patricia Metzinger became interested in township government as a news reporter.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LIBERTY -- Township Trustee Patricia Metzinger says the community is being left in good hands.
Monday night was Metzinger's last meeting after serving two four-year terms. She decided not to seek re-election in November.
Metzinger will be replaced the first of the year by Gary Litch, a former trustee. Litch and incumbent Jack Simon outdistanced eight other candidates for trustee seats.
Patrick Durina is the third trustee.
Metzinger, 50, said the township is in the "best possible hands" with Darlene St. George as township administrator.
During the general election, some candidates questioned the need for an administrator. But Simon and Litch said the township needs an administrator because trustees are part time and can't be expected to run a multimillion-dollar budget.
Career as trustee: Metzinger said she decided to run for office in 1993. At the time, she was a reporter covering the township for the weekly Liberty News.
She said the possibility of becoming a trustee piqued her curiosity and she believed she could get satisfaction from the work.
She ran on the platform that she would be a full-time trustee and didn't take on any other outside employment as she left the newspaper business.
Knowing that economic development wasn't her strong point, she looked to improve the community in other ways.
Working more behind the scenes than her counterparts, Metzinger noted that she was able to accomplish other important business in the township.
A small bereavement chapel was built in Church Hill Cemetery, and Founder's Day was organized to honor the township's first residents, Henry and Jacob Swauger.
Meals-on-wheels for the elderly was reinstituted, and the township began to participate in Trumbull County Civic Day.
Metzinger said she's especially proud of pulling out of Trumbull County 911 and re-establishing the township telecommunications department, a move she says better serves residents, and working toward the upcoming construction of a library.
"Never do more than you can promise and always do more than you promised," Metzinger said has been her creed.
The mother of two -- Erin and Ryan -- denies rumors she and her family are moving out of Liberty.
She's going to take some time off, help plan her daughter's wedding and then do volunteer work. She'll also be accompanying her husband, Rick, when he travels on his job.
yovich@vindy.com