COLUMBIANA CO. GOP looks to replace recorder

The new recorder will get cramped quarters.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County Republicans are starting to scout for a replacement for county Recorder Gary Williams, who was elected commissioner earlier this week.
Williams is a Republican, which gives his party the right to appoint someone to finish the nearly two years he has remaining on his four-year term.
Atty. Jerry Ward, county Republican chairman, said Thursday he already has received expressions of interest in the job from four people, whom he declined to name.
Ward said it's likely others also will apply for the job, which pays $50,084 annually.
Williams and Ward said they do not plan to endorse anyone for the job.
"I would not consider this a political plum," county Commissioner President Jim Hoppel, a Republican, said of the recorder appointment.
"It's an important job. We'll be looking first and foremost at qualifications," Hoppel added.
The party's central committee, made up of 70 precinct committee members, will have the task of electing Williams' successor.
What law requires
By law, the party must choose an appointee sometime between five and 45 days of the recorder post becoming vacant, which will happen Jan. 1.
Candidates will be invited to come before the committee and make a pitch for why they want the job. A decision will be made afterward.
Ward said he intends to call a meeting of the central committee as soon as possible after Jan. 6, the first day a successor can be chosen.
A decision on Williams' replacement should be made quickly so the recorder's post is not vacant long, Ward said.
The recorder's office is responsible for keeping vital papers such as deeds, mortgages, liens, bills of sale and military discharge papers.
Whoever gets the job will inherit a department squeezed into a cramped office on the courthouse's first floor.
Williams has said he is hopeful the department eventually can be moved to a larger space.
Hoppel said that may occur once a new county municipal courthouse is built in the next couple of years.
It's possible the county law library, in the courthouse basement, may move into the new courthouse, freeing room to relocate the recorder's office, Hoppel said.