Heck's sentence draws reaction

Hiring her brother proved to be her undoing, a trustee contended.
By MARY GRZEBIENIAK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW SPRINGFIELD -- Some segments of Springfield Township are angry over the prosecution of former Springfield Township Trustee Shirley Heck and are trying to make it an election issue.
Heck pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of having an unlawful interest in a public contract Friday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
She was given a suspended sentence, a 90-day nonreporting probation and fined $100 by Judge Maureen Sweeney.
As a condition of the plea agreement, Heck had to resign and is prohibited from running for township trustee. Heck was up for re-election next month.
The charge stemmed from Heck voting along with Trustee Jim Holleran to hire Heck's brother, Walter "Butch" McKinney, as township recycling coordinator in May 2004.
Getting political
Unsigned fliers, which were placed on windshields of cars parked at last week's Springfield Local High School football game, urged voters to oppose re-election of Trustee Reed Metzka, who was a vocal opponent of Heck while she was a trustee. Negative political signs are reportedly sprouting in the township.
And another anonymous flier of a similar nature was circulated when trustees met last week.
Metzka, who has served as trustee for 20 years, said Monday that Heck's conviction "embarrassed not only herself, but the other trustees, the township clerk, all employees of Springfield Township, her family and all who voted for her." He blamed her for a level of animosity he said he had never seen in the township.
As for the hiring of McKinney, Metzka said: "I told them not to do it. I pleaded with them to check with somebody." He added that legal instruction is available to all township trustees upon their election and avoiding nepotism "is one of the first things you learn."
Holleran, who usually voted with Heck on measures opposed by Metzka, such as recent purchase of a second ambulance, said Heck's resignation means a possible stalemate on issues where he and Metzka disagree.
Holleran and Metzka agreed they are not sure what they will do to fill the position, though it has been suggested that the November winner for the seat be appointed by the other two to take office immediately.
Holleran said he will contact the board of elections for advice.
What brother says
McKinney, meanwhile charged that political motivations were behind the fact that an investigation into "such a minor offense" was even launched, and called it a shame "that someone of Shirley's talent and caliber" would suffer such a fate.
McKinney was hired by a unanimous vote of trustees in September 2003 as a part-time temporary worker for the township recycling program.
But in May 2004, the recycling coordinator resigned and Heck and Holleran voted to move McKinney into the post, which paid the same hourly wage.
Metzka objected because McKinney was on disability from his job as a custodian for the Springfield Local schools.
Metzka also questioned whether Heck was allowed to vote on the hiring because "of the nepotism factor."
At the July 2004 meeting, however, Holleran stated that the prosecutor had said McKinney could be hired only if they rescinded the May motion to hire him, then passed another with Heck abstaining. The earlier motion was then rescinded.
But Metzka refused to second the motion to hire McKinney. Another person was then hired for the job.
McKinney, a volunteer township firefighter since 1962, questioned, when interviewed Monday, why the investigation was not launched until 2005 for a vote Heck cast in 2004. He asked whether the election year was a factor in the investigation.
He also questioned the harshness of the sentence, especially the fact that Heck is barred from holding a trustee post.
"I thought it would be a slap on the wrist," he said.
He said Heck, who had worked as a substitute teacher and was a volunteer 4-H leader for some 15 years, put more time into her work as a trustee than any trustee he knows of in any township.
Heck did not return a message left at her home seeking comment.