Trustees abolish administrator's job

Trustees will take on more responsibility instead of having an administrator.
By MARY R. SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MINERAL RIDGE -- The Weathersfield Township trustees abolished the position of township administrator Thursday.
Township Administrator David Pugh would not comment on that move or on his new contract as road superintendent and office manager.
He signed the one-year contract for the new job after Thursday's trustee meeting. Pugh, who has been township administrator for 101/2 years, was a township trustee for 11 years before that.
He earned 55,800 as township administrator last year. He'll earn 46,000 as road superintendent and office manager starting Jan. 1.
Trustee John Vogel said that Pugh's one-year contract is a "transition from being a township administrator to being a former employee." The contract ends Dec. 31, 2007.
Vogel said township administrators "are a luxury, not a requisite." He said fewer than 3 percent or 4 percent of Ohio townships have administrators.
Newly elected trustee chairman for 2007 William Miller said that everything will be covered in the switch from administrator to office manager. "Nothing will slip through the cracks."
Vogel and Miller said the trustees would take over more responsibilities.
Raises approved
Trustees also gave pay raises to nonunion employees on a 2-1 vote, with trustee Fred Bobovnyk dissenting.
Miller expressed surprise at Bobovnyk's vote, saying he thought trustees were all in agreement.
Raises granted Thursday included an increase of 60.05 a year for trustees to 12,010 a year. The amount is set by state law. Trustees got a 59.05 raise in 2006.
Employee increases were:
Rusty Garland, custodian, 6.85 an hour, up to minimum wage, a 1.7 percent increase.
Judie Jendrasiak, office employee, 16.10 an hour, 3 percent.
Cindy Smith, office employee, 10.50 an hour, effective Feb. 1, when she is no longer on probation as a new employee, also 3 percent.
Police Chief Joseph Consiglio, 52,625, 3 percent.
Police Captain Michael Naples, 47,610, 3 percent.
Zoning Inspector Sherri Craver, 33,765, 3 percent.
Fire Chief Randy Pugh and Assistant Fire Chief Ken Boring, 7,228 at 1.7 percent.
Vogel said the 3 percent increases are in line with amounts given unionized employees.
Trustees noted that both Consiglio and Pugh were given more hands-on responsibility in their budgets this year and both kept spending under revenues.
In other matters, trustees also approved a new contract with Niles at 65,000 a year for 911 police dispatching. Niles started dispatching calls for Weathersfield on Feb. 14.