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Poland trustees disagree on administrator reappointment
POLAND
Township trustees disagreed at a meeting Friday over the decision to reappoint James Scharville to the township administrator position for 2015.
Trustees Bob Lidle and Eric Ungaro voted in favor of the reappointment, while Trustee Joanne Wollet voted no, saying that the board should allow for an application process before making the decision.
“He might be the best administrator, but we don’t know until we look,” she said in an interview after the meeting. “I think we should put it out there. I think there are a lot of citizens that want to get involved.”
Lidle, however, said that Scharville brings unmatched experience at a highly affordable cost to the township.
“He retired, so we no longer have to compensate him for his health care,” he said. “He actually, by going through that process, did us a favor. ... We’ve got an administrator that’s got more experience than just about anyone else, at a third of the cost.”
Scharville retired from the administrator position in 2013 after being in the position for more than a decade, and then was rehired. He previously served in other government positions, including as a trustee.
Scharville now can work up to 25 hours per week at a pay rate of $25 per hour, adding up to about a $30,000 cost to the township each year, Lidle said.
Wollet, however, said the reappointment is taking retire-rehire too far.
“We’re setting not a good precedent,” she said. “We need to decide what our rules are for retire-rehire. ... I think [this is] a manipulation of the retirement system.”
“I think retire-rehire is a tool for transition,” Wollet said. “And I don’t see any transition going on here.”
Scharville could not be reached to comment.