Berkshire Township hires Vaughn as new administrator

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Kevin Vaughn was recently hired as the new administrator for Berkshire Township.

Vaughn said he was most recently the administrator for Clinton Township, which is split into two sections in Franklin County. He was previously an administrator for five years in Plain City after being on the village council. He also worked for the City of Dublin. Originally from Cleveland, Vaughn served as a firefighter and EMT for 12 years before moving to central Ohio.

“I really enjoy economic development and that part of the job, and Delaware County is extremely busy with economic development right now and is going to continue to be,” Vaughn said in a phone interview. “I really just wanted to be a part of that and see its growth.”

Vaughn said his first day was April 6.

“It’s been an interesting time to start a new position,” he said. “It’s good and bad — it’s good in that it gives me some time in the office to really get my feet under me and study policies, procedures, and understand our TIF (tax-increment financing) and NCA (new community authority) agreements, and get to know the employees. It’s also difficult because it’s such a community position to slowly get to know people and not be able to get out there and introduce myself.”

An administrator is an important job within a township, municipality or county.

“The administrator is basically in charge of the day-to-day operations of the township and reports to the board of trustees, and is pretty much a conduit between the board of trustees, residents, businesses, and the employees,” Vaughn said. “I’m in charge to carry out the policies and goals of the board of trustees.”

Berkshire, founded in 1806, states on its website that although it has a rural feel, it is only 25 minutes from the amenities of downtown Columbus and five miles north of Westerville. Berkshire Township is between the city of Delaware and contains the village of Sunbury and the entire village of Galena within its boundaries. Berkshire can also be said to be between recreational opportunities at both Alum Creek State Park and Hoover Reservoir. The township also has two growing school districts, Big Walnut Local Schools and Olentangy Local Local Schools. It is served by the BST&G Fire District and the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office.

With those connections in mind, Vaughn said he is experienced with multi-jurisdictional agencies.

“I was a member of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, so I worked with them quite extensively and worked with the Franklin County Engineer’s Office and Franklin County Economic Development Office. All of those same offices when I worked at Plain City as administrator, and that was both Union and Madison counties, so I had to work with two separate counties at the same time, so I’m very familiar with that and Ohio Public Works Commission projects.”

“Kevin’s experience as village administrator in Plain City is very relevant to our township,” said Township Trustee Joshua Varble in an email. “It’s a similarly sized community experiencing significant growth, right outside of the city, and he was instrumental in managing the challenge of quick-moving development and demographic changes, while retaining the characteristics that residents loved. Combining this with his knowledge of township government and its associated procedures, make him an asset to Berkshire Township, and we’re thrilled to have him.”

Berkshire may be best known in Delaware County as having an I-71 exit at U.S. Route 36 and state Route 37. This growing interchange has attracted developments such as A.D. Farrow, the oldest-continuing Harley-Davidson dealer in America; a Chipotle currently under construction, the Tanger Outlet Mall, and the Northstar Community and Country Club.

The Berkshire Township Board of Trustees have not met recently, Vaughn noted.

“We haven’t done any virtual meetings,” he said. “The trustees just decided to halt everything since the mandate.”

The Berkshire Township offices are at 1454 Rome Corners Road, Galena. For more information, visit berkshiretwp.org or call 740-965-2992.

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By Gary Budzak

[email protected]

Gary Budzak may be reached at 740-413-0906 or on Twitter @GaryBudzak.

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