LEWIS CENTER — Michele Boni was appointed acting administrator of Orange Township after the candidate trustees had offered the position to declined to accept the offer.
Boni is also the planning and zoning director for the township.
In a special meeting on May 10, the Orange Township Board of Trustees voted by majority to appoint an administrator pending the candidate’s approval and a background check. However, the candidate decided not to accept the offer.
The trustees began their meeting on May 17 by going into an executive session, with Trustee Ryan Rivers abstaining.
“While in executive session, we discussed the township administrator position and take a few courses of action here in the public meeting,” said Chairman Ben Grumbles. The first was a resolution to post the open position. Grumbles and Trustee Debbie Taranto voted yes, and Rivers abstained.
The second was to appoint Boni as interim administrator, effective May 19. Taranto said Boni is capable, and while Rivers agreed, he asked if she would be able to handle the duties on top of current planning projects. Taranto said Boni told her she could.
“The zoning rewrite is a huge project,” Boni told Grumbles. “That’s a passion of mine, and I want to be fully involved with it.” She said while work could continue on it, she would want to wait until a permanent administrator was in place before holding meetings on the subject.
The vote was unanimous, and Boni thanked the trustees.
“This will be an experience for me, and I do have future aspirations,” she said. “I really do hope we can get by the next few months.”
Later in the meeting, Boni gave the Development and Zoning Report. Among the items was the hiring of intern Brett Wiemken to be zoning inspector.
Prior to appointing Boni, Taranto was temporarily serving as the administrator. In her report on May 17, she asked to approve Energy Special Improvement Districts for Evans Farms.
Taranto also discussed the lifting of Gov. DeWine’s mask mandate on June 2, followed by the immediate lifting of the mask requirement from President Biden and the CDC. She asked the Delaware Public Health District about the impact it would have on the opening of the pool, shelters and township offices, and their understanding was that masks were still required until June 2.
Director of Operations Silas Bowers said the decisions presented some confusion, but the pool would open May 21 without restrictions. However, other indoor facilities would still have restrictions. In-person meetings would resume after previously scheduled virtual meetings had taken place.
In other matters, Fiscal Officer Lisa Kraft discussed potential levy renewals, and Grumbles said the trustees needed to scrutinize each levy carefully and get a grasp on financial projections. It was noted that Aug. 4 is the deadline for filing with the Delaware County Board of Elections.
