Buckeye Lake Beacon
Letter to the Editor
May 24, 2008

Editor:

Apparently, Bowling Green Township isn't the only township with compensation concerns. Let's take a look at Liberty Township.

I believe that by law there are two types of employees...full and part time. My understanding is that if you offer fulltime employees benefits (35 houes/week), benefits must be offered to all full-time employees and, once offered to part-time employees, you had better offer them to all. I believe that trustees and fiscal officersare considered part time. Insurance plans offer "everything and the kitchen sink" to "bare bones" policies.

Liberty Township currently offers the "Cadillac" of all medical plans. Employees pay no deductibles or cost for their insurance. Does this fall in line with what most of us pay for our insurance? No, indeed it does not.

Trustee Ivan Ety's objection to the medical coverage being offered is the COST. Change the policy...bring it in line with others who have medical insurance... cost sharing with a deductible and add an employee co-pay! Right here is a huge savings to the township. Companies review policies yearly seeking cost cutting opportunities while still providing employees adequate medical coverage. Townships should be no different. Trustee Ety has had no issues with the cost of township's medical insurance until Mr. Tom Spring, Liberty Township Administrator/Zoning Inspector, came on board. Mr. Ety seems deeply concerned about the number of hours Mr. Spring works. Mr. Spring was hired by the township to work 20 hours a week. It only takes one functioning brain cell to figure out that Mr. Spring typically works 30 - 35 hours a week, sometimes more. Mr. Spring has been working with inadequate and outdated Zoning Resolutions and without a land use plan, which has led to litigation issues. Currently, the zoning resolutions are in the process of being re-written and the land use plan is also in progress. It appears to me that previous administrations have not done their jobs in addressing these zoning issues.

By Scott Rawdon
Buckeye Lake Beacon
May 24, 2008

BALTIMORE - Liberty Township may trade its Cadillac for a Chevy.

Liberty Township Trustee Nancy Montell has described the township's existing health insurance plan as a "Cadillac" with no deductible. Monday night, Frank Herman of the Ohio Insurance Service Agency presented the trustees with three plans that could save the township $9,600 or even $17,000 per year. Some of the proposed plans had deductibles and co-pays.

"Personally, I don't think much of deductibles," said Trustee Ivan Ety. "You never know where you're at." He preferred a proposed plan that saved the township $9,600, but maintained the existing benefits.The plan that saved $17,000 included deductibles and is more complex.

"I think it's about being good stewards of the township," said Montell Tuesday, "not about the trustees. People are saying we need to do better, and that's what we're trying to do."

Trustee Tim Linkhorn said the trustees would consider the options and hear another presentation at a future meeting. "I don't know if we'll change it or not," he said.

Township Fiscal OfficerDan Alt said he, road supervisor Dave Keller, and Zoning Administrator Tom Spring have township health insurance and AD&D (accidental death and dismemberment) coverage. Ety and Montell have AD&D coverage, said Alt.

By Jim Woods
DispatchPolitics.com
May 18, 2008

Anything government can do to buy undeveloped land so that it won't be turned into housing subdivisions would save money for New Albany and Plain Township taxpayers.

That is the major conclusion of a recent report prepared by the Smart Growth Coalition, nine representatives of the village, township and New Albany-Plain schools who spent nearly a year studying the area's future challenges.

While the coalition praises the area's planning over the past 15 years, it anticipates problems supporting the school district if 4,000 acres of undeveloped land within the district is used for homes and brings too many students.

The developed portions of the district already are 85 percent residential, the report says.

"Planning was the most important thing that ever happened in this community," said coalition member Keith Morris. "But we are at a crossroads in this community right now."

The report recommends that community leaders study how Granville, east of New Albany on Rt. 161, acquired open space. In 1997, Granville village and township voters were the first in Ohio to approve a levy to buy properties to protect their school district from development pressures.

READ FULL ARTICLE on DispatchPolitics.com by clicking here.

Buckeye Lake Beacon
Letter to the Editor
May 17, 208

Editor:

In the unincorporated areas of Fairfield County, more than 26 square miles of farmland have been built on or paved over in the last eight years. That area compares to more than half the size of Walnut Township.

Also, using countywide figures compiled by William Yaple, a regional planning commission and Violet Township zoning administrator, seven more square miles of land went into subdivisions in incorporated areas during the same time period (computed using 640 acres as one square mile).

We already are missing the locally grown grain that is going into ethanol and biodiesel. Grocery prices are rising along with fuel costs. More people are walking or biking.

There were "victory gardens" during World War II and rationing at stores. We may soon need backyard gardens again. Most of those yards, after all, once supplied us and other nations with corn, wheat and soybeans.

Larry Neeley
Walnut Township