Well, election day has come and gone, and it's now official: I am a newly elected Swanton Township Trustee for the next four years. Although I can't claim the title of being the first female trustee in our township, it has been many years since a woman held that position here.
As you already know, I didn't do a lot of campaigning. At the end of August we learned that I was running unopposed - it just seemed kinda silly to go around knocking on everybody's door for several months. However, by not hitting the campaign trail as per usual, I missed out on meeting those whom I have just been elected to represent - that doesn't seem right, either. So I'll introduce myself a bit in this first posting so that you can know something about me.
I am married with 3 grown children, 2 grown step-kids, 4 grandkids, 2 dogs and 1 cat (along with assorted squirrels, chipmunks, raccoon, opossums, fox, skunk and coyote!). I retired from The Andersons after 23+ years, where I worked in the Benefits office of Personnel.
I grew up in the area, having had a Swanton mailing address - a Delta phone number - and I went to school at Ai . . . so you know how long ago THAT was! I graduated from Evergreen High School. When we first moved into Swanton Township, we got involved by creating the first township website and then convinced the trustees to digitally record their meetings and post them online.
For four years, I served on the Board of Education of the Swanton Local School District along with Jeff Michael and others. During my tenure, I instituted digitally recording board meetings and made them available on the school district website; lowered the income tax rate to district residents without reducing the quality of education; researched and raised the grade point average requirement for participation in sports and other extracurricular activities (and didn't lose 1 person from any team!); and together with my colleagues managed a multi-million dollar budget and several union contracts. When my term ended, the school district had a carryover balance of over $8 million. Not bad!!
Currently I do a few other websites for a small business and another township, plus I do a quarterly newsletter for a local cancer survivor shop and I am the editor of the state newsletter for the Ohio Gideons. I am the treasurer for a 501(c)3 organization in Toledo as well as the secretary/treasurer for our church. I also play the piano at the Whitehouse Country Manor nursing home every Wednesday morning.
The office of township trustee is thus the second public office I have held. I'm certainly no pro at any of this! But I pledge to do my best to properly manage our finances while providing services to our township residents. Our township has been running smoothly for several years now, and I will do my part to keep this positive momentum going.
I'll use this blog to keep you up-to-speed with township news. Our official township website has a lot of helpful information and I won't be duplicating much - if any - of that. There is also an Unofficial Swanton Township page on Facebook, if you're interested, where we post things of common interest, like blockwatch meetings, metropark functions, etc.
If you ever have a question or a comment for the trustees, you are welcome to call any one of us (my number is 419.356.9624) - email us - stop out to the Township Hall to chat either before or after a trustee meeting, or grab us in the grocery store. We are ALL here to represent YOU, and your ideas and comments are always welcome!
Here's to four more years of keeping Swanton Township a great place to live!
