The township employs more than 65 emergency medical technicians, medics, firefighters, police and other staff, most part-time. The police department is one of the largest for a Clark County township, with three full-time officers and four part-time officers. The township also has two full-time road crew employees, a zoning driector, the secretary, and a $3.4 million annual budget.
The biggest issue in the township remains the closed Tremont City Landfill, 3108 Snyder-Domer Road. The industrial waste there includes barrels of solvents and greases, and is a potential threat to local groundwater, including the source of much of the region’s drinking water. The Ohio EPA, the county and township have been working on a long-term solution to keep the contamination from spreading, but there is much work still to be done.
Charles C. Metzger has been a trustee for 16 years and is a retired supervisor from Navistar. He has been involved in most major township issues during that span, including growth of the police department to the landfill efforts. His work in that time has earned him our endorsement; he should be re-elected.
Joe Clark, a retired manager of computer systems, has been a township trustee for 12 years. He too has worked on the landfill efforts and his expertise in that area is important to retain and he should be re-elected.
This is the second time Angela Griest has run for a seat on the board. She has been township secretary for 13 years. Griest said she would work to see that plans are followed up on. She would work so that the township had better communication with residents, better notification of public records, and would try to make it so that the cemeteries were cared for.
Steve Bevan is a lifelong township resident who runs a septic-pumping business. He has not run for political office before. Bevan said he wants the township to redirect its police resources away from patrolling U.S. 68 and into the rest of the township. U.S. 68 runs along the eastern edge of the township for about two miles and is heavily patrolled by German Twp. police. Bevan said the police presence there is out of proportion with the impact that the stretch of highway has on most township residents.
“I don’t like people saying we don’t want to come to your township and live there because of that,” Bevan said.
Metzger and Clark defend the police department’s operation. The trustees do not tell the chief how to patrol, they said, but both agreed that traffic enforcement on U.S. 68 is appropriate.
“Our police department has evolved into a first-class agency,” Clark said. “We’re not out there to make money and we’re not out there to harass you.”
As in many of the township races this year, all four candidates appear to have the residents’ interest at heart. Griest is building up experience that would make her a good person to serve on the board someday. But Metzger and Clark both are engaged in the township’s major issues and warrant re-election.