By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
Brandon Twp.- At the Monday night regular meeting, after some deliberation, the township board appointed all of the trustees to subcommittees for the next two years.
Clerk Candee Allen was appointed to the Lake Louise board; Treasurer Terri Darnall to the fire authority board; Trustee Dana DePalma to the Retirement Oversight committee and the township parks and recreation committee; trustee Bob Marshall to the roads committee and Trustee Jayson Rumball to the Parks and Recreation committee. Trustee Kris Kordella will stay on the planning commission since the appointment is congruent with the trustee’s four year term in office.
The appointments that supervisor Kathy Thurman made were originally different.
Originally, Clerk Allen was also appointed to the Parks and Recreation committee and trustee Rumball was appointed to the Roads committee. Allen volunteered for the Lake Louise board and also volunteered to give up her parks and rec seat for Rumball.
“How come I’m the only one who didn’t get one of the ones that I picked?” Rumball had asked Thurman at the meeting. “For me, I’m not gonna serve on either of them if you’re not going to give me any of the ones that I asked for.”
Thurman explained that two years prior, DePalma had wanted a seat on parks and rec and didn’t get it, and Thurman was giving it to her this time. DePalma also confirmed that she has wanted to be on Parks and Recreation. There was also some question over Rumball’s past participation on the parks and recreation board when he was on the township board before not running for trustee reelection in 2016.
“Let me ask you a question, Jayson, are you going to try to fire the parks and rec director this time around?” Thurman asked of him at the meeting.
“Get over yourself, Kathy,” he told her in response. “That’s the answer you’re getting.”
Rumball and parks and recreation director Fred Waybrant went on to say that they have worked together in recent years and should have no issues going forward, saying they’ve put past problems behind them.
Marshall also raised questions over not being put on the Fire Authority board, which he did previously.
“I have to question the logic when you have somebody, namely me, to serve on the fire authority who has 24, 25 years fire experience on top of my law enforcement, from fire fighter all the way to administrator, and I’m not on the fire board,” said Marshall. “To me, it doesn’t make sense. If you want someone representing the community on the fire board, it would seem to me that you’d want to pick someone who has fire fighter experience.”
“It’s a money thing,” said Treasurer Darnall, who was appointed to the fire board.
After all of the deliberation, the appointments were approved.