Trustees establish point-of-contact assignments

by Chris Studor

Jan. 18 township trustees meeting

Hinckley Township trustees voted 2-1 to replace formal liaison committee assignments for point-of-contact assignments Jan. 18.

Previously, each trustee was appointed to be a liaison for the various township departments, including police, fire, roads, buildings, parks, cemeteries, administration and zoning. Those liaisons worked with department heads and reported back to the other trustees.

Trustee Monique Marzullo-Ascherl told the board she didn’t believe in liaison positions “but that all trustees should be in on all decision making.” She said she favored “more of a point of contact person for each department versus a formal liaison.”

Augustine explained that not having liaisons would mean “trustees would have to attend a lot of meetings, such as zoning and board of zoning appeals meetings, to keep up on everything going on.”

“Having liaisons just streamlines things so that if the service department head has a quick question, for example, they can just contact their liaison and we don’t have to have an additional trustee meeting for decisions on things like day-to-day operations,” she said. “We have two new trustees and this is a transition year as it is. I think we should stay with liaisons as they have been set up in the past for at least this year and then determine if they should be changed next year.”

Marzullo-Ascherl and Trustee Jack Swedyk said they believe trustees should return to having work sessions in between the regular twice-a-month formal trustee meetings as a way to speed along the decision-making process.

Swedyk and Marzullo-Ascherl rejected Augustine’s motion to retain her past liaison positions, which included the police and fire departments. Swedkyk and Marzullo-Ascherl then voted 2-1 in favor in establishing “point of contacts” as follows; Augustine – police and zoning; Marzullo-Ascherl – fire, administration, solid waste and recycling; and Swedyk – buildings, cemeteries, parks, roads and service.

In other business, trustees:

• agreed to give township employees a 3% wage increase across the board.

heard a presentation of the fire department’s annual report, which shows the department received 790 calls for service in 2021, an increase in 90 calls from 2020. ∞