There are two substantial vacancies that the Ross Township supervisors will work together to fill this month.

Their current part-time secretary Kim Bare recently handed in her letter of resignation. The role of planning commission secretary will remain vacant until they hire the part-time secretary to fulfill those duties.

Their tax collector, Sharon Steen, died in November. There were two months remaining in her current term and her new term would have started in January.

Supervisors held a special meeting on Dec. 13 to discuss two options: hire a qualified township resident or form a Joint Tax District with Eldred Township, whose tax collector Laura Hoffman would serve both townships. The supervisors spoke with one applicant from the township and Hoffman but ended the meeting without a decision.

Since then, the township has received another resume from an interested candidate.

“I feel it is vital to give the job to someone who resides here. We have a qualified person here. We do not need to outsource this position,” said Shay.

This person has an accounting degree, has been a financial adviser for 15 years and knew Steen but did not want to run against her, he added.

The law states that the person appointed has 60 days to take the tax collection class and pass the examination.

This appointment would be good for two years, and then that person would have to run for election.

“I don’t know enough about this person. I would like to meet her first,” said Detrick.

The supervisors voted to hold a special meeting with her on Jan. 10 at 5:30 p.m.

McManus suggested that the supervisors contact Eldred and Hoffman to see if they are still interested in a joint tax district, to have as a second option.

“The printing of the tax bills starts on Jan. 15. The county needs a name by Jan. 8. If you don’t have a name, the top of the bill will be generic and just have this building’s address on it,” said McManus.

During their regular business meeting on Monday, they discussed the township fee schedule and are accepting a similar one as Eldred Township.

“I think there are things we can add to it as we go. It can help out the township,” said Zahoroiko. “For instance, increase the fee from $600 to $1,000 so when a lot gets subdivided money will help the recreation fund.”

Len Ventre returned to go over plans for land he wants to donate to the township and turn into a park. He originally proposed his plan this past summer for the property, which is mostly in Ross Township and a little bit in Hamilton Township.

There are three lots, amounting to about 4/10 of an acre, that are on a separate deed and he wants to leave as is.

The surrounding property would become the park.

“There are no residences on this land, just a couple garages. It is too steep to build on, and it would result in a lot of water runoff,” he said.

There are a couple “paper roads” on the plan that need to be removed as the plan moves forward. McManus suggested that Ventre work with the surveyor, and this will be an easy task. These are roads on paper but were never built.