Jerome Township is moving forward with filling their zoning inspector vacancy.
The trustees held a special meeting Thursday morning to establish details of the job description as well as how to handle the transition period until the position is filled.
Prior to the regular trustees meeting on Aug. 6, the previous zoning officer, Mark Spagnuolo, resigned from the position.
Spagnuolo has also filed to run for township trustee on the November ballot.
The board passed a resolution that will bring township fire chief, Doug Stewart, in as the acting zoning inspector.
The temporary position would mainly be in charge of signing zoning certificates and applications that come into the township during the process of hiring a full-time inspector.
“I think (Stewart) would be a good option and more cost effective since he is already here to sign things if we needed them done, rather than having to have someone drive here solely for that purpose,” said Trustee Joe Craft. “It would make more sense to utilize someone in-house and also our existing staff.”
Stewart also serves as the township’s director of departments, a position created earlier this year to oversee administrative duties.
He agreed to take on the position without any additional compensation for his role but the trustees did approve compensation for a temporary consultant.
The board approved up to $3,600 for the temporary consultant that would be available to Stewart for more detailed questions involving code information.
Craft said he contacted Gary Smith of G2 Planning and Design to fulfill the role during the transition period. He added that he thought Smith would be “ideal” as a consultant, given he previously served as a zoning officer for the township.
“I reached out to him and he said he was thinking possibly 1-2 hours per week on signing the documents,” Craft said. “He has worked in Jerome Township before and knows the code and about the things we’ve got going on here.”
The position will be posted this week and Craft said he hopes they could secure candidates in the next week.
“We want to make sure we’re competitive. I know Plain City is also looking for a zoning person,” Craft said. “We need to make sure people know what they’re taking on with our meeting schedule and having lengthy, evening meetings.
The job would be a full time zoning inspector/coordinator position starting at $50,000 a year.
The board has their second regular meeting of the trustees on Aug. 20 at 7 p.m.