TUSCARAWAS TRUSTEES DEHOFF, GREEN & SPEICHER "THREE TIME LOSERS" ON THE FABER/KNERR CASE

Celeste DeHoff, trustee at Tuscarwas Township has had one tough year dating back to the election of 2008.

As the Democratic candidate for the Ohio House (50th), DeHoff got swamped by Republican Todd Snitchler - in a gerrymandered Republican district) despite having powerful statewide Democrats (U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, now Attorney Richard Cordray, Governor Ted Strickland and former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn) come to Stark County to campaign for her and despite having much more money than any other Democrat who has run for this seat.

She and her colleagues in Tuscarawas (Dean Green - who was defeated on November 3rd and thereby joins DeHoff is having a tough year,  and John Speicher) has had the township involved in one controversy after another over a good part of their current term in office.

To mention a couple, these trustees have been in and continue to be in annexation and road maintenance disputes with Massillon and and a long term (since October, 2006) fight with former Teamster road maintenance workers Faber and Knerr.

And as an add-on, these trustees have cost Tuscarawas thousands upon thousands of dollars in legal fees.

It could be that the "worker dispute" is about to end. 

On November 6, 2009, Stark County Common Pleas Court judge Frank Forchione denied the Township's request for a stay on the State Employees Relations Board finding that the Township must engage in arbitration with the former employees.

DeHoff was wise enough not to run for re-election, but Green wasn't.  It will be interesting to see what Speicher's wisdom level is when he comes up for re-election in 2011.

Here is the caption of the case and pertinent language from Judge Forchione's order: