VOICE OF THE TOWNSHIP

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season and looking forward to the possibilities offered by a new year. I am very excited to begin the upcoming year and to begin my second four-year term as your Wayne Township Trustee. I am fortunate to have an outstanding administrative staff, many of whom started with me four years ago and are continuing to carry out the positive changes we began then.
We have been identifying additional goals and examining how we can provide the best possible service for our clients and our Wayne Township community during the next four years. We have accomplished so much already, but still have more to do. To quote one of my administrative staff, LeRoy Page, “We have baked the cake and now we must put the icing on it.”
I have started the year by reorganizing some of the job duties of our administrative staff to better utilize each person’s talents.
Mr. Page will be serving as our Director of Employment, a position he had early in my first term, when he made great strides toward finding jobs for many of our clients. Jobs, which move our clients from assistance to independence, always have been one of my highest priorities.
Mr. Roosevelt Johnson has been promoted to Director of our Workfare Program. Workfare is the department involved with assigning clients to worksites at non-profit agencies, where the clients must work in exchange for the Township Assistance they receive. Employment and Workfare go hand-in-hand because working at a non-profit agency provides work experience and training for our clients.
SuzAnne Runge will be taking over as Director of our Payee Program, the position formerly held by Mr. Page. We currently serve as the Representative Payee for about ninety persons, most of whom are Social Security disability recipients. Ms. Runge also will be in charge of Community Resources and Outreach.
The rest of the Administrative staff will stay in their current positions.
That includes Mike DePew, Director of Intake and Investigations; Shirley Stevenson, Human Resources Director; Karen Walker, Director of Legal and Media Services and Ray Navarro, Director of Building Maintenance and Inspections.    
Another important partner in our success is our Wayne Township Board.
I had the pleasure of participating on January 4 in the inauguration of our board members, who were elected last November. Our wonderful City Clerk, Sandra Kennedy, kindly agreed to administer the oath to them, during a ceremony in our office.
Our Board members are: Bruce Stier, Patricia Turner and Anthony Henry, known to us as “Tony”.
Ms. Turner and Mr. Henry are starting their second four years as Wayne Township Board members. Mr. Stier joined the Wayne Township Board in December of 2009, after he was elected to fill a vacancy. Following their inauguration, the Board selected Mr. Stier as its 2011 Chair, Ms. Turner as Secretary and Mr. Henry as Finance Chair.   
The inauguration of our Board members followed my own inauguration on December 30 in the Allen County Courthouse rotunda. I was proud that my wife, sons and grandchildren, as well as other family, friends and employees were able to attend the ceremony. I especially appreciated my grandchildren being able to see “Grandpa” take the oath of office to serve the residents of Wayne Township.
I hope that my grandchildren came away from the Inauguration Ceremony with a better sense of the importance of public service to our community. Again, I humbly thank you for allowing me to serve as your Trustee for another term, and I am looking forward to a great next four years.

Richard A. Stevenson, Sr.
Wayne Township Trustee
www.waynetownship.org

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