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He replaced Jack Cameron who apparently notified the trustees of his resignation after 2 1/2 years with the township during an executive session concluding the Jan. 23 meeting.
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“Jack’s resignation caught everybody off guard,” Linda Oda, the township’s fiscal officer, said this morning.
Oda said the township was relying on department heads and staff to provide services to more than 16,000 residents.
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In addition to basic services, the township operations include a police department with jurisdiction in unincorporated parts of the township, just south of the Montgomery County line, and a fire department providing ambulance and fire protection to the entire township, including the city of Springboro.
The annual budget is about $12 million.
The trustees are searching for a replacement and have interviewed Matthew Clark, director of administrative service in Deerfield Twp., Warren County, and Don Buczek, assistant to the city manager in Bellbrook, Greene County.
The trustees voted to accept Cameron’s resignation, effective Feb. 3, on Feb. 6.
Gabbard said he was acting as administrator on a part-time basis and had removed himself from the trustees’ search for an administrator.
He said he initially sought the job and recused himself from participating in the process due to ethical questions.
“By doing that I could not become the administrator,” Gabbard said, after obtaining an informal opinion from the Ohio Ethics Commission.
Cameron, who came to the township from Evendale in Hamilton Twp., left for the administrator job in Delhi Twp., Hamilton County.
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