“I would like to thank the residents of Perry Township for supporting me the past 14 years,” she said. “I have enjoyed my time serving the residents and have done all my duties to make our community a better place. Due to some changes, I am resigning immediately.”
Behnken told trustees they’d find her office keys, vendor passwords and other information on the fiscal officer’s desk in the township building at 3025 Johnsville Brookville Road.
“I wish you all good health, happiness, and the very best in life,” Behnken said before leaving the meeting.
Township trustee President Mindi Wynne, along with trustees Jason Hartsorn and Melissa Mears, voted to accept Behnken’s resignation later that day during a regular meeting.
“I’m not happy about this and very sad to see it come to this,” Wynne said during the meeting.
With about 6,000 residents, Perry Twp. is in western Montgomery County covering approximately 36.5 square miles with Brookville to the north and New Lebanon on its southern border.
The township’s 2020 budget was $1.86 million, about 44% going toward policing, according to Ohio Checkbook.
Wynne said since she and Hartsorn joined Mears on the board last year, the three have been under greater scrutiny than past township leaders.
“We have gone above and beyond to make sure that everything in the township is running the way it’s supposed to run,” she said. “Unfortunately, in doing that some things have been uncovered that have prompted investigations, responses, reactions and things that we didn’t want to see happening.”
When reached Wednesday, Perry Twp. Chief of Police Tim Littleton would neither confirm nor deny any investigation related to Behnken’s handling of township finances.
Dale Seim, a former township trustee, said Behnken was a trustworthy fiscal officer during the years he worked with her.
“She was excellent,” he said. “She had one cent or two cents on a thing that was wrong. And she looked for a long time on that and found it and it turned out it was a bank error.”
During a special meeting Friday trustees met to discuss how to take care of the township’s payroll and getting other bills paid and checks signed. Hartsorn discussed the potential use of visiting, remote clerks through an Ohio Auditor of State program.
Wynne declined on Wednesday to discuss how finances have been handled since Behnken’s departure, but the township has advertised for an interim fiscal officer.
“We are in the process of picking up those pieces and filling her vacancy, but I cannot say anything else,” she said.
While township trustees will hire someone in the interim, the office will be on the ballot in November, Wynne said.
Wynne said trustees have been “put into a corner” and forced to make unpopular decisions such as putting levies on the ballot and terminating certain employees.
“We need to make decisions for the good and welfare of this township as a whole,” she said during the regular meeting last week. “They may be painful and uncomfortable decisions.”
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