SYRACUSE — With the Dec. 31 expiration of Steve Snyder’s term on the Turkey Creek Fire Board, the town of Syracuse and Turkey Creek Township are contractually bound to reappoint him or select his replacement to keep the fire board functioning.

Township attorney Andrew Grossnickle informed the township advisory board Monday, Jan. 11, Snyder’s reappointment or replacement must be completed by Feb. 29, the end of the 60-day window of opportunity mandated by state law. Snyder can serve in his present role until that deadline.

The board is composed of five members: two representatives of the township, two of the town and one at-large “taxpayer of the territory.” Snyder is the at-large board member.

The township advisory board selected Snyder for reappointment during the fourth quarter of 2015 and Grossnickle passed the nomination to the town council.

Noting the council neither approved Snyder’s nomination nor submitted an alternative, township board member Kimberly Cates moved to resubmit Snyder’s name for consideration at the town council’s next meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, at Syracuse Town Hall.

“Our contract (creating the fire territory in 2009) says we are supposed to agree by Jan. 1,” she said about the unprecedented development. “They knew about the date. This is muddy water we have not traveled before.”

Snyder deflected a conflict of interest speculation he may favor the township’s interests over those of Syracuse by stating he pays taxes to both entities. “The fire territory is what I serve,” he said.

“We feel he is impartial,” said Cates before introducing her motion, which was passed unanimously.

In other business, Township Trustee Barb Griffith gave her year-end financial report.

“I have been very pleased with it the whole year,” she said of the 2015 budget expenditures.

In reporting December’s figures, Griffith remarked, “It doesn’t look to me as though we have anything particularly unusual except for the rainy day fund.” The township spent a little more than $2,000 from that fund to pay for repairs to the fire territory’s 2012 ambulance which was struck by a deer in November.

The township also paid $500 for a funeral in December.

Turkey Creek Township started the year with a clean financial slate, as no funds had to be encumbered from 2015.
Griffith said the township was about $20,000 under budget for 2015. Consequently, Griffith reduced the 2016 poor relief allocation by $20,000, “and I don’t think we’ll spend that much,” she said, citing the improvement of the local economy as the primary reason for the drop in poor relief outlays.

The board will next meet at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8, at Syracuse Town Hall.