Aquilla Village Transition to Claridon Moving Slowly
Claridon Township Trustee Jonathan Tiber praised Pattie Fisher’s efforts to clear up the financial records of Aquilla Village as it transitions into rejoining Claridon Township.
Claridon Township Trustee Jonathan Tiber praised Pattie Fisher’s efforts to clear up the financial records of Aquilla Village as it transitions into rejoining Claridon Township.
Speaking during the Sept. 15 township trustees meeting, Tiber recommended retaining the former village fiscal officer after the transition is complete.
“She knows Aquilla Village funds inside and out,” he said.
Rich Wolfe, the former village mayor, said Fisher, who is the fiscal officer for Jefferson Village in Ashtabula County, is under contract with the transition board, which is overseeing the process.
“She’s getting paid out of village money,” he said.
Tiber said Fisher is being paid $70 an hour for her work out of the Aquilla Village “purse.”
When village residents voted in November to dissolve the village and become part of the township, the village still had nearly $250,000 in the coffers.
Fisher and the receiver, attorney Pierce Leary, are both compensated from the remainder, Wolfe said.
“We’re really getting close. (The transition board) had a meeting Sept. 4,” he said, adding a final audit of 2023-2024 should be one of the last steps in the process.
“The hold-up is the transfer of properties in the village to Claridon,” Wolfe said. “Pierce is working on it. Other than that, everything is done, pretty much.”
There were 33 tiny, unbuildable parcels in the village that need to be transferred to the township before the books can be closed, Tiber said in a phone interview Sept. 16.
Some have back property taxes due and will be sold at auction by the county.
“If they don’t sell, then they default to the township. We don’t want them,” he said, hoping neighbors will buy them at auction.
Neighbors will be contacted so they know about the auctions and can bid, if they wish, Tiber said.
A new section of the Ohio Revised Code governing the dissolution of an entity was added in the last year and Aquilla Village is the first case, so the transition board is working its way through the process, he said.
In May, he said the county auditor, recorder and engineer are required to work together so the township gets clear titles to the slivers of property.
“They’re moving as fast as they can,” Tiber said.
Meanwhile, township Zoning Inspector Chris Alusheff said he is working with the county planning commission to deal with the village’s former zoning regulations.
The village is made up primarily of very small lots that do not comply with township zoning.
Alusheff said he hopes to see the properties made conforming and buildable by the end of the year.
In other business, trustees voted to spend $5,000 on leaf removal at the village.
Leaves plug up the driveway culverts and cause flooding and road deterioration, Wolfe said.
Tiber noted the cost would come out of the village purse.
