Staunton Township Trustees Bill Gearhart and Levi Long nominated and approved the appointment of Jeff Cron to the open seat on the Board of Trustees at their January 4 meeting. Cron lost the seat that he has held for the last 30 years at the end of 2015 because the Miami County Board of Elections rejected his application to run for re-election in November when his form was missing a date.

No one completed the necessary paperwork to run as a write-in candidate, which left the position vacant as of the end of the year.

According to Gearhart, "Cron has served the community faithfully for the last 30 years, providing snow removal, salt distribution, and mowing services to the township. In addition, he has used his own farm equipment at no cost to the community to provide whatever services the township needed to provide services to residents."

Cron will complete a two-year term for the township at which time he will be eligible for re-election.

In other business, Deputy Ethan Ennis provided the trustees with an update for their area.

According to Ennis, the Sheriff's Department has responded to 70 calls from the township in the past 30 days. The calls include 25 traffic stops and five arrests. Over a third of the calls were for traffic related incidents, followed by calls for emergency medical services. None of the calls was for burglaries or thefts in the township.

In other business, the trustees nominated officers for 2016. Gearhart will serve the township as Chairperson of the Board of Trustees. Cron will serve as Vice-Chairperson.

The next meeting of the Staunton Township Trustees is scheduled for January 18, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. in the township building.