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VIENNA -- The future of the township remains undetermined with township officials lacking records that are needed to operate.
The newly sworn-in fiscal officer, Rhonda Root, said she is desperately trying to get township records back after the state auditor took the computer of the prior fiscal officer, Linda McCullough.
Root said her computer "doesn't have the information she (McCullough) had."
"We're gathering information so we have a true picture and it's going to take time," she said.
She said trying to operate without the proper documents is difficult.
"I'm just trying to piece together a puzzle and we don't have all the pieces," Root said. "We're trying to get all the information we can to move forward."
In late February, Vienna trustees announced that the township had to lay off several employees after finding out that more than $1 million budgeted dollars were reported missing and the Ohio Auditor's Office is investigating the alleged mismanagement of the $1 million.
Until she can view the records, Root said she can't devise a plan for Vienna's future, but she is trying to gather as much information as she can to figure out "what she has to pay."
"Right now, we're waiting on the auditor," she said. "I'm hoping they (the auditor) will be contacting us soon."
Root said among financial documents that were taken was the township's budgets.
"My job is to pay the bills and let them (township employees and trustees) know what the budget is, but I can't," she said. "It's hard to come into a job where you don't have the tools in front of you to do the job. I don't have the tools to do the job so I'm trying to find them."
Along with trying to obtain records and information, Root said she met with department heads and township employees to show them that she will have open communication with them.
No budgets or financials were discussed at those meetings, but Root said she wanted to get to know the township employees and get correct and updated information to them.
Tom Shay, the current fiscal officer of Braceville, was appointed as an assistant fiscal officer to Root.
Shay said he plans to assist Root in all her decisions and actions pertaining to the township going forward.
"There's a lot that's going on by getting the books, (records and) getting started," he said. "She's never served as a fiscal officer before so I'm helping her with the budgeting process and getting (her) started."
Wilson, Phillips and Agin CPA's Inc. is the company that's doing the investigative audit for the auditor, according to Shay.
He said at a meeting Monday he and the township officials are unsure of how far the company is into the audit or if they've even started the audit.
"Our hope is that if they can start on the audit, we can have a one-year audit, hopefully sooner rather than later," Shay said Monday.