Vienna panel starts recovery planning

Recently formed fiscal committee waiting on 4 more appointments

VIENNA -- Two newly selected fiscal committee members recently talked about future plans to help Vienna recover from fiscal emergency.

The township was placed into fiscal emergency by the state auditor's office July 12 and was a result of the township being $1.3 million in debt. The committee members will volunteer their time to advise and supervise township trustees during fiscal recovery.

Trustees chose Vienna residents Cindy Johnson and Sean Stimac as committee members and appointed Trustee Mike Haddle as the trustee representative on the committee.

Although the trustees already have selected those they want to join the committee, they are awaiting four more members to be appointed to the committee. This will include a representative from the Trumbull County Auditor's office, a nominee picked by the governor, a nominee from the Ohio Auditor of State and a nominee from the Ohio Office of Budget and Management.

Once the committee is complete, township officials will formulate a written plan to help pay off debt, which the committee can approve or deny. If denied, the trustees will continue to devise new plans until one is approved.

The first meeting, which has not been organized yet, will be conducted by the Ohio OBM.

CINDY JOHNSON

Cindy Johnson is a certified public accountant that specializes in construction, employee benefit plans, estate planning, family office, internal controls, manufacturing and distribution, private foundations and professional services. She has a bachelor of business degree and is also certified as a construction industry technician and a chartered global management accountant.

Johnson said she was honored to be chosen for the position.

"We need residents to be on this committee because I think it will give credibility to what some of the decisions that come out of this committee are," she said. "I don't think our residents yet understand all we're going to have to do to step up to the table to get this thing fixed."

She said she plans to help fix the township's financial crisis alongside other committee members by attending all the meetings and working with trustees to establish a budget.

"My financial background will help me understand what they're going to be presenting to us -- budgets and revenues," Johnson said. "I can ask the questions that need to be asked to determine, did they think through the numbers they're giving us because that's the key. How did they develop their assumptions? What assumptions do they use to determine the revenue? How are they coming up with the expenses because if it's not good assumptions, then the budget doesn't work."

SEAN STIMAC

Sean Stimac specializes in technical documentation, network and systems administration, light development, solutions design and implementation, assessing production needs, and designing and implementing digital solutions.

He is a senior project manager for Wabtec Corp. where he oversaw a multimillion dollar budget, managed a Global Applicant Support team and enabled cost savings. He also owns a company that manufactures and sells hard goods, mineral storage options and flashlights.

Stimac said he is excited he was selected as a commission member.

"I'm really excited to have a part in our financial recovery," he said. "The candidate poll was very strong and I'm glad to have been selected."

He said his goals are to resolve the debt crisis, restore the township to a secure, financial foundation, then help bring back emergency services.

"The people of Vienna deserve better than this and I would like to get results as quickly as possible," Stimac said. "They deserve the security they thought they were paying for."

Stimac said he plans to do a deep analysis on the finances and maintain an analytical mindset while on the committee.