VIENNA — Corrine Hardman said “she didn’t know where to start” when asked about her decision to resign as township fiscal officer, noting the excess of things going on with the departments and their acting trustee liaisons.

“We have someone that’s still working, training at the fire department that is part of what she scheduled all the overtime hours in ’22 and ’23,” Hardman said. “And she’s still there, so I have a problem with that.”

Trustee Phil Pegg announced Hardman’s resignation, effective Nov. 30, at Monday’s fiscal commission meeting.

Hardman said she had a problem with bringing back two police officers at rates they shouldn’t have received.

“They brought the guys back because they wanted to fill the empty seats,” Hardman said. “But they (trustees) didn’t think of what giving them the money they’re getting would do to the ones who have been here.”

Hardman questioned who would plow snow this winter with only one person in the road department as she said Road Superintendent Mike Penrose is sick and could leave at the beginning of next year.

Hardman said the fire department was told in June to send its new rescue squad back, but didn’t because department officials said they couldn’t get in touch with the salesman. Yet, Hardman said she called and had no issues.

“They bought Rescue Truck 46. It does not fit down the bulk of the roads in Vienna, that’s how big it is. The fire chief apparently hit the side of a building or took out an awning. I’m not sure what the real story is,” she said. “There’s certain volunteers that cannot drive it because they don’t know how to because it’s so big.”

Hardman considered the squad’s size to be “major overkill.”

“Everybody else is getting squads that are $175,000 to $180,000, yet we had to have this squad (that cost) $100,000 more than everyone else in the area,” She said she spent time throughout the weekend looking at the fire departments of similarly sized populations, and the bulk of them have one squad.

Hardman said she began to feel like a “shadow force trustee” as time passed, with the department heads coming to her asking whether they could do certain things.

Hardman said because of her connections to the department heads, she was aware of Pegg’s mistake when he approved rezoning parcels of land at the end of a road from commercial to residential and farm land at their second monthly meeting.

“He made a motion to pass the wording of the rezoning of (state Route) 193, which they weren’t supposed to vote on anything,” Hardman said. “It was supposed to be presented to them for their review and they would have a mandatory public hearing, and then after the public hearing, they would vote.”

Pegg acknowledged he misunderstood Zoning Inspector Mark Posey’s explanation. Posey also couldn’t be present and his clerk who was there in his stead wasn’t particularly clear on it, Pegg added.

They plan to rescind the motion and go through the proper process, starting with a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. Nov 6.

No one is thinking about where Vienna is going to be in five years or what they want it to look like, Hardman added.

Hardman was named fiscal officer at a June 3 meeting, taking the place of Rhonda Root, who resigned two months after replacing Linda McCullough, who held the position for five years. She resigned after trustees called for her removal for an alleged “failure to perform her fiscal duties.” McCullough was indicted by a Trumbull County grand jury last week on two counts of theft in office, four counts of tampering with records and a charge of telecommunications fraud as part of an ongoing investigation being done by the Ohio Auditor’s Office.

McCullough is due in court for an arraignment Nov. 5.

The office placed Vienna in fiscal emergency in July after confirming the township was more than $1 million in debt.

Hardman, who is retired, said she applied for the position because she liked the challenge and believed her experience in construction would allow her to work well, as she was tapped for different positions, job sites and was able to work with “just about” any type of person.

Pegg said Hardman was a “major asset” to the township’s hard times in a statement after the meeting.

“She’s worked to help us deal with the conditions of restarting our police and fire departments,” Pegg said. “She will be missed.”

The deadline for anyone interested in the position to apply is Nov. 12, and they can submit a resume and application to any of the township’s trustees.