A familiar face returned to the Maysville Board of Trustees Tuesday night, as Bob Norton was appointed to fill a trustee position vacated by the recent resignation of Joe Forkner.
Tuesday’s meeting was the first since an April 7 election in which voters rejected a proposition that would have allowed town officials to use sales tax funds designated for street maintenance and repair to pay outstanding debts. Those debts include employee retirement fund contributions and federal payroll taxes that have not been paid in by the town.
The first order of business on Tuesday was to accept Forkner’s resignation and appoint a replacement. After a 10-minute executive session, the board voted to appoint Norton as the new trustee.
Norton previously served as mayor and trustee in Maysville for about two years but stepped down due to time commitments. Now that he is semi-retired, he is ready to return to the board of trustees.
“We need to get the town back on course,” Norton said. “It's a numbers thing right now, so we need to get the numbers back on our side to get our town back on track.”
With Norton's appointment, the trustees also changed which departments each trustee oversees. Norton will oversee the office and trash. White has been overseeing the office for the last few months, but she is happy to have someone with more experience take it over.
“He’s been mayor here before. He knows more about financial things than I do. He’s a business owner,” White said. “I have 100% faith that him being on the board will get us back on track.”
White will now oversee streets and lake. Other assignments are Joy Taylor overseeing the cemetery and library; Vice Mayor David Uhles overseeing the police, water and sewer; and Christy Townley overseeing parks and fire.
The board of trustees also spent half an hour in executive session to discuss “the employment, hiring, appointment, promotion, demotion, disciplining or resignation of all employees,” with no action taken when they returned to open session.
Other trustee business included authorizing the accounting clerk and court clerk to make daily bank deposits for the town, in addition to the town clerk/ treasurer.
Action during the Maysville Municipal Authority meeting also reflected the change in trustees, with Forkner resigning and Norton appointed.
The authority also approved moving to cashless payments beginning July 1.
“There’s no reason in this day and age to keep cash up here,” Uhles said.
After July 1, cash will no longer be accepted for payments to the town, including water bills. Acceptable payments will include cards, checks and money orders.
A discussion and action about raising water, sewer and trash rates was tabled.
