Raisin Twp. Board approves rehiring former director

The Raisin Township Board, at its regular meeting on Monday, directed Supt. Jim Palmer to engage former Raisin Public Safety Director Scott Lambka in negotiations to return in a contractor/consulting position to complete the transitioning of the township from a Public Safety Department to a separate police and fire department command structure. Raisin Township Supervisor Jay Cavanaugh was the only dissenting vote with trustee Larry Crittenden absent from the meeting. Palmer is to negotiate that the remaining transitioning work be completed by April 1 and within the budget of $3,500. According to Raisin Township Clerk and board trustee Betty Holdridge, Lambka has already been working this year without pay. Originally, Lambka was hired to aid the township in transitioning to a new director or command structure and his last day was Dec-ember 31. The board did not appoint Kevin Grayer to police chief and Eddie Mathis to fire chief until January 5. “There was no way he was going to be able to do things without knowing who he is going to assign them to,” said Grayer. “The things that we were able to do — we got those things done. I want to get this expedited just like everyone else.”Trustee Tom Hawkins questioned what Lambka completed in his time hired as a consultant last year from October 1 to December 31. “I guess I’m confused,” said Hawkins. “We paid for that amount of time. What things were done during that time? What was being done during that time? We already paid him…. The township deserves a receipt for services rendered.”“There’s a lot of things that transpired that are not on that list now that we were able to accomplish,” said Grayer, adding that prior to January 5, there was no leadership in place for Lambka to sign things over to. Lambka submitted his letter of resignation from the Public Safety Director position on August 26, writing in his letter, “It is my opinion that we were mistaken to merge the Police and Fire Departments… I would like to suggest that you abandon the Director’s position and return to a Police Chief and Fire Chief system.” He added in his resignation letter that he would be willing to stay on as part-time administrator until January 1 to assist in the transition.It wasn’t until October 27 that the board voted, 4-3, to retain the Public Safety Department and attempt to fill the vacant director position. Then, on December 29, the board voted 5-2 to eliminate the Public Safety Department. Crittenden then made the motion to not only eliminate the department, but also promote Grayer, Mathis and Assistant Fire Chief Jake Warner to full chief positions, but Cavanaugh said the motion was out of order. On January 5, Grayer and Mathis were promoted to chief positions. Cavanaugh voiced his concern that rehiring Lambka for a second time may not be the best direction, saying that Lambka calling for the disbanding of the Public Safety Department in his letter looked “weird.” “This person gained from a Public Safety Department,” continued Cavanaugh. “That politics of that is awkward at best.”“I think it’s pretty clear these things need to be done,” said Hawkins, asking that Lambka create a list of what he accomplished last year while consulting for the township. Tuesday afternoon, Palmer said that, while he had spoken with Lambka last Thursday about compensation, he had not spoken with him yet after Monday’s meeting. Palmer said he hopes to negotiate with Lambka.