MILFORD TOWNSHIP — For the first time in more than four decades, Richard Litzenberg doesn’t have anywhere to go on the second and fourth Mondays of the month.
After serving 44 years as Milford Township trustee, Litzenberg decided not to run for re-election. He attended his last official meeting on Dec. 22.
Now, he said, he’s going to “just stay home and watch TV.”
He conceded, however, that he will attend the Jan. 12 meeting because it’s his last paycheck.
“I’ll go over and get it, and I’ll see who the new guys appoint and what fees they set, just out of curiosity,” he said.
“But then, if there’s no good reason, I probably won’t be over there much anymore. I’ve been over there enough these last several years.”
Litzenberg said he became a trustee in 1981 because he’s been around it his whole life.
“My great Uncle Bill was a township clerk — it’s called the fiscal officer now — and my Grandpa Litzenberg was a trustee in the 1930s,” he said.
His dad ran for trustee in the late ’50s.
“Back in those days, you had to about beg somebody to take the job. He was in it for 20 years, and of course that was through all my teenage [years] and 20s, so I’ve been involved with it for a long time,” Liztenberg said.
“When Dad retired, I decided to run and got in, and that’s 44 years ago.”
Litzenberg said he doubts if he intended to be there that long when he initially ran.
“I’m almost sure of it, but here we are today, so it just happens,” he said.
The early years
Litzenberg recalled when he and Roger Crego, whose dad retired from the township the same time as Litzenberg’s, decided to run for trustee positions. Three or four others ran, too.
“That’s the first time I could recall there ever being a contest for township trustee. Roger and I got in, and I’m still in there,” he said. “Good luck to the new guys coming in.”
Litzenberg was more active in the ’80s because the county township association was very active, and his dad attended.
“I remember a guy from Hilliar Township was the president at that time, and I thought, ‘oh, man, that’s pretty neat,’” Litzenberg said. “And then lo and behold I ended up there.”
Litzenberg served as president and vice president at the county level.
“It was a good experience. You got to know a lot of people, and I had a good time doing it,” he said.
‘A whole lot different’
Those 44 years brought some changes. Litzenberg said there’s a lot more going on in local townships now, much of it due to a population explosion.
“It’s not just living on a back road out in the country anymore. Traffic is crazy compared to 40 years ago, so maintenance of roads and safety issues and that kind of related stuff makes it a whole lot different,” he said.
“Then we have the zoning laws now because of the increased population, everybody wanting to come here and do all kinds of stuff that most people here didn’t want done.”
Litzenberg said zoning started with the Morrow County oil boom in the early 1960s.
“People were moving into old house trailers and just not making the neighborhood look very good. It spread into the surrounding counties where they they thought there was a need for zoning to have a little bit of control over that. And that hasn’t stopped,” he explained.
“Now we have Intel coming in not too far from us, and before that, all of the people wanting to move out in the country from Columbus. It’s just a whole lot different. The people you deal with anymore aren’t your longtime friends and neighbors. There are a few of them, but there are so many new people.”
“It’s a different type of people you’re dealing with nowadays, not that that’s bad. Everybody has their own way of doing things, and there are a lot of good people moved out here. But it’s just a whole lot different.”
richard litzenberg sr, former milford township trustee
Making a difference
Litzenberg hopes he made a difference as trustee, especially in helping new trustees.
“They came in new, and they’ve kind of been glad I was there while they were being broke in, so to speak,” he said.
Additionally, he said he’s still available to the current trustees if they want to call.
As far as why he didn’t run for re-election, Litzenberg said, “I’m 81 years old.”
“I mean, it’s long enough,” he said. “Probably too long in a handful of people’s opinion, but then that’s all right, too. Everybody’s entitled to their opinions. People kept electing me, so I kept going.”
The long-time dairy farmer’s son, Richard Jr. (Richie), and daughter-in-law Jess now run Litzenberg Farms.
“They run the farm, and I help a little bit whenever they let me,” Liztenberg said. “But I’m getting older, so Richie doesn’t let me do as much as he used to.”
But that’s OK, because Litzenberg enjoys playing with his grandkids, all of whom live nearby.
The property is a registered Century Farm. Litzenberg’s ancestors bought the farm in 1866.
“So it’s really a sesquicentennial farm. We’ve been out here a long time,” Litzenberg said. “People ask me how long, and I say, ‘well, we’ve been here forever.’”
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