MOUNT VERNON — Darrel Severns’ resignation sets the stage for a new look for the Knox County Regional Planning Commission.
Severns resigned his executive secretary position, effective Aug. 21. He also left his position with the Knox County Soil and Water Conservation District and will become road foreman for Jefferson Township.
His departure left RPC members discussing whether to remain a regional body or switch to a countywide planning commission.
For the past 13 years, the SWCD has been Severns primary employer, paying his salary and benefits. The district billed RPC for the roughly 25% of time Severns spent on RPC secretarial duties.
“Darrel worked for the Soil and Water Conservation District before coming to the planning commission. We were in a position where we could still use his services and expertise on some things that we needed done as part of our responsibilities as a conservation district,” SWCD director Rob Clendening explained at the Aug. 20 RPC meeting.
“At the time, it was advantageous for the planning commission because it reduced the commission’s overhead costs for his employment and shifted that to the conservation district.”
The Board of County Commissioners contributed $30,000 annually to SWCD. Clendening said the reason the RPC agreement worked was because the Ohio Department of Agriculture matches the county’s financial contribution 84.5 cents on the dollar, effectively partly funding the RPC position.
Chairman Steve Bratton said the RPC executive committee, after meeting with the county commissioners, does not foresee the need to continue the agreement with SWCD.
“I think Darrel was in a very unique position where he was able to fill multiple billets throughout the county,” Bratton said. “We do not foresee that we’re going to be able to replace Darrel with somebody that’s going to be able to do both of those jobs.”
Commission members voted to give SWCD 60 days notice they will terminate the agreement.
What are the commission’s options?
Bratton said the executive met multiple times since learning Severns’ plans and identified several options:
•Continue as is and hire a planner for as long as finances last.
•Contract out commission oversight for as long as funds last.
•Move to a county model with the current commissioners’ financial support and willingness to give townships the majority of board seats.
•Continue as is with the understanding that if the commission fails, future commissioners might not support the townships and take over the commission.
Under any model, the planner would handle lot splits, comprehensive planning, help with zoning resolutions and take on work that RPC currently contracts out, such as subdivision regulations.
Staying a regional planning commission
As a regional commission, RPC stands outside of the county. It must hire its legal counsel, and the county administrator cannot oversee it. It would have to hire its own director.
“With salary and benefits, you’re probably pushing $150,000 to $185,000 for a good planner,” Commissioner Barry Lester said.
RPC’s revenue primarily comes from $15,000 in dues (25 cents per capita), $26,000 from the commissioners, and $30,000 from SWCD.
RPC Vice Chair Jason Rogers said every township will pay significantly more in dues to support the salary and benefits of the position.
He also said that if townships with smaller budgets decide to withdraw from RPC because they do not need a planner or it is too expensive, the remaining townships will have to make up the difference.
Moving to county planning
Rogers said a board would oversee the county planner. Under the Ohio Revised Code, three board members must be the county commissioners or their representatives.
Using an 11-member board as an example, Rogers said six members would be township trustees. The remaining two could be at-large members.
An alternative is to have the three commissioners/representatives and eight at-large from the townships.
Rogers said the intent either way is to have the townships hold the majority seats. Meetings are still open with trustees invited to voice their opinion.
Discussion includes how to maintain good representation across the county:ensuring the townships elect the representatives, that geography is considered, and densely populated townships do not override sparsely populated or unzoned ones.
“The only way I’ll sign on is if there’s representation, continuous representation from the townships across the county, and the trustees have a majority of those seats,” Rogers said.
One way is to divide the county into vertical zones. Each zone elects a representative; the sixth trustee board position would be elected at-large.
Bratton said it is undecided whether the city and villages would have a seat on the board. Possibilities include municipalities helping elect the zone representatives or holding one at-large seat.
Also unclear is whether the land use and other committees will still function.
“These are all questions that we’re going to have to address. We don’t want to make it sound like we don’t want villages’ representation, but there are five villages and 22 townships,” Bratton said.
Township control, county finances
Lester said the planning commission board will be part of the planner’s hiring process. Rogers said other counties are willing to take part in the interview process.
Clendening noted that having credentials does not make the planner the ultimate decision-maker.
“Whoever this planner might be, they may have ideas. Your planning commission still calls the shots,” he said.
“Now, it’s possible that in those situations, you can end up with an 11-member planning commission that’s not willing to flex their muscles and say, ‘no this is whatever we want it to be.’ I don’t see that happening in Knox County, but that’s possible.”
Lester said if RPC makes a change, it will not happen overnight.
“Before we start trying to hire a planner, we need to buy in, because there’s no sense running a job opportunity for a planner and try to interview or set up interviews,” he said.
RPC members voted to proceed with gathering information about moving to a county model.
Under the county model, the commissioners will fund the planning director position.
“The Board of Commissioners have it in their budget a lucrative amount to help pay for the lack of monetary that RPC has to hire,” Lester said. “That doesn’t give us more control. Let’s not mistake the money that we’re offering as more control.
“You still have control of the board. We’re just hiring the planner because I think the planner will help everybody in the county.”
