Dayton Township Clerk Stacy Phillips, center, announced Monday night she’ll resign as of Aug. 20. Township Treasurer Eleanor Kilmer is at left and Supervisor Bob Cook is on the right.
By Tom Gilchrist
For The Advertiser
DAYTON TWP. — Dayton Township Clerk Stacy Phillips will resign as of Aug. 20 to take a new job, and the township Board of Trustees appointed Mike Mocniak on Monday night to fill Phillips’ term through the end of 2016.
“I am writing to inform you that my almost nine-year journey has come to an end,” said Phillips, reading her letter of resignation at Monday’s board meeting.
“Please note that I’ve enjoyed, learned and appreciate the ability to serve the residents of our township, but I have taken a new job, which means a new journey for myself and my family,” Phillips said. “I hope the best for the township board and I will be available to help the new clerk in any way that I can.”
Township board members voted to accept Phillips’ resignation, though Supervisor Bob Cook called it “a very sad moment.”
“This is probably one of the worst evenings of my life,” Cook said before Phillips read her letter of resignation.
Mocniak, a former township board member and former chairman of the township Zoning Board of Appeals, can serve for the remainder of Phillips’ term, which expires at the end of 2016. He would have to win election in 2016 to remain township clerk.
After Phillips read her letter of resignation, Trustee James Satchel made a motion to appoint Rod Merten as township clerk, but no one on the five-person board seconded the motion. The board then voted 3 to 1 to appoint Mocniak, with Satchel opposing the appointment and Cook, Treasurer Eleanor Kilmer and Trustee Bob Steele supporting it. Phillips abstained from the vote.
When Satchel asked Mocniak if he’s willing to accept the clerk’s job, Mocniak said he is, adding “My only statement is I know I can’t fill Stacy’s shoes. She’s doing such a heck of a job. It’s like losing a member of your family. I’m willing to learn and do my best and do what’s best for the township.”
Mocniak is a physical therapist who works part-time at The Lighthouse Neurological Rehabilitation Center in Caro.
In other news, Cook reported Monday that the state Department of Environmental Quality required someone to remove buried tires from three spots in the township in July. Cook declined to name the individual and The Advertiser could not reach DEQ officials for comment.
Cook, however, told Monday’s audience that it’s “very irritating” the tires were buried in the township, considering the fact the township hosts a free tire-collection event annually at the township hall, paid for by Tuscola County Mosquito Abatement.
“Now why would you want to bury tires in our township? Anybody?” Cook asked. “We made sure that we have a trailer here every year, for the last five years, free. I don’t care what the tire is — we’ll put it in the truck. If we can’t get it in that truck, I’ll put it in mine.”
Regarding the man accused of burying the tires, township resident Richard Seidler said “I don’t think he’s a first; he’s just the one that got caught.”
Seidler added that “I’m not making excuses for him. I’m just sayin’. This has been going on for years.”
“Well of course it has been,” Cook replied, “but when you have a free collection (of tires), for God’s sake, sittin’ right out there and a half a dozen guys standing out here, and a skid steer to load ‘em, gimme a break. What else you gotta do — go get ‘em?”
Cook added that he and several other township officials and residents have pulled more than 90 tires out of township ditches in the past.