Dear Neighbor,

I’m glad to have this opportunity to introduce myself. I was honored in 2020 when Scio voters elected me to serve as Supervisor.  I am proud of the great work we have been doing, and as you visit this site, you will have an opportunity to see what we have done and also the projects we are looking forward to in 2022. Please know you can contact me about any issues or concerns you may have.

Now there is an organized effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. They are gathering petition signatures. If this current attempt garners enough signatures, a very expensive special election will be triggered in May 2022. 

The recall leaders used an inflammatory and misleading complaint on their petition when they portrayed me as a politician seeking only to “double” my salary. The reality is that when I ran for office in 2020, the Supervisor’s salary was $75,000. In November 2020, after I was elected, but before I took office, the previous Board decreased the salary to $36,000.  After seeing how much work was required of the Supervisor, the current Board determined in March 2021 that the Supervisor position is full-time and re-instated a full-time salary of $72,000. 

Since then, the Township formed a compensation commission. That commission met in December and set the part-time salary at $40,000. While I am not bound by the compensation commission’s interpretation and the commission is not empowered to reduce the Supervisor’s current salary, I have chosen to accept the lower amount and, if necessary, donate back to the Township the portion of my salary above $40,000.

The recall petitioners knew that I had pledged to lower my own salary before they gathered their first petition signatures, but they are using their baseless argument anyway. They have voiced various other complaints to justify their recall campaign. I offered to meet with the recall campaign leaders to discuss their concerns, but they declined my invitation to try mediation. 

My hope is that the Township can still avoid the cost of a special election and the Board of Trustees can instead focus on the work that voters elected us to do in November 2020. I hope that you will join with me to reject this counterproductive push for a recall election. I’m looking forward to working with you in the months ahead.

Will Hathaway

Supervisor, Scio Township