CLAY TOWNSHIP - Clay Township Police Chief John Van Gundy told the trustees on Oct. 15 that two more commendations had arrived from local residents commending Officer William Stewart for his work. One letter said he had "gone beyond his duty" to solve their problem and the other praised his courteous listening skills for defusing a dispute between neighbors.
 
At an earlier meeting, Van Gundy passed along a letter from a resident saying Stewart and Sgt. Jim Hawkins had gone beyond necessary duties and been helpful and supportive in locating a runaway teen.
 
"Stewart had only worked about three weeks, and he received three officer commendation letters," Van Gundy said.
 
Trustees returned to the payroll problems that had upset officers at an earlier meeting. Currently the pay period ends on Friday and money needs to be deposited Tuesday night to be in the employees' accounts on Wednesday. Occasionally there has been a delay in this schedule.
 
Trustee Jeff Requarth suggested that payday be moved to Friday, with the first payroll in January being delayed for two days. This will allow the township more time to process the records and make the deposit on Thursday.
 
"No one will lose any money," he stressed. "The pay period will still run from Saturday through Friday night, and after the first payday, the pay will regularly be available on Fridays instead of Wednesdays. The only delay will be two days for the first payday."
 
He told Van Gundy and Ralph Richardson, filling in for Chris Maleski of the Road and Cemetery Department, that we would be glad to meet with the workers to answer any questions and reassure them that they were no losing any money.
 
When the trustees agreed to assess residents for delinquent tax bills totaling $4,396.16 for the third quarter, Trustee President Dave Vore asked if the format of the bills couldn't be changed. Now they are sent out as postal cards, and Vore said he recently almost threw his out because it looked like much of the junk mail he receives.
 
"Can we expand the size or something?" he asked, suggesting that some of the delinquent bills might have also been mistaken for junk mail.
 
Van Gundy said he knew of a case in which the card had clipped inside a magazine delivered at the same time.
 
Fiscal Officer Brad Limbert said plans had been discussed to change the appearance of th bills to make them more distinctive.
 
The Trustees also accepted the resignation of Jean Payton from the Board of Zoning Appeals and gave Active Zoning Officer Jim Corcoran permission to advertise the vacancy.
 
Th next regular meeting of the Clay Township trustees will be at 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 7 in the township building at 8207 Arlington Rd.