Trustees Bob McClure and Todd Pettit agreed to appoint Young to the seat at a special meeting March 12.
“We were able to agree on a final candidate and Jay Young was named to fill the vacancy by a 2-0 vote,” said Board President Bob McClure.
Young is a lifelong Mad River Twp. resident who is an owner and manager of Young’s Jersey Dairy, his family’s business.
“I’m excited about it. I have been volunteering in the community and I’ve been part of the community all my life,” Young said. “I’m excited to get in, learn the position and serve the community in any way that I need to.”
Young, who graduated from the Ohio State University with a degree in agriculture, has been in the family business all of his life, he said.
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“I’ve worked there since I graduated college in 1996,” he said. “I do a lot of the farm management part of the business.”
Along with volunteering in the community, Young has been a member of the Hustead Volunteer Fire Department for 32 years and on the Clark County Fair Board for six years.
“I’ve just always been active in the community and this is just another thing that I thought I could help out and give our township some vision and move us forward,” he said.
McClure and Pettit said they chose Young for various reasons.
“I believe that we felt that Young’s strengths best fit the needs of the township, and this was based upon the experience that he brought with him,” said McClure. “He is a lifelong resident of our township with knowledge and understanding of the needs of the township as well as personal connection to the eastern part of our township.”
Pettit said Young has experience that will help on the trustee board.
“He has a lot of experience on various boards. He has fire department experience, which I feel we need,” he said. “He’s very level-headed, very diplomatic.”
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The fire department took a severe hit last year when 12 fire and EMS employees resigned from the department within a week in May because they didn’t like the way trustees handled the hiring and firing of a firefighter.
Young was selected from among 12 candidates to fill the vacant seat, Pettit said.
“We had some really good candidates, some really good qualified people, but in the end you have to make a decision,” he said.
McClure agreed.
“All 12 individuals really had things to offer our township. It was a tough decision,” he said. “It was a challenging situation, but it was very interesting and it was rewarding to see the interest.”
Young was sworn into office last week by fiscal officer David Rudy, but there has yet to be an official meeting.
He will serve the remainder of the term, which runs until November 2021.
The trustees had 30 days to fill former trustee Catanzaro’s seat after it became vacant in February following an opinion by the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office that determined ”he was not at the same address as his voter registration.”
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