MORE: Miami County elections board defends certification process
Bev Kendall, a Republican, was reappointed elections director and sworn in by Nasal.
Fisher has been involved in local politics for years, currently serving as the chairman of the county Democratic Party, and has made unsuccessful runs for public offices including county commissioner and state representative. Gillespie, a Piqua resident, works for the Fairborn schools.
The board also includes Ryan King, a Republican, and a vacant Republican position.
The county Republican committee last month appointed Andrew Johnston of Troy to the position, but he notified party leaders he was unable to fill the role due to personal reasons, the board was told.
County Republicans will meet again to make an appointment, party Chairman John “Bud” O’Brien said Friday.
In other business, the board agreed to advertise the open position of deputy director in newspapers and digitally and hire someone when a full board is seated. The previous board terminated Eric Morgan, a Democrat, from the deputy director position Jan. 24, saying the party had lost confidence in him.
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The new deputy director will be a Democrat because the director is a Republican.
Gillespie asked that all board members, not just the Democrats, be included in the hiring process because office staff works with all board members.
“I think it needs to be a full board decision. Historically there has been some things done where Democrats handle Democrat hires and Republicans handle Republican hires. In my mind that needs to go away. We all need to work cohesively with all of the staff,” Gillespie said.
Fisher also thanked former board members Dean Tamplin, a Democrat from Tipp City, and Jose Lopez, a Republican from West Milton, for their service on the board. Their terms ended in February.
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