Two vying for Jefferson Twp. Trustee board


James McGuire, Jefferson Township Trustee candidate

Age: 50

Family: Son of Moraine City Councilman Jim McGuire

Occupation: Quality assurance analyst

Education: Graduated from Centerville High School and received a bachelor's degree in Communications from Bowling Green State University.

Memberships: Neighborhood Watch Chairman and the Jefferson Township Future Land Use Committee member

Political Party Affiliation: A background records search done by this newspaper shows that he was registered as a Republican in 2014, but McGuire said he is now an Independent.

Rose Slaughter, Jefferson Township Trustee candidate

Age: 58

Family: Married to husband Darrell Slaughter for 31 years and has two adult children.

Occupation: Office administrator for Church of Christ on Germantown Pike

Education: Graduated from Jefferson High School. Entered the workforce after high school and graduated from the Charles of Stephan Beauty College and has taken some courses at Sinclair Community College.

Memberships include: Church of Christ on Germantown Pike, Montgomery County Democratic Party and the Jefferson Township Democratic Party.

Political Party Affiliation: Slaughter is endorsed by the Montgomery County Democratic Party.

Candidates Forum

Who: League of Women Voters of Greater Dayton Area

What: Jefferson Township Trustee Candidates forum

When and where: 7 p.m. Oct. 7 at the Jefferson Twp. Government Office, One Business Park Drive. The government center is located at the corner of West Third Street and U.S. 35.

On November 3, Jefferson Township’s nearly 4,500 registered voters will get to choose between two community activists to fill the trustee seat that Damon Woods is leaving at the end of the year.

Woods has decided not to seek re-election after serving over seven years on the trustee board, whose members are paid a monthly stipend of $943.

“After 10 years as an elected official, it was just time for me to step back and re-assess my priorities,” Woods said of why he’s leaving. “Between my “day job” and my church activities, I will have more than enough to keep me busy once I leave office. However, you never know, maybe after a two-year break I might decide to try a comeback in 2017.”

The trustee candidates - James McGuire and Rose Slaughter - described themselves as being frequent participants in township events.

“I’m a community activist at heart who is very concerned about the quality of life in Jefferson Township,” said Slaughter, an office administrator for Church of Christ on Germantown Pike. “I have spent many years as a community activist in Jefferson Township and I didn’t just decide to serve my community a year ago. I’ve been here working in the community for more than 15 years. I grew up in the township. I work in the township and I have made the township my home for 20 years and I know the community much better than my opponent.”

McGuire said his experience makes him the best candidate for the job.

“The biggest reason I am the best candidate for the job is I already have a proven track record of working in the community, meeting after meeting, month after month. I’m making progress speaking at meetings, but I can do more if I am elected trustee,” said McGuire, a quality assurance analyst for a local bank. “I understand farmers, I understand zoning and I understand how to get grass cut and pick up trash.”

One of the first issues that McGuire and Slaughter said they would tackle, if elected, is updating the township’s zoning laws.

“It would be for me to make sure that we as trustees review all zoning regulations. Update or revise them to make sure that they reflect the will of the majority of the citizens, while at the same time it would be our job to make sure that they are consistent with the Ohio Revised Code,” Slaughter said.

“The township is vulnerable to another landfill buying land and setting up in the area. It’s just a matter of time before we’re faced with another large zoning case that we’re going to have to fight,” McGuire said.

In September of 2014, the township’s Board of Zoning Appeals denied a request for a commercial composting facility that was submitted by Steven Rauch and business partner Dan Wampler. Rauch responded by filing a notice of appeal in October against the BZA board and Jeffrey Payne, the township’s zoning director in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.

The case is still making its way through the court process.

Slaughter said the trustees should be working with “the zoning appeal committee and making sure that the regulations are abided by and following the rules in regards to what can and cannot be done as far as bringing businesses into the township.”

“There is also a tremendous amount of lack of enforcement for the zoning laws,” McGuire said. “Houses with tall grass are there too long. Too much trash is sitting there for an extended period of time and I intend to speed up the process and move things along a lot quicker.”

Resolving zoning issues was one of the items of feedback that residents gave during community meetings about the township’s Future Land Use Strategic Plan. Both McGuire and Slaughter said they are focused on the goals highlighted in those meetings.

Slaughter said she wants to see more businesses come to the township, but also wants to make sure those businesses, such as grocery stores and family restaurants, don’t infringe upon the rural area of the township.

She said she applauds the efforts of the current trustee board in regards to their efforts in trying to meet the goals of the strategic plan. Those goals include designating a specific area for business development, establishing and expanding an infrastructure that supports modern technology throughout the township, maintaining the rural nature of the township and identifying locations for recreational use, especially for children.

“I think this plan that they are working on right now is a good and awesome plan and moving in a direction to make a difference, as far as rebuilding Jefferson Township and making it viable and sustainable,” Slaughter said. She added that one of the goals she would like to work on is the recreational places for children and senior citizens.

But McGuire said there are some flaws in the plan.

“Where I see a flaw with this plan is none of the high school kids, youth or people under 30-years-old have had input in this meeting. Many of the ideas really stack towards the older generation,” McGuire said. “If we’re going to rebuild the township, we need to cater to those folks that are coming up behind us. If not, it’s not going to be a township they want to stay in.”

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