Jul 18, 2014 3 min read

Robinson Township officials Friday voted to dissolve the dual position of township secretary and treasurer, citing a lack of need for a full-time staff member.

Board Chairman Rodger Kendall and Vice Chairman Steve Duran voted to eliminate the position held by Christine Rummell, who earned an annual salary of $37,000. Supervisor Mark Brositz was absent from the special meeting.

“The bulk of the reason is we do not need two full-time people,” said Kendall, referring to the recent hiring of Township Manager Erin Sakalik, former manager of West Pike Run Township. Duran declined to comment.

Sakalik will formally take over the treasurer’s duties, and the township also will advertise for a part-time administrative assistant position.

Rummell, from McDonald, worked for the township for almost 12 years. Rummell said she received a courtesy call from Sakalik Wednesday notifying her that her position could be eliminated Friday. Yesterday, while using vacation time, she received the final news from Kendall.

“It’s a little disheartening,” Rummell said. “Maybe a little advance notice from either Supervisor Kendall or Supervisor Duran would have been nice, but I didn’t get that.”

Rummell added, “I made a lot of friends in the township, and I guess it’s time to move on and close that chapter of my life and start a new one.”

The board also voted this year to terminate the contract of former township manager Michael Behrens, to lay off full-time road crew worker Terry Holeva and to replace solicitor John Smith with solicitor Alan Shuckrow.

“I think they’re cleaning house,” Rummell said.

Brositz said he voted against the motions by Kendall and Duran to fire those employees. Brositz said township manager Sakalik received at least a 10 percent salary increase from the previous manager’s salary. He also said the township paid Smith $36,000 in solicitor’s bills in 2013, whereas the board has paid Shuckrow $51,000 since the beginning of 2014.

“I’m in 100 percent disagreement with them,” Brositz said. “I couldn’t disagree more.”

Brositz said the board did not discuss Rummell’s position with him and did not consult him while scheduling the special meeting.

Brositz said he works regular hours during the day and could not attend Friday’s meeting.

Kendall said a difference in qualifications accounted for the salary increase for the township manager’s position. He said they also hired a more expensive attorney to help them break from a $776,000 contract for a water line extension project that was approved by the previous board.

“You get what you pay for, and we needed out of the water line contract,” Kendall said. “(The previous board) left us broke, so we hired a good attorney that was able to get us out of that contract, and most of the money we’ve been paying him has been clearing up all of the mess that we were left with from the previous board.”