Veterans board is over its limit

Newly appointed member questions group’s legality.

Aicarefulireadingiofistatei lawimayileaditoitheisuddeni ousteriofiseveralimembersiofi theiboardithatioverseesiaidi toiveteransiiniMontgomeryi County.

MontgomeryiCountyiVeteransiServiceiCommissionimembersionitheibubbleiincludei boardipresidentiDaveifierst,i whoicallsitheimoveiaipowerboardimember.

“Thisiisn’tiaboutiservice,iit’si aboutihim,”iheisaid.

fierstiwasitalkingiabouti AshleyiWebb,iwhoijoinedithei boardiiniJanuary.iTheiformeri Ketteringicityicouncilmaniandi unsuccessfuliRepublicanicandidateiforicountyicommissionisaysiheijustireaditheilaw, whichisaysitheicountyishouldi haveifiveimembersilikeialliotheriboardsiinitheistate, 11itheyicurrentlyihave.

“I’miconcernediaboutithei legalityiofitheseiextraiseats,”i heisaid.

TheiMontgomeryiCoun-

ty Veterans Service Commission oversees a $2.1 million budget, including $750,000 in cash assistance doled out at their discretion to veterans needing help making ends meet. They also help veterans with things such as job training, transportation and navigating federal benefits.

The 11 board members are each paid $8,950 a year — and qualify for a state pension — to attend two meetings a month. Six are appointed by county commissioners; five are nominated by local veterans groups and appointed by county judges.

But county officials conceded Tuesday that it appears Webb is right: Fierst and two others appointed in 2012 shouldn’t be there, and three others can’t be reappointed when their terms end in August.

“They would be considered invalid,” said county spokeswoman Cathy Peterson of the 2012 appointments.

She said county commissioners will discuss what to do at their meeting Thursday afternoon. In the meantime, commissioners in limbo are among those scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. today to hear appeals from veterans who were denied assistance.

Power struggle

Webb first raised the issue in March, when he convinced the veterans board to pass a motion to get a legal opinion from the county prosecutor over whether the full board was serving legally. But in April the board rescinded the request and instead petitioned to remove Webb from the board.

“Mr. Webb’s actions after attending only three commission meetings have been detrimental to the functioning of the commission in that he has improperly suggested and/or requested the dissolution of said commission as currently constituted,” says an April 8 letter to the county judges who appointed Webb.

Prosecutor Mat Heck never received a request for an opinion, according to a spokesman. County Administrative Judge Michael Tucker did not return a call for comment Tuesday.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Fierst — a county commission appointee — did not disagree with Webb’s claim but did question his motives.

“Who put him up to destroying the board?” he said. “With us gone he’ll get two other people to make him president (of the commission) and he’ll be in charge and who knows what that will lead to.”

Webb said all he originally wanted was a legal opinion on whether board members who are getting paid and are voting on public matters were supposed to be there.

“I won’t say that I won’t serve in a leadership role if that’s what needed, but that’s not my motivation,” he said. “The bigger motivation is trying to make sure the things we’re doing as a commission can’t be challenged ... If there are people here who shouldn’t legally be here, all of that is called into question.”

Why 11 members?

The story of why Montgomery County has six more people on its commission that any other Ohio county stretches back to 2002. Back then, every county had five members nominated by veterans groups such as the VFW and AMVETS. They were appointed by common pleas judges.

State law allows veterans service boards to name their own budget, and all the money they get comes from the rest of the county budget. So when veterans commissioners back then sought a 43 percent budget increase to construct a $6 million office, county commissioners balked.

They got an area state senator to add a provision into the law that allowed county commissioners in such a situation to appoint six new board members, a majority, to overrule the budget increase. Six new members were appointed and the building plans were scrapped.

But the law allowed the county to appoint new veterans board members only when the agency’s budget exceeded a quarter of a mill or amounted to a 10 percent increase. It limited the terms of these new commissioners at five years.

Those conditions weren’t met when three board members were appointed in 2012. The others were appointed in 2010, when the conditions were met, but their terms expire this year.

Fierst noted that they could meet the conditions this year by increasing their budget request a couple hundred thousand dollars, then giving that money back to commissioners.

“The reason the county commission people are there is to rein in some of these wasteful projects,” said Fierst. “I feel like we’ve done a good job running the commission and we haven’t wasted money and I feel like we’ve served veterans well. It’s unfortunate it’s come to this.”

Webb said the budget is sufficient. If it goes up as demand increases, he said lawmakers could give county commissioners oversight in the form of veto power or something instead of creating new paid positions.

“The whole point of having extra members is to rein in spending, and instead we’re spending more than $50,000 a year for extra commissioners.”