PHOTO BY JESSE DAVIS / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
RISING TENSIONS … Mayor Neil Toeppe (far right) and Councilman David Pilliod (far left) have a disagreement over the focus of council efforts during Monday’s meeting of the Swanton Village Council. Also pictured are Councilman John Schmidt (center left), Councilman Deacon Dzierzawski (center), and Village Administrator Shannon Shulters (center right).
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
Arguments over leadership methods, council authority, and lack of a cohesive vision led to a contentious meeting of the Swanton Village Council on Monday, August 10, 2026, punctuated at times by yelling, interruptions, and finger pointing.
Much of the infighting stemmed from the previous announcement by Village Administrator and Interim Fiscal Officer Shannon Shulters that she would be resigning effective mid-September due to burnout, conflicting direction and changing priorities from the council, and a lack of boundaries to the requests made of village staff by council members.
During Monday’s meeting, Shulters read another statement in which she criticized the council’s efforts to lead the village, while stating that if her criticisms were addressed she would still consider rescinding her resignation.
“Over the past eight months, council has spent countless hours discussing and repeatedly discussing the same issues without reaching meaningful conclusions. Committee of the Whole should be where council works through issues, establishes direction, and prepares matters for action.
“Instead, it has too often become a roundtable discussion where the same subjects circulate without resolution,” Shulters read.
“Regular council meetings routinely last three to four hours. We have held an extraordinary number of special meetings. Executive sessions have become commonplace.
“We spend an enormous amount of time meeting, talking, questioning, revisiting, and debating.” She said all of that extra effort and time had resulted in no additional accomplishments.
She further stated that council members repeatedly requested of her the same information, overexamined and micromanaged her decision, revisited already settled issues, and consumed “hours of administrative and staff time without a clear governmental purpose.”
“What have I done wrong?” Shulters asked. “What have I done during my tenure that has demonstrated that I cannot be trusted to administer this village?”
Shulters said that, going forward, she would only attend one council meeting each month unless her presence was required due to specific, legitimate needs.
She also targeted a specific member of council, though she did not provide a name. She said that individual had “consistently contributed to these challenges” and “should honestly reflect on whether continuing to serve is in the best interest of the village.”
“I am willing to fight for this village. I am willing to fight for our employees. I am willing to fight for the progress we have made and for everything we still have the opportunity to accomplish.
“But I am no longer willing to fight this village in order to lead it,” Shulters said.
Councilwoman Dianne Westhoven was the first to respond to Shulters’ statement, saying her original resignation announcement was “like a slap in the face” due to the mayor, other council members, and members of the community having known about it before her. She called the announcement “extremely unprofessional.”
“I’m tired of feeling like I’m the villain,” Westhoven said.
Councilman John Schmidt followed up with a prepared statement of his own, which he noted mirrored Shulters’ statement despite the fact that they had not spoken about it nor anything else outside of council meetings during his tenure.
He referred directly to Shulters’ comments about an unnamed council member and said he was “going to name names.”
“Councilman [Deacon] Dzierzawski’s heavy reliance on the Ohio Municipal League over the Ohio Revised Code, the Ohio auditor of state and the attorney general’s office is misguided, without merit, and simply wrong,” Schmidt said. “The Ohio Municipal League may be experts, but they are not the authority.”
He questioned the precedent and accepted practices he claimed Dzierzawski touted from the OML, saying they were not established in Swanton but elsewhere.
Schmidt further argued individual council members have no authority outside of the authority granted to the council as a whole within the confines of their meetings and are limited to legislation and oversight, not management.
He cautioned Dzierzawski to “stay within the boundaries of the village council, and raise questions and concerns during meetings of the council.”
“It is no secret that Councilman Dzierzawski’s aggressive and ostentatious nature has created a toxic environment within the village administration.
“That environment has been filled with mistrust and apprehension. He claims that it is absurd to believe that the resignation of the fiscal officer and the village administrator can be blamed on him or his position or his actions,” Schmidt said.
He said Dzierzawski campaigned on a platform of transparency, and called for him to release to council any and all emails to and received from village administrative team, safety chiefs, and department heads, handwritten notes of any phone conversations, and any reports or other documents in his possession regarding budgets, personnel, equipment, and operations before the next council meeting.
After Schmidt’s statement, Councilman David Pilliod came to Dzierzawski’s defense, saying he thought Shulters has “done very well” but that he believed Dzierzawski was asking the right questions and was eloquent and accurate in his writing, and said the village staff who received emails from Dzierzawski should release those emails themselves if it was an issue.
During a brief interruption of Pilliod’s comments by Schmidt, Dzierzawski made his only statement on the issue, angrily telling Schmidt to pronounce his name correctly, that he had always pronounced Schmidt’s name correctly. Pilliod told the pair “this shouldn’t be so personal, guys.”
Pilliod gave kudos to members of the village administration, staff, and council as well as the mayor for the job everyone was doing.
“It’s time to, you know, cool off, and let’s just keep going with the same team we’ve got and there’s gonna be some brush ups and a few elbows thrown, but by and large the situation is not anywhere as dire as we might think,” he said.
Councilman Noah Kreuz pushed back against Pilliod’s comment. “We are in a dire situation, because we don’t have a fiscal officer and we’re about to lose an administrator,” Kreuz said.
Councilwoman Pat Pilliod said she was disturbed by the whole situation.
“I want this to calm down. I never belonged to an organization that had so much animosity and division,” she said, adding “The emails we’ve been getting at 10:30 at night, chewing me out, telling me how I’m supposed to behave, and then not sleeping for two nights over it – I just, I just really want everybody to get along and I hope we can do that. Somehow we gotta come together,” she said.
During his report earlier in the meeting, Mayor Neil Toeppe also read a prepared statement in which he congratulated the council on their efforts to reduce expenses for the village, but shared his concern that they were not doing enough to grow the village and its tax base, encourage new business development, or create a plan for what they hoped Swanton would become over the next 10 to 20 years.
“The future of Swanton should not be defined simply by what we can cut, it should also be defined as what we can build,” Toeppe said.
NEW FISCAL OFFICER
Following an executive session at the end of the meeting, council members voted to hire JoyceMarie Elmore as the new fiscal officer effective Aug. 17.
The move comes after the council previously considered hiring Elmore as a temporary fiscal office intern assistant through Robert Half Inc.
If the council had chosen to take that path, it would have cost $21,840 for the first six weeks and $3,640 per additional week while they continued to search for a permanent replacement.
If the village had employed her in that temporary status, it would have cost $189,280 to cover a full year if no suitable candidate was found in the meantime.
By hiring her directly the village is only incurring the cost of a $73,000 annual salary plus taxes and benefits.
The hiring of Elmore brings onboard a full-time fiscal officer for the first time since former fiscal officer Holden Benfield resigned in March, since which time Shulters has been filling the role in an interim basis.
FINANCIAL PROCESS CHANGES
Shulters reported a change to certain internal financial practices after running into repeated problems due to “unencumbered balances.”
According to Shulters, previous fiscal officer Holden Benfield intentionally did not release all available water and wastewater fund balances at the beginning of each year, maintaining so-called unencumbered balances to ensure enough cash was available for large Ohio Water Development Authority loan payments due at the beginning and middle of each year.
Because of that transfer delay, money that was authorized to be spent from the water and wastewater funds, while still present and accounted for, was not available for use when needed for other bills, causing temporary cash flow issues.
Until now, the council had needed to regularly authorize transfers from the general fund to cover those cash flow shortfalls until expected revenue was actually received.
Shulters said she understood the approach but did not believe it to be the best long-term financial practice “as it limits transparency regarding the true cash position of the funds.”
“Going forward, now that the general fund has supplemented the Wastewater Operating Fund to cover the current OWDA loan payment, revenues collected throughout the remainder will replenish the operating fund’s cash balance.
This will position the fund to make the January 2027 OWDA loan payment using its own available revenues as they accumulate,” Shulters said.
In order to finalize the remainder of lingering cash flow issues, council members retroactively approved the transfer of $350,000 from the general fund to the general fund capital outlay, $342,000 from the general fund capital outlay to Water Resource Recovery Facility debt services, and $82,746.06 from water treatment plant operating to water debt services.
Due to a separate issue related to Shulters’ inability to locate a withholding report for a payment made for Ohio Police and Fire Pension payroll withholding and in order to reconcile billing, council members approved a $32,201.23 transfer from the general fund to other financing uses.
She said she expects to be able to resolve the issue and undo the transfer with help from auditors.
AMBULANCE PURCHASE
Council members approved on an emergency basis the purchase of a used diesel-powered ambulance for $55,000.
According to Swanton Fire and Rescue Division Chief Cuyler Kepling, the 2013 vehicle has 45,000 miles on it and will require between $7,500 and $10,000 in repairs, as well as roughly $169,000 in supplies.
He said that $169,000 could be reduced by between $55,000 and $60,000 depending on whether the village received a grant for a cardiac monitor, awards for which would be announced the following week.
Kepling said the purchase request stemmed from Fulton County officials sharing their displeasure that the village was using its county-owned ambulance to serve village residents in Lucas County and transport to Lucas County facilities.
He said having a village-owned ambulance would allow them to address the issue before the county decided to explicitly bar the use, and that the village would be able to bill for its use.
Kepling said the village would begin receiving revenue from that billing within four to six months after the ambulance was put into use around the beginning of November.
He clarified that the village’s “soft billing” protocol meant the department would only charge what insurance companies were willing to pay for its services, and that they would not seek to cover any costs by billing residents beyond that amount.
Councilman David Pilliod shared his opposition to buying a used vehicle, saying he would rather the village purchase a new vehicle.
Kepling said a new gas-powered ambulance would cost $315,000, with a diesel-powered model costing up to $365,000, and it would still need the $169,000 in supplies.
He said he couldn’t in good conscience recommend such a costly purchase based on the village’s current financial projections.
He added that he expected the used vehicle to last between five and seven years, while a new vehicle could last up to 15 years.
The vote was unanimous, though Pilliod called his vote “a very tepid yes.”
In order to fund the purchase, council members also approved the transfer of $55,000 from the general fund to the general fund capital outlay, and from there to the fire capital fund.
COUNTY EMS PROGRAM
Council members approved on an emergency basis a resolution authorizing the mayor to request a joint meeting of the Fulton County Commissioners along with elected officials from the seven municipalities which are contracted to provide EMS services in the county using county-owned equipment.
The intent of the meeting is to discuss the county’s EMS program, and specifically its funding and the future funding levels proposed by commissioners.
According to the resolution, commissioners have not yet provided draft contracts to replace the five-year contracts set to expire at the end of the year, but have indicated a “substantial reduction” in Swanton’s funding.
It further states that amount – $700,000 – is $75,000 lower than the amount of taxes currently collected for the purposes of the program from residents who live within the area covered by Swanton.
OTHER BUSINESS
Council members approved on final reading an ordinance codifying the village’s trap, neuter/spay, vaccinate, return/rehome, or “TNVR” program, designed to manage the village’s stray cat population.
Council members approved on final reading an ordinance standardizing and applying to all ordinance violations fines and penalties in order to give the village more options to address such issues.
Council members approved on an emergency basis a cost-sharing agreement with Swancreek Township as part of a project to resurface a portion of County Road.
The agreement will help the township in its financial assistance application for the project through the Ohio Public Works Commission.
Under the agreement, the village will be responsible for 5.4 percent of the total project cost, or approximately $5,000. Fulton County will cover 12.4 percent of the costs, with the township covering the remaining 82.2 percent.
Council members approved on second reading an ordinance regulating the storage of seasonal vehicles on residential properties, aimed at preventing residents from using such vehicles as permanent living spaces.
Council members approved on second reading an ordinance barring commercial soliciting in the village.
The ordinance allows for soliciting by community groups like scouts, school children, nonprofits, and political canvassers, but requires the village and police department to be notified when authorized solicitors plan to be active.
After an executive session at the end of regular business, council members voted to approve Shulters’ monthly interim fiscal officer bonus of $3,000 for the month of July.
Council members approved a 10-year, 40 percent tax abatement for the property at 212 Cypress Street under the village’s Community Reinvestment Area (CRA), as recommended by the village’s CRA Housing Council.
Council members approved the hiring of Brady Thomas and Robert Mulherin as a part-time firefighter/EMTs. Kepling responded to council questions on the hirings, stating that the Swanton Fire and Rescue Division is at one over “full” staffing, with a pair of employees leaving in the next few months for one-year military deployments.
He added that “full staffing” for the department is not a hard limit recorded anywhere, but is based on the fact that the fire hall has 34 lockers to store gear.
Police Chief John Trejo said the department responded to 387 calls for service in July, and that they recently obtained five felony indictments in Fulton County grand juries.
Kepling reported the Swanton Fire and Rescue Division responded to a total of 136 fire and EMS calls in July, the second highest month on record over the past 13 years. He said August may exceed the record of 155 calls.
Shulters reported the paving of Crestwood Drive was set to begin this week, with sidewalk installation not starting until after the school year began.
She said the whole road had to be reconstructed instead of only being milled and resurfaced due to deterioration of the road base.
Shulters reported the complete closure of a portion of Hallett Avenue for the second phase of that project was set to begin the following day after traffic detours were rerouted to ensure truck traffic stayed on appropriate roads.
She said the full closure would last two weeks or less, with a single lane open for the remainder of the project and a flagger in place to manage through traffic.
Shulters reported the audit which just began was temporarily on pause due to auditors’ complaints regarding paperwork which was not available digitally smelling strongly of smoke due to the January office fire.
The next regular meeting of the Swanton Village Council will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 24, at The Venue on Main, 124 N. Main Street.
