Gretchen Welch, the newly appointed Perrysburg Township fiscal officer, is with Perrysburg Township trustees Bob Mack, left, Joe Schaller and Gary Britten.
Roger LaPointe | Sentinel-Tribune
LIME CITY — Perrysburg Township installed a new fiscal officer during its regular meeting on Wednesday.
Gretchen Welch, a certified public accountant, immediately assumed the role of fiscal officer for the township.
The oath of office was given by Trustee Bob Mack.
“She really is kind of a home run,” Mack said. “She was already familiar with our accounting practices because she served as a consultant to Hannah (Nelson). She brings a wealth of public sector audit and accounting aptitude to the township.”
Nelson, the former fiscal officer, gave notice of her resignation on Aug. 17, effective Aug. 30. While she said she regretted having to leave the position, her family is relocating.
Welch has more than 10 years’ experience in outsourced accounting services. For seven of those years, she worked as a supervisor for the Lublin Sussman Group, where she specialized in audits of governmental entities, multiemployer benefit plans, labor union accounting and not-for-profit entities.
This is the second mid-term appointment of a fiscal officer for the township.
All township offices are four-year terms. Welch does not need to run for election to retain the position, like Nelson did. The next election would be in November 2023, for a full term, assuming office April 1, 2024.
Nelson was appointed on June 16, 2021, as a replacement for long-time fiscal officer Shirley Haar to finish the unexpired term, which Haar had won in Nov. 2020. Haar had resigned after 19 years.
Simultaneously, Becky Johnson, the township finance secretary, retired after almost 26 years. That knowledge vacuum for the small office was the reason for Welch working with Nelson. In previous interviews Nelson had mentioned the need for an informal audit, meant to establish a knowledge base for the accounting history of the township.
Elections for township officers are in odd numbered years and trustees Bob Mack and Gary Britten were on the ballot in November 2021. Because there was a “like-election” Nelson had to run for the unexpired term to finish it out. Nelson did successfully run for the office in the November 2021 election. She took elected office April 1.
