BUCK CREEK TOWNSHIP — After all three members of the Buck Creek Township Advisory Board resigned at the beginning of the year, the Hancock County Republican Party held a caucus Monday night to vote on who would fill the three seats, though only three candidates filed.
Members of the community, including the candidates and the precinct committeemen, gathered at the Buck Creek Township Community Room where each candidate, in alphabetical order, had a chance to address the room as to why they wanted to fill the vacant seat.
Janice Silvey, chair of the Hancock County Republican Party, said she had only received three filings. The three who filed were Kenny Simmons, Jennifer Fillerman and Andrew diLivron.
Silvey said that the three spoke a bit about themselves, goals they have for the community and plans to help get back on peaceful ground.
Silvey said that with the number of candidates and number of open seats, she still decided to run the caucus as normal, adopting the rules and procedures, which require a vote by secret ballot.
However, with the number of seats and candidates, Silvey asked to entertain a motion to conduct a voice vote, which was passed.
“Instead of voting on them as a group, to be fair, I called for a voice vote on each individual person,” Silvey said. “At the end, we swore those three people in, so they are ready to go now.”
The six precinct committeemen for Buck Creek Township, according to election office documents, are Holly Lawson (BC-1), Denise Abshire (BC-2N), Christopher Creighton (BC-2S), Micki Simunek (BC-3), Ethan Lawson (BC-4) and Janet Smith (BC-5).
Simunek, who also serves as Buck Creek Township Trustee, said that while she still attended the caucus that night, she had decided to have her vice committeeman, Gary Johnson, vote instead when this was first brought to her attention.
Simunek said she had spoken to Simmons a few times in the past due to them both running for Buck Creek Township Trustee in 2022.
Simmons has lived in Buck Creek since 1998 and said that he decided to run for the advisory board due to wanting to get back into the community and help move the board forward since the resignation of the previous board members.
Those who resigned were chair Matt Kelly, secretary Erin Jordan and vice chair Scott Whitehouse, and their reasons were shared in an online post by Kelly. The post accuses Simunek of unusual hiring practices, failing to be open and transparent in financial dealings, creating a hostile work environment with the advisory board, unauthorized purchasing of fire apparatus, and more.
Simunek refuted those accusations, and told the Daily Reporter that “every big decision has been made with proper counsel, and she will continue to do so.” Simunek said that when she was elected as trustee, she stepped into a “mess” and is “improving things as efficiently and legally as possible.”
Once they finished voting by voice, precinct committeeman and vice chair of the Hancock Republican Party Ethan Lawson swore in Simmons, Fellerman and diLivron.
Silvey said that while she had some worries about the night, the caucus went smoothly and that there were only a few individuals, including some firemen from the department, outside of the precinct committeemen and candidates that came despite it being a public meeting, allowing anyone to come and watch.
With no interruptions, Silvey said they were able to address and swear-in each candidate in approximately 15 minutes.
According to the Buck Creek Township website, a schedule of the meetings is yet to be determined. All meetings are held at 5809 Airport Blvd., Greenfield.
