Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
On May 28, Jerusalem Township trustees hosted a special meeting to appoint Kevin Chapman as the interim zoning inspector.
“I have reached out to (him) and asked him if he would be willing to stand in in this capacity for a short period to help with the flow of permits,” trustee Alex Lytten said. “He has agreed.”
The trustees also approved Chapman’s wages to increase by $3.12 per hour during his interim zoning appointment.
Lytten and Beau Miller were the lone trustees at that special meeting. Dave Bench was not present.
The decision to appoint Chapman comes as a continuation of a recent series of happenings in Jerusalem Township’s zoning department.
At a special zoning meeting on May 26, just prior to the regularly scheduled trustees meeting that same night, the trio of trustees met and approved a zoning change request for 9815 Corduroy Rd. from C2 to agricultural/residential.
It was the second time the issue had been in front of the zoning board: first was the public hearing and then the final action. It had also been in front of the Lucas County Planning Commission.
The trustees said that the 10-day hearing notice for 9815 Corduroy Rd. was not put in the paper as it should have been, but after contacting the planning commission, they were told to proceed with the request.
Miller read a response from the planning commission after the trustees asked them for the best route of handling the matter.
The letter stated: “The Lucas County Planning Commission supports your decision to assist the property owner and not to hinder this application any further.”
Miller said they covered as many bases as possible once they discovered it wasn’t put in the paper. They put it on the sign, social media and the website.
“Beau, they’re going to approve this?” Bench asked. “The last time we got nailed for it.”
“When they found the emails, when I sent them the emails of the sabotage, they were more than willing to make this correct,” Miller said.
Thus, Miller said they could proceed.
“The only thing I have to say on this is trustees cannot act as zoning people,” Bench said he was told. “I’m just saying you acted as a zoning guy when you went in with the planning commission.”
“Any one of us can reach out to the planning commission,” Lytten said. “I can talk to anybody.”
“I just want to make sure we don’t get in trouble,” Bench said. “We have to watch what we do from now on.”
At that point, the zoning change was approved.
DIGGING DEEPER
Following the special meeting, the trustees held their regular meeting, where zoning issues were further discussed. The township has gone through a slew of zoning inspectors over the past two years.
Jacob Barnes was approved to be offered the job, should he accept, at a June 24, 2025 regular trustees meeting. He accepted and took over for Rob Gearhart, who had been serving in an interim capacity.
Recently, Barnes submitted his resignation letter, which was read at the May 26 regular trustees meeting, with more on that below.
Prior to Barnes (and Gearhart’s interim role), Wendy Jaquillard had taken over as zoning inspector on Aug. 1, 2024. Her last day was Feb. 26, 2025, with an official resignation date of March 1, 2025. On May 7, 2025, Gearhart was listed as the interim zoning inspector.
Linda Rossler, who submitted her retirement notice for May 31, 2024, was in the position prior to Jaquillard. Since then, she was hired in a similar role by Lake Township before recently resigning from that position.
Thus, with Chapman’s interim appointment, he is the fifth person to serve as zoning inspector since May 2024.
Per Jerusalem Township’s meeting minutes, Barnes hadn’t been present, nor had he presented a zoning report, at the April 28 and May 12 regular meetings. He was last present on April 14, when he made a report.
BARNES LETTER
That brings it to the May 26 regular trustees meeting, where Bench said Barnes gave him a letter and asked him to read it.
The letter from Barnes read as follows, as read by Bench.
“When the township reached out to me in the summer of 2025, needing zoning expertise, I was glad to step in and assist the township, as I have numerous times in other areas over the past 25 years. I have always strived to learn as much as I can over time. This has allowed me to educate thousands of local government officials statewide over the years, speaking at conferences.
“I looked at Jerusalem Township as a challenge, and I was committed to try to help the township function in an efficient legal manner. We have had much success. We're working with property owners, along with having several buildings removed and properties cleaned up, and I have received much positive feedback from residents and business owners. I understand zoning can be a thankless job, but I have always enjoyed seeing good results and receiving positive feedback. Nothing happens quickly, but through time, good zoning practices can really make a positive impact on the entire township. By looking through the records, this is something that Jerusalem Township has never experienced.
“Through much feedback I have personally received from residents, zoning has been used as a hammer. Favoritism has been used, and I have uncovered many instances of total illegal enforcement in the past. Over the past couple months, it has become clear to me that several individuals in Jerusalem Township would rather do things their way and not according to the law or accepted zoning practices. The zoning commission has been operating outside of their legal authority for some time now and when I try to kindly direct them in the correct way of doing things, my advice has been dismissed. Not just that, but I have evidence that, at least, members Jim Boothby and Scott Henninger, along with trustee Beau Miller, have been actively working behind the scenes to interfere with the activities of the zoning inspector and zoning office, which is disrupting the progress we are trying to make.
“Everything that the zoning department has done recently has been scrutinized and questioned, even on matters where we are simply trying to help residents. I will not continue to tolerate this kind of subversion. It is very difficult to help the township when every effort is over-analyzed, questioned and picked apart. I've never seen anything close to this in 25 years in local government. It's clear to me that Jerusalem Township doesn't want to change.
“It doesn’t want to do things legally and the residents will ultimately suffer. Rob Gearhart is a great asset to Jerusalem Township and has been helpful with many things, including the history of parcels, explaining where things are in the office, assisting on inspections for safety purposes and numerous other items. This assistant has saved significant taxpayer money and has allowed the department to get up to speed quickly and move more efficiently.
“By interfering with his role and eliminating his position, this was trying to fix a problem that never existed. I'm especially disappointed with Beau Miller and his short-sightedness with this entire matter. Of the three trustees, he has the least knowledge of the weekly activities of the department and yet has the strongest opinion on how the office should be run. At least the other two trustees were in the office regularly and saw the challenges and issues the zoning department dealt with on a weekly basis.
“This will end up costing Jerusalem Township and its residents much more money in the long run. It will be extremely difficult to get anyone remotely qualified in this work environment. Instead of supporting the staff, the board of trustees continues to cater to the handful of disruptive citizens who simply want to question and impede progress and insult the township and its employees.
“The board of trustees continues to allow this to occur at virtually every meeting. As long as this continues and happens, progress will never be made and no one in the future will want to step (into) such a situation. Worse yet, at the May 12 trustees meeting, it appeared that the trustees were again catering to the disruptive residents in personnel matters as ‘You get rid of half of the problem tonight,’ referring to Rob Gearhart, and ‘You get rid of the other half,’ referring to the zoning inspector, ‘You can start over. The zoning inspector has caused more problems, told more lies, misled people. It caused trouble since he has been here, so he needs to go. It would be the best thing that has ever happened here.’
“I will not allow my good reputation that I have built throughout the state during the past 25 years, in which I take great pride in, to be slandered in such a way at the public meeting. Disappointedly, not one trustee spoke up on my behalf. With that said, it's hard to help a township that doesn't want one or appreciate the help. I have been unfairly put in a lose-lose situation. I am resigning as zoning inspector, effective immediately. I wish the best for Jerusalem Township and its residents.”
THE RESPONSE
Miller responded to that letter.
“I had reached out to Lucas County prosecutors regarding the situation, the issues that we had with our zoning inspector, and they are taking the information and documents that we recovered,” he said. “After they resigned, they somehow forgot to empty their trash on their emails, so it is getting turned over to the criminal investigators of Lucas County to file potential charges against both of them. So, that's where we're at with that. We've uncovered a lot of information that is being turned over to the prosecutor at this time. If the prosecutors choose to proceed with criminal charges, I will support them 110 percent with anything that they need.”
Lytten added, “I don’t really have much commentary. It is what it is.”
Following that, the trustees discussed a potential pay range for the zoning inspector position that will be posted while Chapman serves in his interim role.
However, Miller added a final bit of information.
“Along with the removal from the credit card users, we've locked out the emails, zoning email, the Rob email, and the info@jerusalemtownship (account) was already being forwarded to my email, so their emails have been monitored. We've got the emails locked out so they can't access (them) because with Gmail you can access them from anywhere.”
BOOTHBY IN AUDIENCE
Boothby, who was mentioned in the resignation letter from Barnes, was present at the meeting and had the following response during the public portion.
“I’d like to take a few sentences out of this letter. This resignation letter, it mentions there are several buildings removed with properties cleaned up. I'd like to know which ones they were. Also, it states in here that he has evidence that at least two members, James Boothby, which is me, and Scott Henninger [who was also present in the audience], along with trustee Beau Miller, I'd like to know what evidence he had that we destructed his job.
“It's typical of a narcissist to blame other people for their downfall, but I can't think of a thing. I enjoyed working with the man, and especially I enjoyed working with Rob, who did an excellent job in our zoning office. He was the backbone for our zoning office. I would like to know if you gentlemen could find out what exactly that Scott and I, and possibly Beau, did to actively work behind the scenes to interfere with activities.
“I stayed in my lane. We stayed in our lane. He states here that we were illegal in all we did, and in fact, I believe only the zoning inspector but other persons have questioned the things that I have done as head of the zoning commission. It was okayed by Jeffrey Stopar, our in-house attorney, and through John Burrell, that I was doing no illegal activities. So I would like to know if you guys can find out from the past zoning inspector what it was that me and Scott did illegally. Does that sound fair? We were named as the possible reason that this happened. I don't see that happening. That tarnishes the whole commission, and it tarnishes our name.”
Lytten responded that it’s not worthy of his time to look into that.
“No, I understand that, but when it appears that somebody's trying to lay blame on somebody else for their downfall, it is not to be blamed on me and Scott and trustee Beau,” Boothby said.
“I understand,” Lytten said. “I just want to look forward with this situation. It's already been a rough situation the past few weeks. You're more than welcome to reach out to (Barnes). I'm sure you can look him up online. He works at several other townships. It's pretty easy to find him. That's all I'm going to say on that topic.”
In addition to Boothby and Henninger being in attendance, Rossler was also in the audience at the meeting, but didn’t speak.
WHERE IT STANDS
As of press time, Miller said the prosecutor’s office only had the evidence for approximately a week. That office will make a determination on whether to file charges. It’s unclear what those charges would be, and Miller said he can’t get into much detail because it’s been turned over. He said nothing may come from it, but the evidence was enough that the prosecutor’s office wanted to review the matter.
Miller said the deleted emails were in reference to multiple people within the zoning office, but he couldn’t comment on who those people were.
The regularly scheduled zoning meeting slated for June 3 was also canceled.
