Meet Jamie

I was born in 1980 in Perry, OH and graduated from Perry High School in 1998 and went on to study accounting at Kent State University in Kent, OH. In May 2001 I graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration, majoring in Accounting. In May 2002 I graduated from Kent State University with a Master’s in Accountancy. My husband, Rob, and I met in January 2003 and were married in November 2006. Rob has been a LeRoy resident since 1999 and I became a resident in 2005. In September 2008 we welcomed our son, Aiden.

I started my accounting career at Bond, Sippola and DeJoy accounting firm in Willoughby Hills, OH. During my three years in public accounting I worked on public, private and governmental audit engagements and prepared private and individual tax returns. Once I left public accounting, I spent five years as an internal auditor between Applied Industrial Technologies and KraftMaid Cabinetry. When KraftMaid moved its corporate offices to Ann Arbor, Michigan, I joined Cleveland Track Material, Inc. as their controller. For eight years I oversaw the accounting department, organized annual physical inventories over three sites, implemented numerous IT systems, prepared annual budgets and quarterly forecasts and achieved annual unqualified audit opinions. In 2018 I joined my current employer, ECKART America, in Painesville, OH where I am a controller and manager of internal audit.

Since my senior year of high school I have wanted to hold a local, elected position. My original desire was to run for school board but while Rob served on the LeRoy Zoning Board, we agreed that when the timing was right I would run for LeRoy Township Trustee. We realize that while so many give so much day after day, year after year it’s the least we can do as a family to give back to the community.

I am running on the principals of A.C.T

ACCOUNTABILITY

Political accountability is when a politician makes choices on behalf of the people and the people have the ability to reward or sanction the politician through elections in order to represent or act in their interest.

As the next Trustee of LeRoy Township, I will be working for the citizens and what you want, and what is best for the community. Every decision and vote I make will be a representation of the residents. I will not make any promises I cannot keep. Nor will I make everyone happy. However, I will listen to all view points and keep an open mind.

COMMUNITY

A community is a social unit with commonality such as norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area such as a township. Although communities are usually small relative to personal social ties, "community" may also refer to large group affiliations such as national communities, international communities, and virtual communities.

As LeRoy's next Trustee I want to make sure the community is always informed on what is going on; the tax income we receive, how we spend it, who we write checks to and why and what are the hot topics.

Did you know we are looking to purchase the property that Leroy Elementary is located on?
Do you know the real reason why Proctor Rd was repaired one way and Chadwick another?

Well, I have been attending various Township meetings all year and can answer all those questions. I want to make sure all Township meetings are on YouTube for you to view when you can. I want to make sure that Township financial information is available on the Ohio Open Checkbook site. This is OUR community and this is OUR information. I also want to know what is important to you.

TRANSPARENCY

Political Transparency is the right and the means of the public to examine the process of decision making of elected officials. In politics, transparency is used as a means of holding public officials accountable and assists in fighting corruption. When a government's meetings are open to the press and the public, its budgets may be reviewed by anyone, and its laws and decisions are open to discussion, it is seen as transparent."

Have you ever seen Leroy Township's budget and actual financial statements? If you did, you had to ask for it. Did you know Leroy has the ability of posting financial statements on https://checkbook.ohio.gov/? If you check out the site today you will see the financial statements of Painesville Township - Riverside Local Schools and Lake County. To date, Leroy Township has opted out of participating on this site. I want to see the Leroy Township financial statements available to residents at anytime at a click of a mouse. YOU, the tax payer and voter, need to see where your tax dollars are being spent.

Besides Facebook, how do you get your Leroy news? Do you visit the website? What about those that don't use social media or even the internet? I would like to get back to the days of snail mail quarterly news letters so Leroy news reaches EVERY resident first hand. Each Trustee and department head would provide you with a couple paragraphs as to the highs and lows that are going on within the Township.

Wouldn't you like to know the agenda of a Trustee, or any Leroy Township board, meeting so you can decide if you should attend or not? Maybe even have the opportunity to contact a Trustee to give your take on a topic that will be discussed prior to the meeting. How about the ability to watch a meeting in recorded form so you can hear for yourself all that was said, instead of the brief overview the meeting minutes have to offer? I want to modernize and accommodate meetings so more residents have an opportunity to be involved, or at least have the opportunity to hear and see what happened at a meeting first hand.