Tuscarawas elections board pay adjustment draws questions

Elected officials and at least one candidate for office are raising questions about a decision by the Tuscarawas County Board of Elections at a special Feb. 8 meeting to grant a “compensation adjustment” to board employees.

The adjustment amounted to $47,500 in total.

That included $9,000 each to elections Director Dave Johnson and Deputy Director Brian Swartzwelder; $7,000 to the one member of the information technology staff at the time; and $4,500 each to the five clerks in the office.

In addition, board employees all received around a 4% pay raise in 2026. For example, Johnson and Swartzwelder saw their pay increase from $83,007 to $86,327,

In 2025, commissioners allocated money for 4% pay raises for all county employees in 2026. These raises were part of that allocation.

At the board’s meeting Monday, Kent Watson of Dover, a Democratic candidate for commissioner this year, asked what the surrounding circumstances were in 2025 that prompted the Board of Elections to make the adjustment.

“We were short-staffed during that time and moved,” said board member Jerry Lahmers. “It was compensation for unusual circumstances we faced last year with the movement and the short staff going through from March through the first of the year.

“The rest of the staff picked up the slack and kept things rolling. It was compensation for that.”

Last March, the board chose not to reappoint Gail Garbrandt as director. Swartzwelder, who was deputy director, took her place until Johnson, who was on the IT staff, was named director in October. From March through October, the board had no deputy director.

Also in 2025, the board moved from its offices in the basement of the courthouse in New Philadelphia to a new building at 933 E. High Ave., New Philadelphia.

Addressing the compensation issue, board Chairman Tom Hisrich noted, “Basically, that was addressed to the county auditor. The county auditor advised us that that money had been appropriated, and the board could spend it for whatever purpose they wanted.”

Commissioners discussed the compensation adjustment at a meeting Jan. 28. At that time, commissioners instructed county Administrator Kris Lowdermilk to gather information from the board of elections “in an effort to justify their actions with respect to the financial matters which are rather concerning,” according to minutes from the commissioners meeting.

The commissioners also decided to contact county Auditor Larry Lindberg, the secretary of state and the state auditor for guidance.

“It was irregular,” Commissioner Kristin Zemis said Monday about the compensation. “It certainly wasn’t something that we knew about or planned for or appropriated.”

She added, “We need to be careful stewards with the public’s money, and that was a highly irregular transaction that we had no knowledge of, and we’re just trying to run down the information and gather facts.”

She said commissioners have not received any information yet from Johnson or Swartzwelder about the board decision.