WEST CHESTER TWP. — A Deerfield Township trustee defended Ohio's system of township government Thursday, while two residents said change is needed to deal with the community's growth.

Deerfield Township Trustee Randy Kuvin (from left) debates Friends for Five's Dorette Landis and Faye Smith (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

“It seems to have worked pretty well for 200 years,” Trustee Randy Kuvin said.

He and Deerfield's other two trustees oppose an effort by a committee called Friends for Five to expand the board to five trustees. The group collected enough petitions in August to get the measure on the November ballot, making Deerfield the first township to consider expanding its board since the General Assembly changed the law a year ago to allow it.

“We're close to a city size, and we're getting closer to a city-type government, so it just seems natural to have more representation,” proponent Faye Smith said.

Mr. Kuvin, Ms. Smith and another Friends for Five supporter, Dorette Landis, sparred over the issue at the Enquirer's West Chester office on Thursday.

One of Mr. Kuvin's main objections is that it will cost the township about $50,000 a year to pay salary and benefits for two more trustees.

“That's quite a bargain,” Ms. Smith responded, noting that would amount to no more than 0.2 percent of the township's budget. She and Ms. Landis cited some recent property purchases as examples of bad decisions that trustees might have avoided if there'd been five of them to offer more perspectives.

Friends for Five says people in four other Ohio townships have asked the group for information.

Only townships with limited home rule —18 in Ohio — can expand their boards.

E-mail candrews@enquirer.com

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