By John Kiesewetter
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Christine Matacic, Liberty Township's acting administrator and trustee president, takes a rare moment to tend to her garden. Her expanded duties in the fast-growing township have put great demands on her time. An administrator is expected to be appointed by the end of June. She looks forward to slowing down so she can devote more time to gardening. Cincinnati Enquirer/GLENN HARTONG

LIBERTY TWP. - When it's time to harvest her peppers and make salsa in August, Christine Matacic figures she'll have a few days free to spend in her kitchen.

She hopes.

By then, she should be relieved of an unusual double duty, as acting township administrator and township trustee president of southwest Ohio's fastest-growing township. A relative political novice, Matacic has been doing both jobs since Jan. 6, the day after Barry Tiffany was fired as administrator of Butler County's fastest-growing township.

"It's been more than a full-time job, with all the extra meetings in the evening," says Matacic, 52, a mother of two and a former parks volunteer serving her first term in elected office.

As administrator and trustees' president, Matacic spends 60-70 hours a week supervising the township zoning, planning and roads staff; attending night zoning and zoning appeals board hearings; and meeting with county officials on road projects and economic development issues.

'Tremendous chore'

A year ago Matacic (pronounced Matt-a-sic), reluctantly took charge of the township for three weeks until Tiffany, the zoning officer, was named acting administrator.

CHRISTINE MATACIC

Born: Christine Staubach, one of seven children of Jeanne and Bob Staubach. Family: John, controller at Valco; daughters Catherine, 21, a University of Maryland senior, and Janice, 19, an Ohio University freshman. Education: Mount Notre Dame High School, 1969; University of Cincinnati business administration degree, 1984. Residence: Liberty Township for 23 years. Business experience: Home Grown Treasures doll clothes and accessories (1988-present); Matacic Consulting (2001-02). Organizations: Butler County Transportation Improvement District board; Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Government board; Butler County Regional Transit Authority board; Butler County Emergency Management Committee; Co-chairwoman of Miami-2-Miami Coalition for hike-bike trails connecting Little Miami and Great Miami rivers; Friends of Liberty Parks and Recreation co-founder (1998-2002); Liberty Township Park Committee (1994-99); Girl Scout Troop 1253 co-leader (1991-96). Honors: Southeastern Butler County Chamber of Commerce citizen of the year (1999).

Fellow trustees David Kern and Bob Shelley say they're lucky to have Matacic stepping up; taking the lead role championing the proposed Interstate 75 Liberty interchange; analyzing the financial impact of the county commissioners' planned special taxing districts on unbuilt subdivisions here; and hiring a search company to find the next administrator.

"Honestly, I don't know what we would have done," says Shelley, a trustee since 1986. Says longtime township resident Dean Swartz, a General Electric Co. security specialist: "Being administrator in a small township like ours is a tremendous chore."

Kern, a strong ally, says: "She is very organized, very attentive to detail, and very methodical."

She has to be. After Matacic received a ruling in March from the Butler County Prosecutor's office, the township has begun paying $26.50 an hour for her administrative duties - in addition to her $18,654 annual compensation as a trustee. The township issued her a check for $16,900 earlier this month for administrative work done from January through April, says Clerk Roger Reynolds.

"How many people would work - or expect to work - without compensation?" she says. "I've been keeping a log sheet since Day 1 for my records. At this point, I feel I'm under the microscope."

A replacement for Tiffany should be selected by the end of June, she says. Matacic has no interest in the full-time job. She wants her life back.

Public service career

Matacic started her public service career nearly 10 years ago as park committee president (1995-99), when she wrote and won $300,000 in recreation grants, and raised $200,000 for the Fort Liberty Playland.

At the urging of friends Matacic ran for trustee in 2001. With both of her daughters away at college last fall, she took out petitions for the 55th Ohio House district seat being vacated by Gary Cates. She withdrew after William Coley of West Chester Township won the Republican Party endorsement.

Matacic and husband John, a controller for Valco Cincinnati Inc. in West Chester Township, continue to live in the modest wood-paneled ranch home they built 23 years ago, when only 5,000 lived in the rural township. With completion of the Fox Highway across the township's southern border to Interstate 75, the population has jumped to 28,000 - with projections to increase by 117 percent (to 60,835) by 2020.

As trustee, Matacic is trying to manage the township's rapid growth - and improve the road system - so people will continue to move here for the same reasons she and John did.

"We wanted a good place to raise kids. It was easy to get to work at that time, and it was a good school system," she says.

Search continues

A new Liberty Township administrator should be chosen before July 1, says Ted Plattenburg of the Angus Group, a Cincinnati executive search firm.

About 100 people have expressed interest in - or been contacted about - supervising Butler County's fastest-growing township, he says. Interviews with the most qualified candidates could begin this week, says Christine Matacic, trustee president and acting administrator.

Matacic has been acting administrator since Barry Tiffany was fired Jan. 5 for misusing township property by giving his girlfriend a township cell phone. E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com