![]() ![]() State law authorizes Ohio townships to operate under a basic form of government and perform a wide variety of functions. Their intimate knowledge of their community, its needs, and its citizens enables them to offer more personal service than any other unit of government. The township administrator typically helps plan, coordinate, and implement township goals.Įlected officials fill their roles on a part-time basis. Additionally, some townships now appoint a township administrator, whose duties are defined by the Ohio Revised Code and the individual township. ![]() Three trustees and a fiscal officer, each elected to a four-year term, administer our townships today. Demands for increased or different services have prompted the state legislature to grant Ohio’s 1,308 townships the authority to fulfill these changing needs. To keep pace with the demands of changing times, the functions, duties, and obligations of the township have changed over the years. Today, just as in 1804, the township is a political subdivision of the state. In the early years of statehood, Ohio township government cared for the poor, maintained the roads, and preserved the peace. In 1804, the elected officials of a township consisted of three trustees, a clerk, two overseers of the poor, and a sufficient number of supervisors of highway - in addition to justices of the peace and constables. Within each of the Ohio land grants, Congress set aside sections of land for the use of schools and the support of religious institutions.Īs the Ohio territory became populated, it was only natural that the surveyed townships should become the basic unit of local government. The townships’ size and shape were determined by the Congressional Acts, which established the various land grants. In Ohio, the township predates our state government. Today, it is found in 20 states, known as the town or township. ![]() This unit of local government eventually spread as far west as the Rocky Mountains. How Townships Began The Pilgrim fathers brought the township form of government to America in 1620. ![]()
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