Deer Creek Trustee Neda Kay Duff asks voters Tuesday to participate in a referendum on spending surplus township funds. Comet photo by Debbie Lowe Deer Creek Township voters were greeted by a township volunteer at a card table prior to entering their voting arena on Election Day. The volunteers asked for the voters' "opinion" about a proposal to bestow $10,000 to Carroll Manor and $60,000 to the Historical Museum from surplus township funds. The questions were posed on two forms with the heading, "referendum," although expressing an opinion was not an official voting action. A signature was required on the forms as they were submitted.

According to county clerk Laura Sterrett, township authorities called her office for guidelines and proceeded to follow them when placing the tables outside of all the Deer Creek Township polling places.

Advisory board members Sherry Mears, Mary Clifford and Melissa Darling developed the two forms, with the help of township attorney Jim Huffer. Huffer said the use of the word "referendum" was appropriate and fitting.

"It meets the definition of the word," he told the Comet Tuesday. "They wanted to have the opinion of the constituents of the township government."

According to township trustee Neda Kay Duff, the subject of a monetary gift to the two entities was brought to the attention of the advisory board last fall when a museum representative requested financial support to purchase land. Discussion ensued about how to divest the township of excess funds and it was decided a portion could also be donated to Carroll Manor. Duff said she did not consider the matter a conflict of interest for her township to provide financial backing to Carroll Manor, although her sister is Martha Lewis, the Manor superintendent.

Duff said it was a misconception that townships were out of money because of the county financial situation.

"People seem to think that because the county general is out of money, the townships are out of money," she told the Comet Tuesday. "That is not always the case."

Duff stated the money accumulated over several years and was in the bank, collecting interest. She said she was unsure of the exact amount of surplus funds, but the advisory board desired to ensure the money was used for township needs. Duff said it has been predicted township government would be disbanded by the state in two years and there was no way to know where the surplus money would go.

Duff said advisory board members would count the "opinion" forms in the next two days and decide how to proceed. If the decision is to expend the funds, based on voter opinion, the proposed expenditure would appear as a legal advertisement in the Comet and there would be a public hearing.

Duff said she did not think offering forms to weigh in on the issue was newsworthy.

"All we're trying to do is get an idea how people feel," she concluded. "We felt like we were trying to do the right thing by getting the taxpayers' opinion about how they felt about these two issues."