PERRY TOWNSHIP — The Perry Township Board of Trustees re-organized Jan. 5, in its first meeting of 2026.

Steve Bailey will continue to serve as the board chairman, with a motion made by trustee Tony Ieropoli and seconded by the board’s newest member Russ Sinsley, who was elected to the board in November, and unanimously approved. Bailey will be joined as a board officer by Ieropoli, who was unanimously appointed vice chairman with a motion by Bailey which was seconded by Sinsley. Ieropoli will succeed former trustee Jim Armeni.

Bailey and Ieropoli will both retain their 2025 appointments to work with the police and road departments, respectively, while Sinsley will cover the fire department. Sinsley and Ieropoli were selected to serve as board appointments to the volunteer firefighters dependents fund for 2026. Ieropoli and Sinsley will be joined on the fund by two people appointed by the fire department, and a fifth member who will be selected by all four appointees.

Trustees voted unanimously to continue holding board meetings on the second and fourth Monday of the month. The board also voted unanimously to reappoint Brian Toothman to the Zoning Appeals Board and Joe Farago to the Zoning Board for the period of Jan. 1, 2026, through Jan. 1, 2031.

Other matters approved included adopting the Perry Township Cafeteria Plan for 2026, and authorization for trustees to hire outside legal counsel for township matters on an as needed basis.

During his report Zoning Inspector Dan Bowers said that he had issued six permits in December, bringing the total for 2025 to 103 permits. He also said that in 2025 that 54 violations had been issued, and there were five applications to the township’s CRA.

The meeting concluded with an executive session for personnel matters that was not followed by any action.

The board of trustees will meet next at 4 p.m. on Jan. 26.