This is the eighth article in a series spotlighting the townships of Fayette County.

At the Nov. 5 general election, Paint Township will have one township trustee and the township fiscal officer to elect.

Paint Township is one of 10 townships in Fayette County, is located in the northern-center section of Fayette and contains the Village of Bloomingburg. According to the 2010 US Census Bureau, out of the 29,030 population in Fayette County there were 1,975 living in Paint Township.

Paint Township trustees are Scott Cook, Kenneth J. Kelly and Duane Matthews. The terms of Cook and Kelly expire on Dec. 31 of 2021. Matthews’ term expires Dec. 31 of this year. The fiscal officer, Richard Barton, has a term expiring on March 31 of next year.

“We’ve got a small township. We take care of the pavement, fixing roads, mowing roads,” said Cook, “and any other issues that come about that’s township business.”

According to Cook, there are approximately 19 miles of road to maintain in the township. There is one part-time employee who assists with mowing, although the trustees handle plowing the snow in the winter months.

Cook explained that Bloomingburg Cemetery is the only one in Paint Township. The cemetery, however, has its own board to take care of it and is therefore not a responsibility for the trustees.

Even though the trustees do not have to maintain the cemetery as trustees, Matthews is on the cemetery board and helps with it.

During the election this November, Paint Township has two people competing for trustee and two people competing for fiscal officer. Matthews is running against Donald Hutchens for trustee. Barton is running against Tonya Fleak for fiscal officer.

Follow the Record-Herald for future articles detailing more information on the individual townships within Fayette County. For more information now please visit www.ohiogenealogyexpress.com. For specific information on what the board of township trustees are responsible for, please visit codes.ohio.gov/orc/5 to look over the Ohio Revised Code section 5.

Reach Jennifer Woods at 740-313-0355.