My name is Tad VanNess I have been a longtime resident in St. Albans Twp. I grew up only a ½ mile from where my wife Rhonda and I raised our children and have lived for 33 years. I am running for St Albans Twp. Trustee, not because I wanted something else to do, quite the contrary. As a resident of St. Albans Township, I am deeply committed to preserving the values and traditions that make our community special. My experience of starting and running a successful business and a lifelong farmer has given me a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities we face. I am dedicated to listening to your concerns and working collaboratively to ensure a bright future for all residents. I started attending the merger meeting religiously in July of 2024 with an open mind, as I too voted for this study. I soon realized that something was very wrong. So I continued to go to the meetings to try to make sense of the information that the merger commission was presenting. It soon became evident that this group was just looking for information to support their predetermined agenda. I dove into the financials (as a business owner and farmer I am comfortable in that arena) and noticed their spreadsheets were grossly incomplete and full of errors. I had other financial experts look at these documents only to confirm my findings. This is backed up by the last two spreadsheets that I will post on [Save ST. Albans Township] web site . I appreciate the time and effort the merger members have given to this cause as I and many others have spent countless hours researching to find the best option as well. I consider myself to be a very logical person and the evidence shows a merged township would be financially disastrous, putting us in a weak compromised position unable to fight off development or quite frankly anything that comes up. All the while I was also attending twp. trustee meetings, zoning meetings and even a few board of zoning appeal meetings. This led me to a point where I realized that I need to fix this. We have two current trustees that are disengaged and not proactive in protecting this township. that we all love, and I for one plan on living the rest of my life right where I’m at. I have the skill and the background to be able to lead this township. into our best days ever, even with challenges that we know are coming. After having many in depth conversations with Mike Washington whom I’ve known for decades and is also running for trustee, it became very clear that we make a phenomenal team. I firmly believe that we can control growth and maintain our rural character by using our new zoning resolution, 2025 comprehensive plan, as well as JEDD’s and TIF’s that will enable us to weed out any undesirable growth.I hope this message helps you understand who I am and why I feel so strongly about these issues. I am truly looking forward to when the election is over and we as a community can come together as one township, strong and unified. Please consider voting for myself and Mike Washington as your new township trustees.

Thank you