Brookfield trustees have hired township resident Lisa Driscoll as the new office coordinator, a hybrid position that serves the police department and the township government.
Driscoll will start Sept. 8 at a salary of $17.50 an hour for the full-time position. If she successfully completes a one-year probationary period, her pay will go up to $18 an hour.
Driscoll was one of eight people interviewed from a pool of 18 candidates who sought to replace Tabatha Dickson, who resigned to take another job, said Trustee Shannon Devitz.
As office coordinator, Driscoll will be the face of the township. She is the first person many people meet when they seek township services. Her duties will include addressing public requests for police records; filing; managing the township banquet hall and administration building rentals and the senior citizens van program; answering phones and emails; posting on social media and the township’s electronic signs; and releasing vehicles from the police department’s impound lot.
Driscoll has served for two years in an office administrative position and has store management experience, Police Chief Aaron Kasiewicz said. She formerly co-managed R.P. McMurphy’s Sports Bar and Grill in Masury, and was a member of the Brookfield Parents Association at Brookfield Local School District.
Kasiewicz said there were a lot of great candidates for the position, but Driscoll’s work experience, community ties and enthusiasm for the job made her stand out.
“She demonstrated that she had a motivation and passion for the job,” he said.
Trustee Dan Suttles said the pay scale caused several candidates to withdraw their names from consideration.
“We were limited on what we could offer them,” he said. “That’s the painful thing about being a public employer.”
While he would like to pay the township’s employees more than they now make, “It’s not my money. It’s the public’s money,” Suttles said.
Since Dickson left at the end of July, the police department has staffed the township office when it could, but the office has been closed for significant chunks of time. Some services, including the senior citizens van and and hall rentals, have been closed or curtailed.
