By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LIBERTY TWP. - Trustees voted 2-1 Monday to pay their new administrator more than the $50,000 annual salary originally set for the job after he balked last week at accepting that amount.

Barry Tiffany, who has been the acting administrator since February, will earn $52,900 a year, but that salary is for doing two jobs, trustees stressed.

He will be the administrator and zoning supervisor of this rapidly growing township, which saw a 147 percent population increase in the 1990s.

Trustees also agreed Monday to backdate his salary between Feb. 27 to May 31 at $50,000 a year; he had earned $42,500 during that period as he served as acting administrator after the former one, Nell Kilpatrick, resigned.

"I look forward to working with the three trustees to continue to make Liberty Township a fantastic place," Tiffany, 42, of West Chester Township, said Monday. "We have done some great things in the township and we have plans to do more. I am very excited about it."

Out of the 569 new homes that have started construction so far this year in Butler County, 57 percent, or 325 of them, are in Liberty Township, records show.

Trustee President Christine Matacic said Tiffany was selected out of 49 applicants because he has done an excellent job since starting as zoning supervisor at the township in December. "I feel good and positive about this," Trustee David Kern said, agreeing.

But Trustee Bob Shelley voted against the hire, saying he thought they should go back and review the other candidates. He is concerned that Tiffany, a former code enforcement officer for neighboring West Chester Township, isn't experienced enough.

"There's no way I think we got the best candidate out of the 49 resumes," Shelley said. "We need a strong person in charge of the township. Maybe in a couple years Barry will have that experience, but I just don't feel he does right now."

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E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com.