Railroad Township appears to have a new township board member. Roger Chaffins Sr. has been appointed to the position by Starke County Democratic Party Chair Kenny Wallace. Chaffins replaces Board President Gus Eckert, who resigned.
The process was not without some confusion, though. Wallace says a caucus was held on October 9, but because Eckert did not file his resignation letter with the Starke County Clerk’s Office in a timely manner, Wallace has declared the results of the caucus to be null and void.
He adds that since Chaffins was the only one to show an interest in the position, he decided to appoint him to the township board. All the paperwork has now been filed properly, according to Wallace. He says he thought more people would be interested in filling the vacancy, which is why he called for a caucus in the first place.
Chaffins previously served as Railroad Township trustee, before he was narrowly defeated by Mandy Thomason in the 2014 election.
