Lorain-Medina Rural Electric Cooperative People Fund Chairman Joe Swinko of Litchfield Township was appointed at the December meeting to fill the vacancy on the cooperative’s board of trustees.
He fills the District 6 seat vacated by Roy Norris, who resigned in October when he moved from the cooperative’s service area. District 6 covers Litchfield, Liverpool, and York townships in Medina County and Grafton Township in Lorain County.
In November, the cooperative sent letters to all members of District 6 announcing the vacancy and the board’s intent to appoint a member to succeed Norris. Seven members sent in letters of interest and a resume. They were interviewed by two cooperative board members and a representative from the district.
“We believe Joe Swinko brings a wealth of financial experience and community involvement to the LMRE board,” said John Eaton, president of the LMRE board. “We were thrilled to have seven well-qualified members with strong credentials express an interest in serving the cooperative.”
“I’m honored to have been selected,” Swinko said. “As a board member, it is our job to make sure we provide a high level of service to members, and I want to see that it continues.”
Swinko, 67, has been an LMRE member for 28 years. He will serve the remainder of Norris’ three-year term, which expires in July at the cooperative’s 2019 annual meeting.
Swinko has been a certified public accountant since 1999 and a certified management accountant since 1986. He earned his Master of Business Administration degree from Cleveland State University in 1979 and his Bachelor of Science in accounting from Dyke College in 1973.
Since December 1985, he has owned and operated Litchfield Accounting Service Inc., providing business consulting and management review of financial and tax returns plus processing clients’ federal, state, and local tax returns. In addition, he has been employed at Agrati Inc. in Medina since 1995, first as a controller until 2015, when he assumed the role of corporate manager of business software.
Swinko was appointed to the LMRE People Fund Board of Trustees in 2014 and served as its chairman since 2016. He is the third cooperative member (after Kathy Fox of Carlisle Township and Celia Kruggel of Litchfield) to have first started on the People Fund board and subsequently be elected or appointed to serve on the electric cooperative board. After being appointed, he submitted his resignation from the People Fund board in compliance with the People Fund’s Code of Regulations and is responsible for finding a successor from District 6.
In Litchfield, he has served several terms on the township’s zoning board of appeals and zoning commission, plus has twice served on the township’s 10-year comprehensive plan committee. He also has served on the Our Lady Help of Christians church finance council.
He has volunteered for the Litchfield Boy Scout Troop 504 in various roles. He and his wife of 41 years, Cathy, have three children and three grandchildren.