SALINEVILLE - Citing the inability to obtain financial information she said are vital to doing her job, Woodland Cemetery Clerk Rhonda Johnson submitted her resignation to the village this week, effective immediately.

In her letter, Johnson - the wife of cemetery board member Dale Johnson - said she had made numerous attempts to obtain documents and statements from village Fiscal Officer Robert Roach, to no avail.

"He has avoided my calls, letters and personal requests of public information that I need in order to verify he has paid items requested for Woodland Cemetery, and to confirm fund balances," Johnson wrote.

She said she had not received reports for August, September and October, and wrote, "If Mr. Roach will not give the (trustees) or me copies of requested financial documents, I can no longer do my job adequately."

Johnson said Roach has advised her he intends to charge a 5-cent-per-sheet fee for the requested documentation, which she said "is not fair to the residents of Salineville."

Johnson said yesterday Roach instructed her to type a letter asking what she wanted and to include the front page so he would recognize the documents, which she did.

After that, Roach left her several messages saying she was no longer going to receive all the reports she had in the past and wanted to meet to discuss her requests.

"He said I work for him, but I work for the village, trustees, the mayor, not the clerk," she said, adding, "I told him there was no need for me to meet with him and asked again for the records but he again said no. That's when I got mad."

At the end of the Oct. 19 council meeting, Johnson confronted Roach and told him, "You might run everyone else, but you don't run me."

Asked why she needed the requested records, Johnson said she asked for the bank statement to reconcile it against status and revenue funds already set up in Roach's computer to verify what he's putting in the computer reconciles with the bank statement.

Saying she regrets having to do it, Johnson said she decided to resign rather than be part of anything that might happen in the future if she is unable to obtain records that will help her keep track of its finances.

Roach, however, said Johnson had "absolutely no interest in communication" with him and said, "I believe it was all personal. The problem lies in her unwillingness to talk about it."

According to Roach, he spoke with someone in the state auditor's office about Johnson's request and was told she did not need the records being requested.

"If she needs it, I print it out every month. If she wants it, it will be treated as a public records request because that's what it is," he said, offering as a comparison the police chief asking for records from the fire department, which are not required for the police department to function.

"I told her if she wants to come in as a private citizen (and ask for the records), she can do that," Roach said.

He said it is not Johnson's job to reconcile the cemetery ledger with the village's bank statement, which he said, "shows me there's a fundamental misunderstanding on her part of her job."

Saying he is "all right with her resignation," Roach said he would probably recommend the cemetery board revert to the former practice of having the fiscal officer also serve as the cemetery clerk.

Former Clerk Melissa Baker did both jobs but when she resigned in March, Johnson was hired for the cemetery clerk's position.

"When one person did it, it was easier to do it. There is a lot of overlap," Roach said, adding if the cemetery board decides to appoint another clerk, that person needs to have an open line of communication with his office.

The cemetery board will meet at 3:30 p.m. today at board member Richard Polen's home to consider the resignation. The meeting is open to the public.