Coss to make VSC appointment by end of month
Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss filed an entry Monday formally accepting a letter of resignation from the former president of the Highland County Veterans Services Commission. Coss said he plans to appoint a replacement commission member by the end of the month.
Richard Kisamore submitted his letter of resignation to Coss, effective immediately, on May 29.
"I filed an entry today," Coss told The Highland County Press on Monday. "I expect to appoint a replacement by the end of the month."
Kisamore said that he had served on the commission for 20 years. He had received his most recent reappointment in January, according to Coss.
In his letter of resignation, Kisamore said, "I could offer many reasons for my decision, but none are necessary. I have often said that the hardest action we, as people, have to take is to admit when it is time to step down. For me, that time came at the end of my last term. Unfortunately, I allowed others to persuade me to stay another term against my own desire. In retrospect, that was a mistake."
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When contacted by The Highland County Press, Kisamore declined to comment further.
According to the Ohio Revised Code Section 5901.02, "the (Veterans Service Commission) shall be composed of five residents of the county appointed to five-year terms by a judge of the court of common pleas. At the time of appointment or reappointment to the commission, no commission member appointed under this section shall be an employee of the commission or hold an elective or other appointive office of the county served by the commission.
"Each member of the commission appointed under this section shall be an honorably discharged or honorably separated veteran ... Such appointments shall be made from lists of recommended persons, in the manner specified in the following paragraph. One person shall be a representative recommended by the American Legion; one person shall be a representative recommended by the Veterans of Foreign Wars; one person shall be a representative recommended by the Disabled American Veterans; one person shall be a representative recommended by the AMVETS; and one person shall be a representative recommended by the Military Order of the Purple Heart of the U.S.A., the Vietnam Veterans of America, or the Korean War Veterans Association. If any such organization has no post or chapter located in the county, the appointment shall be made from lists of recommended persons submitted by posts or chapters of any other congressionally chartered veterans organizations located in the county. If no such other organizations have posts or chapters located in the county, the judge responsible for making appointments under this section may appoint any qualified veteran to represent the veteran community."
Coss said that Kisamore had been an appointment through the Disabled American Veterans. The DAV will make three recommendations, and Coss can choose from those individuals for the appointment.