Born and raised in Windsor, Ohio, Jim Dvorak grew up steeped in the rural values that make northeast Ohio great - values like hard work, honesty, integrity, and community service. Jim learned those values from following his father as he volunteered at church, as little league baseball coach, or just helping a neighbor or friend in hard times. Those experiences inspired a lifelong commitment to service.
The second of six children, Jim Dvorak graduated from Grand Valley High School in
1972. Following in his father’s footsteps, Jim attended masonry trade school, becoming a Masonry Instructor through Auburn Career Center in 1980. Through many years in the construction industry, Jim served in a variety of roles for various contractors. Each roll gave him a greater appreciation for the value or hard work and reinforced his desire to serve the good people he met along the way.
Hoping to better serve his neighbors, Jim Dvorak ran for local office in 2007, winning election as Burton Township Trustee. Since taking office, Jim has dedicated himself to efficient, transparent, and accessible local government.
As Trustee, Jim has been committed to providing fiscally responsible leadership while improving the efficiency of services since my first day in office. He led the effort to convert Burton Township from a reimbursement plan to a Uniform Health Care System in his first term, saving the township thousands of dollars annually. Leveraging his knowledge of the construction industry, he streamlined operations in the Township Road Department, which now operates with 33% less manpower while delivering the same quality of services.
Open, transparent communication is vital – especially in local government. That is why Jim led the Township in developing and maintaining a website and annual newsletter, providing Burton citizens with quick, easy access to information about their local government. Burton was the third Township in the County to sign up for the Ohio Treasurer’s open government initiative – OhioCheckbook.com – giving residents total transparency in fiscal matters.
As an elected official, Jim is always working to preserve and protect the hard-earned tax dollars of our residents. He is a strong believer that thoughtful, well-planned
collaboration with other local governments to provide vital services to residents can result in increased efficiency, lower cost of operations, and higher quality of services. As former chairman of the Geauga County Shared Services Design Team, Jim led a group of key stakeholders to establish feasibility studies in partnership with townships, villages, school boards, and county government to explore cost-benefits of prospective collaboration.
Collaboration is also vital when addressing multi-jurisdictional issues, such as when Jim served on the Safe Routes to School Engineering Study Committee. Tasked with studying solutions to improving the safety for Amish citizens traveling to school, the committee came forth from effective collaboration between ODOT, the Geauga County Engineers Office, the Geauga County Sheriff Department, the Township, and the local
Amish community. Such community cooperation is vital to our community.
Jim was elected by his fellow trustees as President of the Geauga County Township Association. Through his three terms as president (2012-2017) of the organization, Jim led the fight to preserve local control and worked to foster collaboration between
townships to better serve the citizens of Geauga. As President, Jim established continuing education classes at Kent State Geauga for local government officials, road superintendents, and road workers, to learn best practices and continue improving services. Jim also proved instrumental in established the first Township association endowed scholarship – The Geauga County Township Association Scholarship – in the state. Established with a five-year initial plan, the endowment began issuing scholarships in just three years.
Since retiring from the construction industry in 2012, Jim has leveraged that knowledge as a licensed realtor, working at Century 21 HomeStar alongside his wife of 48 years, Luanne. Jim and Luanne recognized there is no place better to raise a family than Geauga County and settled here 35 years ago to raise their four children – Rebecca, Julie, Jamie, and Mark. Blessed with seven grandchildren, Jim is dedicated to ensuring they have the same quality of life and opportunities that he has enjoyed growing up in northeast Ohio.
In addition to his service as Burton Township Trustee, Jim Dvorak is active in our community. Through his involvement with numerous organizations, including the Township Association, the Burton-Middlefield Rotary, Geauga County Republican Party, Red Tulip Project, and numerous others.
