Jefferson Township is one of the fourteen townships

Civil township

A civil township is a widely used unit of local government in the United States, subordinate to, and geographic divisions of, a county. Specific responsibilities and the degree of autonomy vary based on each state. Civil townships are distinct from survey townships, but in states that have both,...

 of Mercer County

Mercer County, Ohio

Mercer County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. Its county seat is Celina and is named for Hugh Mercer, an officer in the American Revolutionary War.The Celina Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Mercer County.-Geography:...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The 2000 census

United States Census, 2000

The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

 found 13,231 people in the township, 2,928 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.

Geography

Located in the east central part of the county, it borders the following townships:

• Hopewell Township
  Hopewell Township, Mercer County, Ohio
  Hopewell Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,066 people in the township.-Geography:Located in the north central part of the county, it borders the following townships:...
  
   - north, west of Center Township
• Center Township
  Center Township, Mercer County, Ohio
  Center Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,082 people in the township.-Geography:Located in the northeastern part of the county, it borders the following townships:...
  
   - north, east of Hopewell Township
• Noble Township, Auglaize County
  Noble Township, Auglaize County, Ohio
  Noble Township is one of the fourteen townships of Auglaize County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,439 people in the township, 1,240 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
  
   - northeast
• Saint Marys Township, Auglaize County
  Saint Marys Township, Auglaize County, Ohio
  Saint Marys Township is one of the fourteen townships of Auglaize County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 11,600 people in the township, 3,457 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
  
   - southeast
• Franklin Township
  Franklin Township, Mercer County, Ohio
  Franklin Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 2,303 people in the township, 2,112 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
  
   - south, east of Butler Township
• Butler Township
  Butler Township, Mercer County, Ohio
  Butler Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 6,459 people in the township, 1,977 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
  
   - south, west of Franklin Township
• Washington Township
  Washington Township, Mercer County, Ohio
  Washington Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,218 people in the township.-Geography:Located in the western part of the county, it borders the following townships:*Liberty Township - north...
  
   - southwest
• Liberty Township
  Liberty Township, Mercer County, Ohio
  Liberty Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 917 people in the township.-Geography:Located in the northwestern part of the county, it borders the following townships:...
  
   - northwest

The city of Celina

Celina, Ohio

Celina is a city in and the county seat of Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The population was 10,303 at the 2000 census. Celina is situated on the western shores of Grand Lake St. Marys.-History:...

, the county seat

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Mercer County, is located in central Jefferson Township, and Grand Lake St. Marys

Grand Lake St. Marys

Grand Lake Saint Marys State Park is an Ohio state park, west of St. Marys, and south-east of Celina, south-west of Lima in the north-western part of the U.S. state of Ohio.Grand Lake covers in Mercer and Auglaize counties...

 occupies the township's southeastern quarter.

Name and history

It is one of twenty-four Jefferson Townships statewide

Jefferson Township, Ohio

Jefferson Township, Ohio may refer to:*Jefferson Township, Adams County, Ohio*Jefferson Township, Ashtabula County, Ohio*Jefferson Township, Brown County, Ohio*Jefferson Township, Clinton County, Ohio*Jefferson Township, Coshocton County, Ohio...

.

Government

The township is governed by a three-member board of trustees, who are elected in November of odd-numbered years to a four-year term beginning on the following January 1. Two are elected in the year after the presidential election and one is elected in the year before it. There is also an elected township fiscal officer, who serves a four-year term beginning on April 1 of the year after the election, which is held in November of the year before the presidential election. Vacancies in the fiscal officership or on the board of trustees are filled by the remaining trustees.