The first recorded organized board meeting of the village of West Salem took place on August 24, 1914. Those taking office were President Charles Pixley and Trustees James Fry, Leona Voigt, Dow Harrison, Arthur Clodfelter, E. Greathouse, and Charles Couch. Stuart Walser was clerk. Records in Village Hall do not show how these persons became the first officers, but they do not show an election of April 1915. At that time, those elected drew lots for one- or two-year terms. At the August 1914 meeting an attorney, John A. McNeil, was hired for $50 to draft a complete set of ordinances. These ordinances set boundaries and territories, set the fiscal year and meeting times, approve a corporate seal, set rules for committees and village officers, street labor, concerning peace, special elections, tax levies, annual appropriations, gaming, local improvements, establishing a prison, fines, traffic laws, etc. Thirty-one ordinances were approved by the end of 1915.