Letters to the Editor
Apathy Toward Park District, a Threat
Regarding the continuing adversarial environment that has appeared to become the “new norm” within the Geauga Park District since the tragic death of Probate Judge “Chip” Henry in May of 2011 and the appointment of Tim Grendell, I continually find it saddening that the citizens of Geauga County have been subjected to the following:
1) A revolving door of 11 plus park commissioners in just 3 years — it’s apparent to pretty much everyone in either the county government or the private sector that the effectiveness of these commissioners has been greatly diminished or eliminated by the micromanagement of the probate judge. Their predecessor’s average terms of service was measured in years of service, not months or weeks!
2) The surprising and disappointing rollback of a park levy that the citizens of Geauga county approved by a large percent in 2012. Doesn’t that kind of arbitrary action on the part of a revolving door park board point directly to overt political manipulation? And we now have the second consecutive year with an insufficient park budget
3) Lastly, not publicly releasing the results of a park survey from last spring that cost the park district $9,700 and which had responses from over 1,600 people. As a transparent attempt of an alternative, the judge sent a post card invitation to approximately 33,500 households to meet with Probate Judge Grendell at four different locations in the county (with probably not 1,600 responses?) with the pursuant cost of cards and the judges assistant and the constable and local security at a conservative cost to the tax payers of the county of $35,000 to $40,000!
With five more years left to serve in his term, Judge Grendell, based on the last two years, could potentially go through a couple of dozen park commissioners for whatever reasons that suit him. Our concern should clearly be the disastrous fallout of these parochial decisions for our park district, our kids and our grandkids.
An apathetic response to this lack of leadership is a threat to the park district we’ve known for over 50 years. The threat of apathy is real but combatable. Please explore the “many voices” and growing number of citizens who support Protect Geauga Parks and fight the apathy and this incredulous narrative on the part of the probate judge.
These politically motivated decisions can negatively change our park for years to come — years after this travesty has exhausted its political life for the present leadership.
Bill Franz
Bainbridge Township
