Letters to Editor

September 11, 2014 by Staff Report

Preservation

The ‘Letters to the Editor’ sections of the Maple Leaf on Aug. 21 and on Aug. 28 presented a discussion of an important issue in Geauga County: Who is preserving the parks?

In a representative democracy, citizens have the ultimate responsibility and are speaking out reasonably and judiciously to maintain the successful history and historical mission of the Geauga Park District.

If one sees citizens as ’emotional,’ one is not listening; if one believes that vaguely specified ‘recreational needs’ are well defined, one is not setting precise management objectives; if one anticipates that the proposed logging and drilling language in the park’s new mission statement will be changed, one is merely anticipating; if one labels raising levy dollars for current and future park expenditures as ‘hoarding,’ please identify with data who or what governmental entity is ‘hoarding?’; if one legitimately can reverse the will of the majority that approved the 1986 park levy by suspending collection of said levy, one is lacking a sufficient reverence for the phrase, ‘will of the people.’

If the citizens in Geauga County anticipated that their Geauga Park Commissioners would attend the recent Geauga County Budget Commission meeting, they were disappointed on Aug. 25; if Geauga citizens hoped that the park commissioners would have approved and presented a timely and complete budget on Aug. 25, they were let down; if the Geauga citizens assumed that the Park CFO would attend this important budget meeting, their assumptions were misplaced; if the Geauga citizens considered that their voice in a representative democracy would be heard on Aug. 25, the democratic process appeared to be silent that day.

There was even a discussion about passing a ‘hypothetical’ budget according to the Maple Leaf.

‘Hypothetical Budget’? In any democratic budgetary process, can duly elected or appointed officials approve an unapproved ‘hypothetical budget’ presented by an interim park director who was described by Mr. Flaiz, according to the Maple Leaf, as a ‘messenger’?

If Geauga County Park preservation is the question and if the Geauga citizens’ demand is for the commissioners to return to the park’s historical mission statement, then the answer, if one is asking, lies in the public’s continued return to Geauga Park board meetings, the public’s continued advocacy for the parks prior managerial style, the acquisition of signatures on Sept. 6 so citizens may be heard and, finally, a return to the polls to impact how the appointments to the Geauga Park Board are made.

Sheldon Firem

Hambden

Oh Contrare, Your Honor

Have you noticed how folks who don’t agree with you or who have their own personal agenda will often say “you’re being emotional and then they go on to say, ‘here’s the facts.'”

The many critical letters to the editor that Judge Grendell apparently felt were emotional and lacked a factual basis were, frankly, some of the most thoughtful, insightful and intelligently written letters to the editor that I have seen in some time.

Lets go through the judge’s comments in his letter and you judge for yourself if his facts clarify or obscure.

The judge spouts a figure of how much the Geauga Park District has spent over its entire existence. Come on, Judge Grendell. Does that really illuminate the situation? If we looked at the probate courts expenditures since its creation, I’m sure we would be looking at another enormous number. Why not impress us with how much the defense department has spent since 1776?

Moving on, the judge does not seem to understand that multiple use is very often multiple abuse. The noise of off road vehicles, gun ranges and the like would extend throughout and beyond any park, disrupting animal life and park visitors.

In an increasingly noisy, hectic world, most folks appreciate our parks being a haven of quiet and let the sounds be those of singing birds, crickets, katydids and the like.

Judge Grendells’s stating of a huge park district cash balance excess is a huge deception. Ask past “fired” park personal and commissioners and they will tell you that vacant positions have not been filled and anticipated, hoped for land acquisitions have not moved forward and taken place.

The assistant director, for example , was primarily responsible for the acquisition of those “very special places” before they’re turned into strip malls or the like. It appears they have no intention of filling his presently vacant position. What does that tell you about the commissioners priorities? Maybe they’re chasing after the cruise director of the “Love Boat” to fill this position?

In regard to oil and gas fracking, Judge Grendell states that he anticipates “that the park district bylaws will be amended to prohibit such activities.” With his legal experience the judge should know that the commissioners have no right to prohibit such activities.

A considerable amount of park acreage has had drilling rights sold before the park district acquired the land. Unfortunately, the drilling companies have the rights that the original leases allowed and future production can continue and could well expand. The park could purchase those leases back from willing lease holders. However, since the Commissioners/Grendell seem intent on defunding the GPD, there’s little chance of available funds for that purpose.

Let’s move on to another Grendell factoid. The judge stated, “The prior park administration represented to voters before passage of the 1986 levy that those tax revenues were necessary for the ongoing operation of the park district. This representation turned out to be inaccurate.”

Oh contrare, your honor. Read the past park mission statement:?”The mission of Geauga Park District is to preserve, conserve and protect the natural features of Geauge County.” That means “ongoing operations,” including purchasing special places, conservation easements, easements on buffer zones around parks and the like, as mandated by the mission statement.

Funding that should of or could have been spent for those purposes has not been and, one may legitimately ask, if that’s one of the reasons the commissioners changed the bylaws and thus the mission statement.

If you think the prior Curtin administration was doing a bad job, just look how quickly another park district snapped up Tom Curtin to be their executive director. Their gain is our loss folks.

Now lets look at some facts that Judge Grendell completely left out. At the Aug. 12 park budget commission meeting in Chardon, Judge Grendell led off the hearing for the park apparently offering to temporarily suspend collection of a park levy. Who gave the judge that authority? State law requires him to appoint park commissioners who oversee operations of the park, but the judge has no authority to make formal proposals as such without authorization of the park commissioners. When was that authorization given?

If it was done it appears to have been done at a meeting in violation of the sunshine laws. Show us the meeting minutes giving that authorization?

On Aug. 25, John Oros, acting park director, appeared before another budget commission meeting, amazingly without the park chief fiscal officer present, offering to voluntarily suspend collection of a park levy.

Again, at what official meeting did the park commissioners give John Oros that authority? Another illegal meeting?

Again, when was the meeting, what were the votes and where are the minutes? A violation of the sunshine laws?

I’ve asked all three county budget commission members — auditor, treasurer, prosecutor –?and the chairperson of our park commission to show me where in the Ohio Revised Code authority is vested in the budget commission to force a suspension of collection of a park district levy. None have provided that information and, frankly, it’s not at all clear that they have that authority. They can do that to a county agency, but a park district is a separate political entity and not a subdivision of county government.

Folks, in the meantime I’ll be sitting here holding my breath, turning blue, waiting for the (illegal?) meetings to stop, waiting for the prosecutor to the enforce the sunshine laws and waiting for the Ohio General Assembly to formulate a superior way of providing us with competent park commissioners. Should I continue to be holding my breath?

In the meantime, I can visualize the land speculators smiling and thinking about their coffers filling with gold as the bulldozers more forward tearing through some pristine natural area that the park district was unable or unwilling to purchase.

What comes next? Maybe the sale of existing (unnecessary) park land so the speculators can further fill their coffers building more trophy homes and strip malls on 2 1/2 acre lots?

John G. Augustine

Parkman

Basic ‘Political Speak’

I attended the Geauga County Fair and spent time in the GOP tent. As a conservative American and a lifetime voter, I wanted to learn what Sarah LaTourette stood for and what her values are to assure myself that she could truly represent my principles and values.

Directly from the political promises in her candidate brochure, I asked her a few questions:

1. How would she “cut burdensome regulations?

2. What did she mean by “fiscally responsible government?”

3. How would she “eliminate waste and fraud, cut spending, and ensure every penny of taxpayers dollars is used responsibly?”

Her answers were basic “political speak,” as they were evasive and clearly indicated that she does not have any grasp of the issues that she espouses.

Her political claims are not substantiated, as evidenced by her low knowledge level. For example, when I asked her to be specific about cutting regulations, she could not give any specific regulations. When I asked her how she could be sure our money is used wisely, she talked about transparency instead of cost cutting methods.

When I couldn’t get any clear, specific answers to references in her political literature, I asked her about Common Core. She said she thought she was against it, but needed to study it more. When she was interviewed by the Plain Dealer four months ago, in April, her response was, “I have to study it more.’

Any candidate running for the Ohio House of Representatives should, by now, less than two months before the election, know the issues, have done their research, clearly know what their position is and be able to articulate it to the average voter. Nothing Sarah said to me differentiated her from any other politician, Republican or Democrat. Her low knowledge level and inability to communicate left me less than impressed and questioning how the Republicans could possibly expect her to adequately represent us.

It’s Sarah counting on low information voters who only recognize her father’s name and don’t take the time to investigate the candidates and issues?

Chris Hippely

Middlefield

Always in My Heart

I would like to take this time to send a huge “thank you” to Middlefield, Burton, Chardon and Montville fire departments. I had a fire on June 18, when lightning struck my antenna on my roof. I remember the loud lightning around 8:30 a.m. and even thought to myself, wow that was close, but did not realize it had hit my home.

I thought I smelled smoke about a half hour later, but wasn’t sure. My neighbor, Tiffany, burst into my front door telling me that smoke was pouring from my roof.

After calling 911, within a few minutes, Middlefield was first onscene with Burton close behind. Chardon and Montville also responded mutual aid. If it wasn’t for the quick response of the fire departments and the excellent fire fighting abilities of these departments, the damage could have been a lot worse.

Geauga County should be very proud of the fire departments we have that do such an excellent job. I know the firefighters don’t get enough thank you’s, but they deserve a lot more than they get.

Thank you, again, to all the firefighters that responded that day, you will always be in my heart.

I would also like to thank Tiffany, my neighbor, for being there and coming over to let me know I had a problem and helping me. Also to my other neighbors who also came over to comfort me and keep me company until my husband arrived, Becky Wiegman, Linda Dean, Butch Kibler and Gayland Moore. Thank you all for your caring and being there, I couldn’t ask for better neighbors and friends.

There are probably so many more to thank, but there isn’t enough room here. Our State Farm insurance agent, Leanne McIntosh, for her quick response and help throughout this ordeal; she has been excellent in all of this; many more friends and family that offered to help, etc. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to all.

Deanna Ferritto

Huntsburg

Underhanded Political Maneuvers

What a difference a few months can make.

Last year, we had a nationally recognized county park system that has been successful in implementing and following through on a long-term plan of saving, conserving and minimally developing some of the last and best remaining natural lands of Geauga County before they are sacrificed to development.

The former Geauga County Park Board members, who were suddenly and unjustifiably shown the exit door, had the foresight and commitment to conservation, and took a sleepy little county park with limited parkland and expanded its holdings into every corner of Geauga County for residents to enjoy.

They clearly explained their mission and the multi-decade plan to taxpayers, and we eagerly passed each levy with large majorities.

Unfortunately, Judge Grendell — or maybe a more appropriate title should be Boss Grendell — has hijacked the park system and reshaped it to reflect his own desires and ideologies, and the results are becoming disastrous.

Our new park board members were carefully selected by Boss Grendell to reflect his new mission for our park. These members are less concerned about conservation and passive recreational uses, and now emphasize intensive multi-use of the parks for such activities as ATVs, dirt bikes, field hockey, firearms range, hockey, lacrosse, mountain biking, rugby, skateboarding, skate parks and sporting clays. How can these uses be allowed since they are not permitted in the park?

The new board members took care of that little problem quietly, with no advanced warning and no public input. They gutted our park’s bylaws over the summer while we were distracted with our busy summer schedules and replaced them with Boss Grendell’s new vision.

Do Geauga County taxpayers want these new activities in their parks? Who knows. The park board never bothered to ask us. In fact, the series of town hall meetings which were scheduled for the next two months have been cancelled due to the raucous response from the public over the board’s reckless and secret management style.

The potential cost to develop, police and maintain this new infrastructure could be in the millions. How can taxpayers absorb these costs, especially since Boss Grendell recently demanded that our county auditor suspend collection of a .7-mill levy designated for the county parks because he decided that our parks collect too much money?

This levy was passed by the taxpayers through the democratic process. Does Boss Grendell run Geauga County by fiat? The last time I looked Geauga County was still a democracy.

The real conflict is how Boss Grendell continues to promote high intensity and expensive recreational development in our parks at the same time claiming that our parks have saved too much money to spend on the parks.

However, this is Boss Grendell’s devious plan to undo our Geauga park system. This surplus has been carefully engineered by putting the brakes on a spending schedule in place which pays for park expansion and maintenance. In other words, this surplus was created on purpose to argue that the park system has too much money.

And, just to confuse the public even more, he claims there was a recent $1.9 million deficit which his handpicked puppets on the park board, who have only been in office for a few months and even weeks, successfully resolved.

Keep in mind, Boss Grendell was also at this same time awarding one of his favorite Geauga Tea Party allies — Linda J. O’Brien, who was applying at the time to be a park board commissioner — an exclusive, no-bid contract of $16,000 to evaluate park employees.

Boss Grendell needs to get back to the business of being Judge Grendell and stop using underhanded political maneuvers to gut our park system.

Christopher Yaecker

Newbury