How Much is Enough?
Time to open your wallets, again, and build half of a community center? Wait, what? Half? Yes, the Newbury Task Force, hand-picked by one of the Newbury Trustees, has decided to put a $2.5M levy on the ballot to construct a community center in Newbury.
As I have said all along, I am for a community center here. What I have also said is, “Have a plan and execute it with the best interests of the residents of Newbury in mind when you do it.”
Unfortunately, that is not the case here. According to a Task Force member, the estimate from a local builder is approximately $4M to construct it. I am no mathematician, but a $2.5M levy won’t cover the costs of construction of a $4M building.
I also believe this is for the building only, not any outside landscape, playground equipment or other items typically found with a “community center.”
I think back to the two levies that could have easily kept the school in operation for five more years (in the black), which was a $1.2M and $1.4M levy, respectively, of which only the $1.2M was considered and that was, according to the Newbury School Board, “too much for the community to bear.” I guess they’re not mathematicians, either.
Interestingly, when the Fire Department wanted to build their new structure, Mr. Skomrock said in a trustees meeting that, “you must get an architectural estimate for construction in order to be fiscally responsible to the residents of this community.” The FD spent approximately $40K on this plan per Mr. Skomrock’s demand. Now, when a community center is to be built, no such demand was made, so I am assuming for this project, we don’t need to be “fiscally responsible.”
The Task Force may have had “good intentions” (although I question that as well) but good intentions without a solid plan is called a “dream.” That seems to be what we are stuck with. Since the Task Force (most of which are past Newbury School Board members) decided to close the school, maybe they should fit the bill to rebuild on the property they gave away. Maybe they should “toss in” the additional $1.5M to finish construction on their own. I am for that plan. To paraphrase Robert Burns and later Steinbeck “the best laid schemes of Mice and Men, often go awry.”
After two years of “planning” and several more years by the former school board of “scheming,” we appear to be left with a parking lot and a field of dreams.
Phil Paradise Jr.
Newbury Township
Stop Attacking
I am responding to John Augustine’s letter. My message to John was lost, but what I was trying to say is to stop attacking people. The commissioners are all volunteers and give up their time to help out. Contrasting John’s letter with the two Partington letters, they highlighted policy differences. Should parks be about conservation and what role should recreation play? That’s something we can debate. Incidentally, at the last meeting we approved a land purchase, and our plans are no human activity, trying to preserve water that feeds three trout streams.
We also had a lot of comments about the tax commission.
Once again, Flaiz, Walder and Hitchcock have no interest in working with us. Instead, they insult and bully our finance director, Jennifer Pae, who is an outstanding person and financial manager. She received her first dose of our mean county government. If you want to get something done, and decide first, I must insult and humiliate you. If that’s your approach, you are a loser and you’re not fit for public office.
Why can we not work collaboratively? My approach would be we sit down with commission members and we comeback with answers to their legitimate questions. The commission’s mission is to ensure tax dollars are wisely spent and that no department is hoarding tax dollars.
We setup the land acquisition fund for the purpose of showing the commission the difference between regular operating expenses and land acquisitions. We understand the issue that the statute we identified may not have been appropriate. Our intentions were still honorable and did not deserve the scorn that ensued.
Pat Preston, Commissioner
Geauga Park District
