Chester Trustees Respond to Court-Ordered Park Board Report

October 9, 2014

Chester Township Trustees, in an attempt to meet Geauga County Probate Judge Timothy Grendell’s Oct. 10 deadline to respond to a master commissioner’s report concerning the township’s park district, met Monday to list their questions and concerns, which included the district’s designation under Ohio law.

The Chester Township Park District is designated a Chapter 1545 organization under the Ohio Revised Code, mean-ing its members are appointed by — and are answerable to — the county’s probate court.

Trustees said the designation was made in 1984.

Under the ORC, according to trustees, township park boards can have one of two distinctions: a 1545, overseen by the court, or a 511, which is appointed by, and directly answerable to, township trustees.

A 1545 has the authority to collect 0.5 mills of a township’s inside millage for its funding whereas a board with the 511 distinction gets funding directly from the township’s general fund, with approval of trustees.

“The current park board is established as an ORC 1545,” Trustee Ken Radtke said during Monday’s special meeting. “Was the park board operating as a 511 before ORC 1545 was adopted?”

Radtke said, because the law has a clearly defined process of converting a 511 organization to a 1545, if the process wasn’t properly followed in 1984, it could mean there are actually two park boards in the township.

He said he would like an answer from Grendell to that question.

Trustee Mike Petruziello complimented the park district on improvements made in recent years to Parkside Park and added there is a false impression in the community that trustees are accusing the park board members of wrongdoing.

Trustee Bud Kinney said he would like to know whether the park board functioned as a 511 up to the point it was converted to a 1545, or if they were functioning as a voluntary committee.

“At this point as a board, we don’t have that knowledge,” said Kinney.

During their 90-minute discussion, trustees compiled a list of questions and concerns they had about the master commissioner’s findings. In the spring, Grendell appointed former 11th District Court of Appeals Judge Mary Jane Trapp to serve as a master commissioner to investigate questions some residents raised about the park district’s procedures and operations.

Trapp presented her findings, detailed in a 220-page report, during a special court session that Grendell held at the Chester Township Fire Depart-ment on Aug. 25.

Grendell told trustees he wanted their written response to the report filed with him by Oct. 10.

Monday night, trustees decided to list the following in a letter to the judge:

Prior to the formation of the park district as a 1545 organization in 1984, under what structure was the organization that managed Parkside Park and what authority was it operating under?

If it was operating as a 511, what action is needed or do two park districts exist if there had been no motion to disband the 511?

Meeting minutes from that time are not clear.

In order to conform to the judge’s order that both boards meet to revise their 1993 cooperative agreement, when can and should the two boards meet?

When can and should township trustees and the park board meet to discuss a three-, five- and 10-year long-range park plan?

The 1993 agreement has three main parts: the process and procedures for funding regular, routine expenses; the process and procedures for funding capital improvements and equipment; and the process and procedures based on a strategic plan.

Can a park board levy taxes if it doesn’t have land ownership?

As a 1545, is there a conflict with three county-owned park properties located in the township, namely, portions of The Rookery, Sunnybrook Preserve and Orchard Hills?

Radtke said he would write a rough draft of the letter to Grendell and asked that Petruziello and Kinney review it.

Trustees set Oct. 8 at 8:30 a.m. as a special meeting to go over the letter before it is sent out.

Radtke said problems between the trustees, the park board and the probate court began in April, when Grendell sent the trustees a letter ordering them not to interfere with the parks.

He said the judge had taken issue with details of a job description trustees had developed for a road department worker.

“The court interpreted it as us meddling into park affairs,” Radtke said, adding he believes it is time to “focus on the positive going forward.”

Said Petruziello, “I don’t know how the judge has authority over the trustees.”