No evidence of intentional disregard of controlling law found
The Chester Township Park Board is a hard-working, unpaid, often misunderstood group of volunteers that need to make some procedural changes — at least that’s what Master Commissioner Mary Jane Trapp said in a report she submitted to Chester Township Trustees Monday night.
The Chester Township Park Board is a hard-working, unpaid, often misunderstood group of volunteers that need to make some procedural changes — at least that’s what Master Commissioner Mary Jane Trapp said in a report she submitted to Chester Township Trustees Monday night.
The report also said trustees need to work with the park board to improve communications and repair their fractured relationship.
During an hour-long court hearing convened at the Chester Township Fire Department, Trapp, an attorney and former 11th District Court of Appeals judge, summarized her 220-page report, which she compiled over several months at the request of Geauga County Probate Judge Timothy Grendell, who presided over the assembly.
The packed audience included current and former township trustees, current and former park board members, and several residents, many of whom recorded the proceedings.
Grendell made it clear it was not a public hearing but an official court session. He said he had convened the hearing in his courtroom in Chardon an hour before, but had reconvened in Chester for the public’s convenience.
He added he would not take any public questions or comments because the lengthy report had just been released.
“This is my courthouse and subject to my procedures,” Grendell said.
According to Grendell, the Chester park board was created by Geauga County Probate Judge Henry Lavrich in the 1980s as an independent body. He said he appointed Trapp in March to investigate questions raised by some residents about the board’s procedures.
Grendell appointed Trapp because she was an attorney and former judge, and a Democrat, he said.
“She is of the opposite party to me, so she will be independent,” Grendell said. “The issues raised needed to be thoroughly reviewed.”
Trapp said during her months-long investigation, she conducted extensive interviews and went through records and minutes from the park board and township trustees going back to the park board’s formation.
She complimented both groups for what she termed the renaissance of Parkside Park during the last four years.
“It’s a source of pride for the community,” Trapp said. “Your community has a park in keeping with donor David Hudson, who envisioned a park that would serve as a public square.”
She added she has observed activities at the park day and night, with parents and grandparents, teens playing games, concerts and weddings being held, and the park becoming a social center for the township.
“It’s important for you to know how good it is,” Trapp told the audience. “But seeds of discontent were planted five years ago when township trustees objected to a park district appointment. As the politics of Chester ebbed and flowed, it spilled over to the park district.”
In what she called “the perfect storm,” the park board’s funds were drastically cut when trustees stopped giving them part of the township’s inside millage, the State of Ohio eliminated the intangible tax, problems arose from frequent turnovers among both the park board and township trustees, and political factions within the community caused misunderstanding and confusion between both groups.
The court created the park board in 1984 at the request of the trustees, as a separate institution not governed by the trustees.
At their second meeting, the new park board adopted bylaws, some of which conflicted with their original motions, but the bylaws were never amended.
During subsequent years, board members increasingly ignored the bylaws and their policy manual, which caused confusion over time, Trapp said.
“Misinformation became fodder for various political factions within the township,” she said.
She likened the situation to a child’s game of “telephone,” in which someone whispers a message to another person, who passes it on, until the final message is nothing like the original.
“It’s a case of good old fashioned political rivalries and scores to settle,” Trapp said. “There is disharmony due to unfounded rumors … with misunderstanding building over time.”
She said she found no evidence of disregard for Ohio law on the part of the park board, but what she characterized as errors of omission versus errors of commission.
She said trustees lately have questioned whether donations of time and materials to the park have been properly handled, but while she found nothing illegal, she recommended any donations be documented in the board’s meeting minutes.
Trapp made several recommendations for the park board, which included:
• Holding their meetings on different days than when township trustees meet;
• Keeping more detailed meeting minutes;
• Determining their meeting schedule for the year at their first meeting of each year;
• Revising their bylaws;
• Providing an up-to-date policy manual for each member;
• Passing a policy that checks be signed by two board members and the fiscal officer;
• Adding two more board members;
• Increasing their insurance;
• Filing their bonds with the county, as required by the Ohio Revised Code;
• Hiring regular legal counsel, either through the Geauga County Prosecutor’s Office or through private attorneys;
• And developing a long-term strategic plan.
She recommended township trustees re-establish financial stability to the park board by bringing back their guaranteed revenue through inside millage.
Grendell passed out binders with copies of the report to the township and park officials, and told the public that one will be placed in the West Geauga Library. In addition, a copy will be available for public view at the probate court.
Anyone can also request a copy by calling the court at 440-279-1830, Grendell said.
He added he welcomes public comment, in writing, submitted to the court as part of the public record.
Grendell thanked Trapp for her work, which he called “extremely helpful.”
He told the park board he expects to see them revise their bylaws, comply with Ohio Sunshine Laws, develop a policy and procedure manual and submit a list of donations to the judge for his approval.
He told trustees he expected them to develop an adequate funding mechanism for the park board.
“Last but not least, I do expect a cooperative spirit,” Grendell told both groups. “Play nice in the sandbox.”
After the hearing adjourned, former township Trustee Pat Mula, who served on one of the first park boards in the late 1980s, said she believed the report was “quite good.”
“The park board has been under fire by vindictive people who don’t understand the process,” Mula said. “The master commissioner report exposed that, so everyone can see for themselves that the allegations floating around the community were unfounded.”
Current park board member and former Trustee Clay Lawrence said he was pleased with the report.
“We’re already developing a five-year strategic plan and we’ve already re-written the bylaws. We just haven’t submitted them yet because this review process was ongoing,” Lawrence said. “I think we can all move forward together now in a positive way.”
THE MASTER COMMISSIONER’S REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS (EXCLUDING EXHIBITS) CAN BE READ BELOW.
Master Commissioner Report – Part 1
Master Commissioner Report – Part 2
Master Commissioner Report – Part 3
