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Board Reviews 2025 Capital Improvement Projects Totaling Nearly $1.9 Million

Geauga Park District Board Regular Meeting - January 21, 2025

Meeting Details: The Geauga Park District (GPD) Board met on Monday, January 21, 2024 at 8:30 am at Big Creek Park Meyer Center, 9160 Robinson Rd, Chardon, OH 44024.  This meeting was in-person only with no virtual attendance option. 

Public Comment Policy: The Park District Board does not have a formal policy and in practice never permits public comment.

Board Attendance: Commissioners Howard Bates, Jolene Carnabuci, and Ray Guarino were present. Commissioners Frank Stein and Les LaGatta were absent.  Observer Note: This is the sixth meeting in a row Commissioner Les LaGatta has been absent.  

Staff Attendance: John Oros, Executive Director; Matt McCue, Deputy Director; Dawn Sweeney, Finance Director and Jessica Alpers, Administrative Assistant.  Also in attendance were Chief Ranger Dennis Sloan, IT Manager Lucas Beamer, HR Manager Christine Cycyk, and Marketing Manager Sandy Ward. 

Public Attendance: Members of Protect Geauga Parks and a reporter from Chagrin Valley Times. This Observer arrived late to the meeting at 8:46 am. A video produced by Dave Partington was used as a reference to prepare this report.

Approval of Agenda/Addendum Items - There were no items added to the Agenda.  The Agenda was approved.

Election of Officers - The Board unanimously elected Mr. Guarino as President and Mr. Bates as Vice President.

Minutes: Minutes from December 16, 2024 meeting were approved and are posted online here.

Financial Report: Dawn Sweeney, Finance Director, verbally reported these individual fund balances as of December 31, 2024:

• Beginning balance as of 12/1/24 in the General Fund:  $4,665,583

• Ending balance as of 12/31/24 in the General Fund:  $4,238,852

• Beginning balance as of 12/1/24 in the Land Improvement Fund:  $1,776,117

• Ending balance as of 12/31/24 in the Land Improvement Fund:  $1,352,935

• All Funds beginning balance on 12/1/24:  $6,441,700

• All Funds ending balance on 12/31/24:  $5,591,788
  

There were no questions and no discussion.  

Presentation of Payment Report for December 2024.  There were no questions and there was no discussion. Observer Note:  There is no approval or motion regarding the payment report as the payments have already occurred.

 

Old Business - None

New Business - Mr. McCue provided the Board a list of 2025 Capital Improvement Projects: 

Mr. McCue pointed out only the Veteran’s Legacy Woods project involving the Cuyahoga River Reforestation is currently underway. It is in the design phase, and they are preparing requests for bids. He explained that the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is leading The West Woods bridge replacement project, and it will be sent out for bid soon. It is expected to begin in mid-March. There were no questions on the projects.

Mr. McCue provided the 2025 Statement of Qualifications List of Professional Design & Engineering Services companies who responded to the Park District’s request for the information. Mr. Bates pointed out that none of the companies listed were based in Geauga County.

Resolution 1-2025 / 2024 Final Budget Appropriations - Mr. Oros read the resolution laying out that the 2024 Final Appropriations report was in conformance with Ohio Revised Code (ORC) requirements since it included information by fund and department and detail of expenditures split between personnel services and all other expenditures.  There were no questions and the resolution was unanimously approved.

Resolution 2-2025 / Geauga Park District Beartown Lakes Reservation Site & Playground Improvement - Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Grant - Mr. Oros read the resolution and explained that approval of this resolution by the Board was required for ODNR to fund the grant. ODNR will fund $355,075 to cover the costs of playground improvements at the Beartown Lakes location. There were no questions and the resolution was unanimously approved.

Surplus Items - The Board voted to send a 2015 Ford Explorer to auction.

Commissioner’s Time

Mr. Oros reported on the final 2024 car counts, or the number of cars that come to the parks, on 200 days through the year 2024. He also provided the accumulated data from 2018, when the counts first were started, through 2024 and pointed out that the Top 6 parks were the same over both periods. The top 6 parks were as follows:

In the natural resources management area, Mr. Oros informed the Board of the following: 

• Jacob Foley from the Northern Ohio Watershed Corps (NOWCorps) has been reporting to GPD on the various invasive plants in the parks, highlighting 10 plants to date. He will continue his reporting through September 2025.

• Land stewards were working on annual invasive plant reports to assist with the prioritization of the management of natural areas.

• Natural resources management personnel were conducting annual property monitoring by walking 20 of the Geauga Park District parks. They will note any issues with the park sites and identify property encroachment.

Mr. Oros provided 2024/2025 winter snowfall amounts: Chardon recorded 64.4 inches of snow to date, compared to 41.3 inches of snow in the comparable prior-year period. The parks maintenance group has performed snow removal on 12 days thus far this winter.

Mr. Oros highlighted publicity around a giant snow turtle built by West Woods park personnel. The turtle measured 24 feet long, 12 feet wide and 4 feet high and was highlighted in local newspapers, including this Chagrin Valley Times article.

Report on use of Facilities in December - Mr. Oros reported the following: 

• 1,509 visitors came to the West Woods Nature Center 

• During the Winter Solstice program on December 21, 2024, there were 875 people who visited the West Woods during the three hours of programming. This was the largest number of patrons for the program since it began in 1989.

• In December there were 56 naturalist-led programs that were attended by 2,061 patrons

There were no comments from Board members.

Executive Session  - A motion to adjourn to Executive Session for the purpose of discussing a pending court action, a personnel matter concerning the employment of public employees, and the purchase of property was approved.  The Park District Attorney, Todd Hicks, was not present. 

Following the Executive Session, no action was taken.

Meeting adjourned at 9:35 am.

Public Comment - Per Geauga Park District Policy, no public comment permitted. 

Reviewer Comment: Without public discussion by the Board of Agenda items or the opportunity for members of the public to comment and ask questions, the ability of the public to fully understand the business of the Geauga Park District and its use of Geauga County taxpayer funding is hindered. 

Next meeting – Monday, February 18 at 8:30 am. 

 

See the GPD Website for Additional Information and Minutes

Observer: Carol Benton

Editor: Anne Ondrey

Reviewer: Sarah McGlone

Date Submitted: February 4, 2024

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