Meeting: Monday, March 20, 2023 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 option. This Board does not permit public comment during meetings.
Board Attendance: Commissioners Howard Bates, Jolene Carnabuci, Les LaGatta and Frank Stein. Commissioner Ray Guarino, was absent
Staff Attendance: John Oros, Director, Dawn Sweeney, Interim Finance Director, Matt McCue, Deputy Director, Paul Piro, Chief Naturalist, Jessica Alpers, Administrative Assistant and a Park Ranger. Todd Hicks, legal counsel from the firm of Thrasher, Dinsmore & Dolan was also present. There were several other Park employees present but they were not identified but two were believed to be Sandy Ward, PR Coordinator and Christine Ward, HR Coordinator. Observer Note: There was no comment on the absence of long-term employee Sheryl Hatridge, Administrative Service Manager, and she was replaced in her position as Board secretary (see later in the Agenda).
Minutes: Minutes from the February 21, 2023 meeting were approved without discussion and when available are posted online. Reviewer Note: As of March 26, 2023, minutes are posted online through December 12, 2022.
Agenda: Approved without discussion
Presentation of Financial Statement – The financial report was received. Dawn Sweeney, interim finance director spoke about two fund balances. One was the General Fund balance, which has a balance of $3,636,111 and the second was the Land Improvement Fund which has a balance of $2,888,656.
Mr. Oros pointed out that the report for the Board now contains a section on Grants: The following grants have been received:
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ODNR (Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources) - Breed Property - $16,409
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OEPA (Ohio Environmental Protection Agency) - Veterans Legacy Woods - 1,107,602
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State of Ohio - Holbrook Hollows - $367,500
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ODOT (Ohio Dept. of Transportation) - West Woods Bridge - $743,895
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Mr. Oros said they are hopeful that they will receive $159,350 for Veterans Legacy Woods from the US Forest Service to plant trees.
Presentation of Payment Report: No discussion.
Old Business - none
New Business
Resolution to appoint a Secretary to the Park Board - The board approved without any discussion a resolution to appoint Jessica Alpers as the Secretary to the Board.
Resolution to approve the ODOT Road Work Fund for 2024-2025 - this was described as a fund that can be used for repair of park roads. Mr. Bates asked if the Park was required to use certain contractors and Mr. Oros said that there is an approved list from which they can choose contractors.
Commissioners’ Time
Mr. Oros introduced Chief Biologist Paul Piro who presented a review of how the Park Board evaluates a property that is under consideration for purchase.
Mr. Piro listed the process that is undertaken in order to evaluate a property. He also said that the Geauga Park Board currently owns 10,000 acres in Geauga County (about 4%), but that there are many other properties that could be available for purchase that might meet the needs of the Park.
He described doing a perimeter walk of any potential property, using technology to view the property and then doing more in-depth research as needed including a review of the “interior forest habitat” which is inside a 500’ perimeter. He stated that in these interior spaces there is a lot of habitat that is valuable to animal, insect and bird species. He said that other factors that would trigger a more indepth review would be endangered species, a piece of land that connects to another protected tract of land, and wetland quality. He said he used standard metrics and added a few over his 20 years of evaluating properties to come up with a Natural Quality Evaluation Index. This Index takes numerous factors into consideration and arrives at a numerical value of between 0-100. He said that in general, those that rank 0-41 would be considered Poor prospects for use by the Park system; 42-46 would be Average; 56-62 would be Good and over 62 would be considered Excellent.
Mr. LaGatta asked an unrelated question about forest fires. Mr. Piro stated that he was the Geauga Park District’s designated fire management person, but that fire has not been an issue. He said that fire is a natural process and good for the natural environment, but that they have not focused on this. He said they have focused more on meadow management (where fire can be used).
February Programs - Mr. Oros talked about several programs:
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819 5th graders worked on an in school Astronomy program.
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For the month, there were 188 programs, with 2,792 patrons.
Mr. LaGatta asked about the solar eclipse and what was being done. Mr. Pira said that the Naturalist at Observator Park was working with ODNR on planning for this. Observer Note: The solar eclipse, which will be visible in Ohio, will be April 8, 2024. See information here.
Arms Trucking - (Low Bid question) Mr. Bates stated that there had been a question about why Board members would submit bids for work with the Park District. He stated that his company, Arms Trucking, had bid on a project this year that will save the Park District $3,000 as being that much below the other bid submitted. He stated that last year they had not been the lowest bidder.
Swine Creek Paving - Mr. Bates also talked about the Swine Creek paving project which was put on hold when, at Mr. Bates’ request, the high bid was not awarded. He stated that “people thought this was because of lack of funds” but instead it was because there was a design question. Bates said that Mr. McCue has been looking at alternatives and speaking with county and township engineers. Mr. Bates said that the new bid will probably be $50,000 lower than the previously received bid. He said that the roads in Swine Creek are 19 years old and difficult to patch.
Observer Note: The questions addressed by Mr. Bates were those that came up at the Geauga Budget Commission meeting of March 13 when the Budget Commission opened up their meeting to public comment. Geauga Park District staff and board members were attending the Budget Commission meeting due to ongoing issues with different funds. See Observer Report.
Bates also stressed that not proceeding with the bid submitted was not because of a cash flow problem.
Also, it was stated that vehicles that are purchased by the Geauga Park District are from a state bid process.
Executive Session - Mr. Oros stated that there was no need for an Executive Session
Public Comment - per Geauga Park District Policy, no public comment permitted.
Next meeting –Monday April 17th @ 8:30 am
See the GPD Website for Additional Information and Minutes
Observer: Gail Roussey
Editor: Anne Ondrey
Reviewer: Shelly Lewis
Submitted 3-20-2023
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