MetroParks board reduces prices for golf, facility use

The board has the power to hire and fire employees and intervene in park matters.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- The Mill Creek MetroParks board has made it cheaper to reserve park facilities and easier to obtain park permits for special activities.
The board voted unanimously to eliminate the $200 security deposit that had been needed to reserve Rossi Auditorium, the Radius Room, the Weller Gallery and the Garden Cafe in the Davis Education and Visitors Center, as well as the Scholl, Wick, and Struthers pavilions.
The $200 security deposit that had been required to reserve time for a wedding at Fellows Riverside Gardens also has been eliminated.
In addition, the board lowered the cost of playing the park golf course and renting some park facilities. It also voted to allow employees other than the park's executive director to issue permits for camping, flying models, playing music, or cooking on a portable grill.
The executive director had been the only park employee authorized to issue those permits in the past.
All the changes take effect immediately. Harry Meshel, board president, said the changes were designed to give local residents more access to the parks.
"What we want to do is make the park as people friendly as possible," he said. "There were, in my judgment, too many restrictions."
The board also clarified the relationship between the board and the executive director by revising its bylaws.
Under the revised bylaws, the board can take any action it feels necessary in the park system, and it has the authority to fire or hire park employees.
The board also can delegate the power to fire or hire employees to the executive director.
On Jan. 29, the board voted to reinstate John Balestra, assistant parks maintenance director, after he had been fired by William Schollaert, parks superintendent and executive director.
At the time of Balestra's reinstatement, Schollaert said he thought the board had lost faith in him.
Schollaert retired in April.
Meshel stressed that he does not want to be critical of Schollaert. He added, however, that during the past several years the executive director had taken on responsibilities that he had not been given by the board.
The board also voted to allow employees to miss work for medical appointments. Employees are required to give their supervisor a note from their doctor when they return to work.
A letter written to the board by Tom Carney, interim executive director, states that Schollaert had not allowed park employees to use sick time for medical appointments.