Park officials: Photo gives bad image

Trustees plan to meet with park officials soon.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Township trustees have in hand a detailed study of the township's storm water system, but Mill Creek MetroParks representatives have taken issue with the design of the plan's cover sheet.
Township trustees have spent several months looking into upgrades that will need to be made to curb flooding here. The initial study called for more than $23 million in upgrades.
Gary Diorio, MS Consultants, presented a booklet containing all the plans to trustees for review. Trustees are evaluating the projects and expected to prioritize the order in which the work will be done.
Here's the problem
The cover of the booklet from MS Consultants bore two pictures of picturesque park waterways -- one of Mill Creek and another unidentified. Susan E. Dicken, executive director of Mill Creek MetroParks, and Ginny Dailey, president of the board of commissioners for Mill Creek MetroParks, said the pictures must go.
Dicken and Dailey said including images of Mill Creek Park on the cover of the study is unfair to the park. They said any images on the study should reflect Boardman Township.
"This is a public document and it has pointed a finger directly at Mill Creek Park as the reason for flooding in Boardman Township, and that is not true," said Dicken.
Dailey said, "It is a report commissioned by Boardman Township, and we think it would be more appropriate that it reflect Boardman Township."
Park officials want the pictures to be removed from the document.
Diorio said use of the pictures was not an indictment of the park. He said the intention was to create a professional document to present to trustees.
Replacing covers
Diorio said replacement covers for the report will be sent to township officials. He said the cost of replacing the covers will be minimal.
Curt Seditz, township administrator, said the replacement covers will be sent to anyone who was sent a copy of the report. About 20 of the covers will need to be replaced.
Six of the 38 projects in the study have been completed or started. Trustees are taking more time to determine what projects to do next and how to pay for those projects.
Township officials, however, said Mill Creek Park is a big part of the study and are hoping for a partnership with park officials in making some of the upgrades. Mill Creek Park serves as the watershed for the area.
Trustees plan to meet with park officials soon to discuss the content of the study and determine what can be done to address the issues. Dailey and Dicken said park officials are interested in understanding what the township's intentions are with the study.
No date has been set for the meeting.
jgoodwin@vindy.com