Sebring mayor asks for help with parks

Maybe Sebring's parks should join the Mill Creek MetroParks system, a commissioner says.
By DEBORA SHAULIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Sebring Mayor John W. Smith says village taxpayers contributed $65,000 last year to support Mill Creek MetroParks but have nothing to show for it. The park and the village are too far apart.
"Mill Creek Park is a great park. I've been in it a couple times, but it's not for the western part of Mahoning County," Smith said Thursday.
As Sebring struggles to finance projects in its own park system, Smith appealed to Mahoning County Commissioners to find a way to bring some of that money back to the village.
Commissioner Anthony Traficanti suggested a meeting with Mill Creek MetroParks leaders to discuss if the metropolitan district should take over Sebring's parks. Smith didn't disagree, but "Everybody likes to have local control," he said afterward.
"All [Mayor Smith] had to do was call me," said Susan Dicken, Mill Creek MetroParks' executive director, adding that she'll meet with Sebring officials Tuesday.
Secession effort
Years ago, Sebring and Campbell officials joined efforts to secede from the Mill Creek Metropolitan Park District and its countywide levies. Smith, who was a member of Sebring Village Council at the time, said the effort waned after legal advisers told them that the odds of succeeding were slim.
Mill Creek MetroParks levies are often heavily defeated in the western part of the county but are approved by large numbers of voters in Austintown, Boardman and Canfield. "It's always been a sore subject in our community," Smith said.
Meanwhile, Sebring's Park and Recreation Board oversees a community center, swimming pool and two parks that have volleyball, basketball, tennis and baseball facilities. The community center building was bought from the school district in April 2001 for $250,000, and the village is still paying on that debt, Smith said. There's interest in constructing a walking path through both parks, using existing sidewalks, but that would cost about $10,000, he said.
Levy defeated
A 1-mill renewal park levy was defeated by 38 votes last November, partly because of anti-tax attitudes among voters and possibly because of confusing ballot language, Smith said. Sebring residents will see another 1-mill park levy on the May primary ballot.
If the Sebring park levy is approved, money won't be collected until 2007. The defeated levy expired, representing a $35,000 loss. "The park was in the red last year, anyway," Smith said. "The levy would just keep it solvent."
When Mill Creek was designated a metropolitan park system in 1990, it contained about 2,500 acres in Youngstown and Boardman, Dicken said. Mill Creek MetroParks has grown to 4,000 acres, with presence in three cities and six townships in an effort to establish facilities of regional significance, she said.
shaulis@vindy.com