Metroparks system fights to live up to its potential

Commissioner Dan Polivka says he's open to finding more funding for the parks system.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
With Trumbull County's Metroparks system planning to double in size and the simultaneous resignation of its chairman, the county parks are in a state of flux.
Although Trumbull County has well-known city parks such as Perkins and Packard in Warren, and Mosquito Lake State Park in Bazetta and Mecca townships, the county park system is not nearly as well known.
Judge Thomas A. Swift of Trumbull County Probate Court said Bill Flynn of Howland, the recently resigned Metroparks chairman, elevated public awareness of the county park system since he became involved with it 12 years ago. Lack of funding, the judge said, may keep the system from fulfilling its potential.
Resources needed
Judge Swift, who is responsible under Ohio law to appoint members of the county park board, said he would like to see additional resources allocated to hire a part-time director to replace Flynn. Metroparks commissioners are volunteers.
Mitzi Sabella, Metroparks secretary, said losing Flynn will take its toll on the county parks system. "I don't know how he will be replaced. He was almost like a full-time director," she said.
The Metroparks board has asked county commissioners to fund a part-time director for several years, but the proposal has been rejected. Judge Swift plans to meet with Commissioner Dan Polivka on the topic in the coming weeks.
Polivka said he supports providing additional funding to the Metroparks system, especially since the county now has so much park land in the Western Reserve Greenway to maintain. "We don't want to see that get out of hand," he said.
Polivka said it remains to be seen what form that funding will take. The Metroparks' 2006 budget of $75,000 primarily pays for parks maintenance, he said.
Board increases
Judge Swift increased the board's size last spring to provide additional personnel, adding Anthony M. Cornicelli, a Trumbull County Common Pleas Court magistrate, and Richard A. Darkangelo to its ranks. Veteran members of the board are David W. Ambrose and Martin "Jack" O'Connell.
Judge Swift pointed out that county parks systems in Mahoning and Cuyahoga County do a lot more than Trumbull County because they have levies that provide the money for their growth. Trumbull County has no parks levy.
Alan Knapp, county planning commission director, said the fledgling parks system has operated on a shoestring. His department has assisted with grant applications, and volunteers have done most of the work.
"Basically, the parks members are going out there cutting the grass and doing all of the work," Knapp said, adding that if a director were hired, it would reduce the load on the volunteers.
Flynn noted there were only 47 acres of Metroparks land in 1994, and there are 370 now. Parks being planned for Farmington and Mesopotamia townships that would be bought with state grant money would add another 370 acres.
First involvement
Flynn first became involved with the parks system when he took an interest in developing a disc golf course at Clarence Darrow Park on Educational Highway next to Kent State University Trumbull Campus in 1994.
Flynn became a parks commissioner around 1998 and has devoted an extraordinary amount of time to the parks, Knapp said.
Flynn, an employee of Delphi Packard, said job and personal responsibilities are making it impossible for him to give his time to the parks. He tried to resign from the parks board 18 months ago, but Judge Swift talked him out of it.
"Parks are one of the things that attract people" to an area, Flynn said of one reason for providing such facilities. For volunteers to carry out all of the maintenance and supervision involved is "really a lot to ask for such an important thing," he said.
Judge Swift, a jogging enthusiast, agrees. "I tend to remember a community when the quality of life is emphasized," he said, adding that camping and other activities people can do close to home are becoming increasingly popular because of the price of gasoline.
One thing about the future of the county parks system that excites Knapp is the opportunity to develop canoeing and kayaking along the Mahoning River. Foster Park in the southwest corner of the county and Canoe City in Leavittsburg already offer canoeing and kayaking.
The planned opening of the Judge Thomas A. Swift Metropark just over the Warren Township line in Braceville Township this summer would provide an additional place for these activities, he said. That canoe launch would be three miles upstream from Canoe City.
Knapp said the part of the river under discussion is some of the best canoeing and kayaking in the county because of the water cleanliness.
Biking has already become popular in the county with the work complete on much of the Western Reserve Greenway and planned additions to it, Knapp said. Adding a connection from the east-west Western Reserve Heritage Trail could make Trumbull County an even more prominent biking area, he said.
Trish Nuskievicz, of the planning commission staff, said one thing the Metroparks system can do that city, township or state parks cannot is to set up relationships between the various parks and make water and biking connections between them.
For example, the county can make a water trail between the Judge Thomas A. Swift Metropark, Canoe City, Perkins Park and Foster Park and connect its Western Reserve Greenway with various other parks.
"I don't think you can ever have too many places to fish, swim, bike and get out," she said.