Storm clouds linger over Mill Creek MetroParks

Less than a month after Mill Creek MetroParks’ boss and the board of commissioners were harshly criticized by many residents for controversial staff cuts, The Vindicator revealed that $70,000 had been spent on three 2016 Jeeps.

Executive Director Aaron Young is driving one of the vehicles.

The timing of the purchase serves to confirm what we had said in February shortly after some longtime employees of the park district were unceremoniously terminated: Young and the commissioners have a major blind spot when it comes to dealing with those who pay the tab.

Last November, Mahoning County voters approved a combined 1.75-mill, 15-year renewal and a 0.25-mill additional levy. The issue barely passed, and in the aftermath of the 13 staff dismissals the opponents called for a repeal of the tax. They still are actively pursuing that goal.

Hence, we are at a loss to understand why the board of commissioners failed to realize that spending $70,000 on three new vehicles would give critics even more ammunition.

Indeed, the MetroParks has spent a total of $189,346 on new vehicles since Young took over as executive director in January 2015.

Young told The Vindicator that the purchases and staff restructuring were both necessary to meet the goal of streamlining operations.

“I think maybe because of the timing, that’s what people are looking at,” Young said. “But the reduction in staff and the vehicle purchases are only connected in that they are part of the organization looking to become more efficient. There is no direct tie from one to the other.”

Not surprisingly, his detractors don’t share that view.

“[Young} did layoffs, which [The Vindicator] uncovered. The next week, he did more layoffs. And at the end of that same week, he went and bought not one Jeep, not two Jeeps, but three Jeeps,” said Judy Peyko, a community member opposed to the staff cuts. “He did this on the backs of the employees he terminated. I thought that was really an abuse of power and a waste of taxpayers’ dollars. Does this sound like a park that’s having financial difficulties?”

As we said in an editorial in February after the staff cuts in which we recalled last year’s geese kill and dead fish in park lakes: “Talk about a public-relations disaster.”

CHANGE IN LAW PROPOSED

But that PR debacle hasn’t just energized those Mahoning County residents who are demanding Young’s ouster. It has prompted calls for a change in the way the park commissioners are appointed.

State law passed about a century ago gives county court judges the authority to select park commissioners.

However, state Rep. John Boccieri of Poland, D-59th, is sponsoring legislation that would transfer the appointment authority to county commissioners.

This move comes just as Mahoning County Probate Judge Robert N. Rusu Jr. is moving forward with his goal of making the appointment process more transparent and accessible to the public.

There is a vacancy on the Mill Creek MetroParks board as a result of the resignation of Michael Senchak.

Judge Rusu is empaneling a citizens committee to screen applicants. The committee will submit the names of the finalists to the probate judge, who will then select the member.

The judge said he wants the committee to represent a variety of interests, and he intends to reach out to the volunteer organizations, such as the Friends of Fellows Riverside Gardens and Guardians of Mill Creek Park, that are crucial to the park’s upkeep and development.

“I want everybody to have a seat at the table and feel that they have input into who goes on the next board,” the judge told The Vindicator. “That gives them an opportunity to help us move forward, so we’re working together and not working against each other.”

We believe that Judge Rusu has taken the proper steps to reassure residents he is fully committed to transparency.

As for the change in the selection process proposed by Boccieri, we aren’t convinced that giving county commissioners the authority is the answer to Mill Creek MetroParks’ problems.

Boccieri, a Democrat, has his work cut out for him not only in selling the idea to Mahoning County residents but in convincing the Republican-controlled General Assembly that such drastic action is necessary.