Schulick to resign Mill Creek MetroParks board seat

April 23, 2016 at 12:09a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning County Probate Judge Robert N. Rusu Jr. now must select not one, but two, candidates to fill vacancies on the five-person Mill Creek MetroParks Board of Park Commissioners.

Board member Scott Schulick announced his resignation Friday in a letter to the judge, who state law designates as the appointing authority for the park board.

Schulick is the second park board member to resign in the past month. Mike Senchak resigned his post in March after just three months on the board.

“Serving as a park commissioner has been an extremely frustrating position to hold. The park’s challenges are more than overwhelming. Given numerous governance impediments and an impatient constituency, it seems best for me to focus my time and effort on my business responsibilities and other community commitments,” Schulick’s letter, in part, reads.

Specifically, Schulick told The Vindicator, he was frustrated by the behavior of some community members upset by a February MetroParks staff restructuring.

“It saddens me to resign. I so much wanted to serve the park,” he said. “There’s a lot of impatience with some people in the community who have made the focus individuals and personalities, rather than what the issues really are.”

He noted a few instances in particular, such as how at the most recent board meeting some members of the public jeered and booed while two MetroParks employees made an in-depth presentation about a project.

Some of the public outcry also has taken a personal tone; he noted a recent Facebook post that encouraged people to picket outside his home and disrupt his neighborhood.

He said those instances are not directly related to his resignation, but, “You start to ask if your efforts can be more productive in your other endeavors.”

Judge Rusu also addressed the tone of public outcry, saying in a release that it could be more difficult to find qualified candidates “due to the hostile climate created by some members of the public.”

Asked by The Vindicator to comment on the fact that two board members have resigned in such a short time frame, he said, “I’m concerned from the standpoint that we could be turning away good, qualified candidates who are unpaid volunteers because of this hostile environment that’s been caused by some aspects of certain groups and community members.”

“They could be scared that, ‘If I make an unpopular decision, I’m going to have people picketing my house and my place of business and attacking my family.’

“That’s not fair,” the judge said.

Schulick has offered to remain on the board until someone is selected to fill the rest of his three-year term, which expires at the end of 2017.

Judge Rusu plans to select two candidates from the pool recommended to him by the 10-person selection committee he recently created. He hopes to have both board members in place by June 13.

“We have a selection process in place. That’s why I created it. I’m proud of that,” he said. “It gives the public a chance to be a part of the process.”

Applications are available at Mahoning County Probate Court and online at www.probate.mahoningcountyoh.gov. They are due by May 6.