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Boccieri calls for reform of park-board appointment process
COLUMBUS
State Rep. John Boccieri has drafted legislation that would change the process by which Mill Creek MetroParks board members are appointed.
Boccieri, of Poland, D-59th, in a release Monday said county commissioners would be better suited than probate judges to handle park board appointments. As such, his bill would transfer appointment authority for all park districts in the state to the county commissioners of the county in which the park district is located.
Boccieri drafted the legislation after constituents contacted him with concerns over recent staff dismissals at Mill Creek MetroParks. In the ensuing controversy over those staff cuts, some community members have called for changes to the appointment process that would make park leadership more accountable to the public.
Boccieri echoed that opinion in the release, which quoted him as saying that “more transparency and public participation in the process is needed and that the county commissioners would be better equipped to oversee park board appointments.”
He believes they are the more-appropriate appointing authority, he said, because of the principles to which probate judges must adhere.
“My point is, judges are precluded from being out in front of these types of issues because they practice judicial restraint,” Boccieri told The Vindicator. “That doesn’t bode well when you have a public that wants answers, who are saying, ‘Why is this happening?’”
Mahoning County Probate Judge Robert N. Rusu Jr., the appointing authority for the Mill Creek MetroParks board, made the opposite case last week in an announcement that he would convene a citizens committee to help him select a new park commissioner in an effort to address community members’ requests for greater input.
In that announcement, Judge Rusu said the appointment process “has served Ohio well for almost 100 years.”
“The reason probate judges are entrusted with the appointment of park commissioners, along with their other duties, is relatively simple: the probate court is the least controversial, the least adversarial, and the least political county-elected position,” he said.
Boccieri noted the judge’s comments in his release, saying that while he supports the new selection-committee process, he disagrees “with the suggestion that commissioners appoint board members for political gain.”
“By and large, commissioners appoint board members who strongly believe in helping the community. These individuals are selfless, unpaid members that want to make a difference by serving on boards of mental health, drug-addiction services and children’s services,” Boccieri said.
He said research revealed to him that “every other” board appointment at the county level is made by commissioners, leading him to question why park districts are treated differently.
Boccieri also considered a financial aspect of the appointment process, he said.
“If the [MetroParks] board ever plummeted into receivership because they could not pay their bills, the probate judge isn’t going to bail out the park; the commissioners are the fiduciaries of the county,” he said.
Boccieri is circulating the draft bill among other General Assembly members. It has not yet been introduced.