I was appointed in January to the 1545 Russell Township Park District. My goal was to ensure clarity and stabilization, ethical oversight, compliance and transparency for the Board. I have spent the last 20 years on the Russell Zoning Commission ensuring that our township is preserved.
The 1545 Park owns 422 acres of park lands. The trails at Uplands Park must be maintained and kept open or the million-dollar grant must be returned. The Modroo property has been purchased and we want to provide trails and parking. Money has been spent, accusations have been made, truths have been twisted, untruths have been perpetuated.
Chuck Walder, former Russell Township fiscal officer now Geauga County Auditor, and Justin Madden, Russell Township Trustee, terminated funding for operations of the 1545. This was step one in their campaign to dissolve the 1545 Parks because of a misconception that Judge Grendell was making decisions for the board members.
Then, Russell Trustees created a second Park District, the 511, to compete with the 1545 originated in 1984. (The codes 1545 and 511 are derived from the Ohio Revised Code under which they have been created.) This was all done under the guise that RTPD was not run by local residents. This is not true. Each board member is a Russell resident dedicated to preserving, conserving and protecting our township, without pay, as opposed to paid employees, Justin Madden and Chuck Walder.
The issue passed because this misconception was perpetuated, emotionally and erratically, as a vendetta against Judge Grendell. I can assure you that Judge Grendell has not interfered, interjected, suggested or influenced any action, activity or decision of the Board. This effort is wasteful of taxpayer dollars, my money and your money.
The 511 has a levy on the ballot for expenses that would cost taxpayers $65,000 a year or $325,000 over five years.
The 1545 has a levy on the ballot, but because of the baseless, unfounded accusations, along with governmental acrobatics and manipulations, residents are asking why have two Park Boards? The 1545 needs to maintain oversight and maintenance of park lands.
Now comes Chuck Walder, newly appointed Geauga County Auditor. Each year all government subdivisions must go before the Budget Commission with an annual budget. Every year the RTPD budget has been approved. The Budget Commission rejects the RTPD budget because of issues going back to 2014, invalidating current figures. This is 2018, why were these issues not detected in prior years? Not until Mr. Walder, with a definite history of creating and backing a wasteful competing park commission campaigning to thwart and strangle the 1545 financially. He is not a disinterested party.
The issues went back to 2014, beginning with $409 in levy funds not reported, that turned out to be a county software problem, and the money was not even received by the RTPD. Two other issues were monies reported as net monies received rather than gross.
More important, the Budget Commission, this year, has reinterpreted the tax levy language to mean that all tax levy monies received should be applied to the Land Conservation Fund, for land purchase only, and none, for operating expenses.
Since inception, the levy monies had been booked as 80 percent for purchases and 20 percent for operations. Has the RTPD operated illegally for the last 25 years? He claimed that about $60,000 should be transferred from the Operating Fund to the Land Conservation Fund. The accountant’s revision of resources has determined that $154,445 must be transferred, leaving the Operating Fund with $30,000 with little hope of income to continue operations. Average expenses are $21,000 annually without legal fees. That won’t last very long.
With further investigation at the Board of Elections, it has been found that the initial levy resolution from 1992 has stated that it was created under O.R.C. 5705.19(a) and the levy declaration verbiage states for the benefit of current expenses. That O.R.C. also states: “For current expenses of the subdivision”. The most recent renewal declaration from 2011, states the same thing. How can the levy language be interpreted any differently than what it says? How can anyone rationally deduce that 100 percent of the levy funds are to be dedicated to land acquisition from those Board of Elections documents; therefore, denying operating expenses? This is all public record.
This all boils down to a petty fight that is destroying a park district because of an irrational personality conflict among public officials, county and township — and Russell residents are paying for it.
Where do we go from here? Vote YES, to the 1545 levy to independently maintain 422 acres of park lands and improve Modroo for $130,000 a year. We can do this with your help.
Vote NO to both levies and Geauga Parks will maintain Russell park lands, saving taxpayers $715,000 over the levies’ periods.
Voting YES to the 511 levy will fund a wasteful, competing park board created because of a petty dispute that will fund basic expenses, with no property maintenance or responsibility, and no reason to be in existence.
Donna Weiss Carson, Commissioner
Russell Township Park District
