Tim Grendell said changes recently made in the Geauga Park District bylaws were justified during a Geauga County Tea Party meeting last Thursday.
The Geauga County juvenile and probate court judge also told the crowd at The West Woods he felt there was a “conflict of interest” leading him to dismiss all members of the park board in the last few months.
Held in a picnic pavilion at the park that straddles Russell and Newbury townships, the meeting was open to the public.
A polite tension permeated the crowd of about 60, roughly half of whom were Tea Party members.
The rest included members of Geauga Republican and Democratic parties, along with longtime supporters of the park district and former park district employees.
Grendell sought to answer questions and address concerns about the new board he appointed earlier this year after ousting the existing board.
“This is not my law, but as juvenile court and probate judge, I am sworn to uphold it,” Grendell explained.
“Patterson makes it sound like I’m a control freak,” Grendell said, of a complaint written in a letter by former park Commissioner Jim Patterson, who the judge removed from the board.
“I had to start fresh with a clean slate,” the judge said.
Grendell also sought to explain changes to the parks made this year, which included adding some playground equipment.
There have also been active recreational uses included in some park areas, such as volleyball courts and horseshoe pits. Proposals include allowing all terrain vehicles, bicycles and snowmobiles on some trails, and the logging of trees damaged by insects and fire.
The proposed bylaws changes are needed to “beat back passive park zoning restrictions” under consideration in Montville Township that would “tell you how and when you could use Observatory Park,” Grendell said.
GPD has $2 million invested in Observatory Park, he added.
“We can’t let a local township tell a county park district what they can do,” the judge said. “Somebody should be fired.”
A call to Montville Township Trustee Jim Marsic had not been returned as of Friday afternoon.
Grendell was opposed to fracking and drilling for gas and oil on park property, he said. The proposed bylaws changes were to include existing gas wells on property now owned by the park district.
“Could we have stated that (more clearly) in the bylaws? Yes,” he said.
His presentation was split into two sections.
First, he explained his role in measured tones, citing Ohio statutes that give him the authority and responsibility to appoint park commissioners and approve of each donation made to the parks before turning it over to the board.
The second part was emotion-charged.
Grendell labeled people opposed to his changes “elitist,” and said he received letters stating: “We don’t want children in the parks interrupting peace and solitude.”
“With 10,000 acres of parkland, there’s enough room for everyone,” he said. “You’re spending twice as much money for raccoons and trees as you are for seniors and children.”
Grendell was referring to the budgets for senior services and Geauga County Jobs and Family Services.
“More money should be spent fighting the drug epidemic that is creating crime and plaguing our communities,” he said.
When asked by an attendee if money could be diverted from parks to other departments, Grendell said that is not legal.
Two of the former park commissioners he removed had become millionaires from selling their land to the park district prior to being appointed to the board, Grendell said.
One transaction was for $1.4 million and the other was for $3 million, referring to Orchard Park and park property in Middlefield, he said.
Grendell claimed another board member was “president of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy and collecting fees for the purchase of Orchard Park and the land in Middlefield.”
“I saw it as a conflict of interest,” Grendell said. “It was too much of an incestuous relationship.”
On Friday, Patterson said he is not looking to pick a fight with Grendell, but is willing to deal with the facts.
He said he had received two appraisals for the Orchard Hills golf course in excess of the price the park district paid for it. Both of those appraisals valued the golf course as undeveloped land that could be sold to a developer.
Grendell stated later Thursday night he had secured the funding for Orchard Park through a grant when he was a state senator, a statement that seemed to puzzle some in the audience.
But Patterson said Friday Grendell had helped secure a $100,000 grant from the state that was applied toward the purchase price. He added Grendell knew what the property was being sold for.
In addition, Patterson said he was not appointed to the park board until 2011, four years after his family sold Orchard Hills to the park district.
Former park Commissioner John Leech denied Friday he received any fees for the purchase of Orchard Hills or any property in Middlefield. Leech said he was named president of WRLC in mid 2012, five years after the park district bought Orchard Hills.
Leech admitted he was on the WRLC board in 2007 as well as the Geauga park board. With respect to the Orchard Hills purchase, he provided all parties with written notification that we was acting on behalf of the park district in the transaction.
The land conservancy did earn a fee for securing the financing for the park district’s purchase, Leech explained, as the park district was unable to obtain grant funding.
Thursday night, Grendell also said his wife, Judge Diane Grendell, as a state representative, secured state funds for The West Woods.
Former park district employee Sherry Bosworth attempted to state several reasons why the district had accumulated about $9 million in excess funds.
Paving one mile of park road costs $1 million, she said, adding when The West Woods property was available, the park district did not have the money to purchase it and borrowed the money from a resident.
When Bosworth told Grendell he was making an unfair comparison between his budget for the courts and the park district, which has 60 employees and numerous park properties to maintain, he interrupted her and turned to several Tea Party members, saying she was only telling part of the story.
Grendell didn’t allow her an opportunity to finish her explanation.
Joy Kero of the Ohio Horseman’s Council said members of OHC went door to door to raise funds to pay for The West Woods.
Grendell agreed that it had been a combination of private and public funds that secured the park.
He refused to take a question from Ronald Wiech, the Democratic candidate running against Republican Skip Claypool, whom the Tea Party is backing by hosting fundraisers.
Grendell complained local newspapers are “allowing people to write letters that deceive the public.”
“They are delusional and lying,” he said.
He further said local newspaper reporters are not presenting factual information. He said reporters are attending the meetings, but not reporting both sides.
Concluding the meeting, Claypool addressed the crowd.
“This is what the Tea Party is about,” he said. “Open, honest, truthful discussion.”
Despite concerns that had been voiced in emails prior to the event, attendees appeared to be respectful, negating the need for the two park rangers who kept watchful eyes on the crowd.
When asked why the rangers were there and who was footing the tab for them, park Commissioner Lou Mucci said he did not know and suggested that park employees be asked that question.