7/29/2012 09:00:00 AM
Blue Bag Media
BY RYAN BERRY
MANAGING EDITOR
GREENVILLE – After a one hour Greenville Park Board of
Commissioners meeting and two hour Greenville City Council meeting to discuss
the possibility disbanding the park board, it was determined that voters in the
city would have to take the initiative for that to happen. According to Camille
Baker, law director, neither council or the park board can make that decision.
An individual would have to submit a referendum petition calling for the board
to be disbanded to the Darke County Board of Elections. The petition would
require signatures from five-percent of the electorate in the city. In order to
get it on the November ballot, the petition would need to be submitted by Aug.
8.
Nancy Myers, city auditor, originally presented the idea of
dissolving the park board to save money. She said, “I started this freight
train, but it was not my intent.” She explained she has been with the city for
32 years and has served as auditor since 1998 and her main goal is to serve the
public in the best way possible. “We constantly have to look outside the box.
This is a brand new day in city government and we have to look at different
ways to serve the public.” The city has lost approximately $600,000 in local
government funds and has been forced to make cuts in every department. The
park’s budget was cut from approximately $500,000 in 2011 to $352,000 in 2012,
a 37-percent reduction. Myers noted there is an urgency to do something. “We
cannot continue doing financially what we are doing for the next two-year
period. State cuts are eating into our carryover.” The city expects to spend
$400,000 more this year than it takes in, which will cut away at its $1.8
carryover. The proposed budget for 2013 shows a bigger bite out of the
carryover.
Several persons from the public praised Andy Mead for his work as
the Park Facilities Manager and were worried he would be dismissed if the park
board was disbanded. Under Mead’s leadership, the park has numerous volunteers
picking up trash, cleaning, painting and doing other jobs around the park.
Shelly Miller took over the swim team when there was no money to
pay a coach and now has 47 kids that are paying to swim at the pool. According
to Miller, with the fees alone, the pool received $1500 they might not have had
without the swim team. Miller also volunteered to teach swimming lessons. She
started with two classes and now has eight classes. “I am making money for the
pool,” she said. “There are people out there like me that can do the same. If I
can do the same next year, it will be five times bigger.”
Rob and Amber Garrett have 22 other people lined up to start a
Friends of the Greenville City Park organization to raise funds and offer
assistance to the park. They have also enlisted the assistance of an attorney to
write up the paperwork for 501(c)3. Several events were scheduled this year to
raise money, but had to be cancelled because of lack of communications from the
park board. Tim Harless, park board commissioner, apologized to the Garretts,
noting they had a meeting set up with the city’s administration to discuss the
issue, but it had to be cancelled and was never rescheduled. “We dropped the
ball,” he said.
The biggest concern addressed by the public was how the park
would be maintained if the city’s street department was in charge. Some felt
the street department employees would not have the same heart for the park as
Mead. Council President John Burkett argued that all city employees have a lot
of heart for what they do and they would do the best job possible for the
parks.
Council persons, park board members and the general public left
the meetings with too many questions that remained unanswered. Early in the
council meeting, Councilman Tracy Tryon said, “As a voter I don’t know how I
could vote yes or no without knowing the game plan.” Later in the meeting he
expressed his frustration that nothing was accomplished in the meeting.
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