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Lack of maintenance, service agreement taking its toll

Financial struggles forced the district to end its longtime deal in January.

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By Samantha Sommer, Staff Writer Updated 11:59 AM Sunday, August 23, 2009

Although the Clark County Park District has existed for decades, it practically had to start over from scratch in January.

The district and National Trail Parks and Recreation District had a maintenance and service agreement for the about past 10 years, which NTPRD ended in January due to its financial struggles. During that time, the Clark County district never dissolved because it is difficult to do so under state law, but it combined most of its staff, equipment and funding with National Trail.

After the relationship ended, the Clark County district couldn’t afford to pay its executive director at first, board President Walter Szczesny.

“When we came into this we had some difficulty going back to 10 years ago and operating again with a staff and trying to come up with funds,” he said. “Luckily, we had people that had experience to assist us to get back.”

Jim Campbell and Cyndy Jividen were laid off from NTPRD when the agreement ended. They agreed to come back to their old CCPD jobs they held before the joint district’s creation, he as the full-time executive director and she as the part-time assistant director.

Campbell volunteered for a few months until the county commissioners agreed to provide funding.

The county district always has had one other full-time employee during the maintenance agreement, a park manager/ranger who remains on staff, and several active committee members.

Its budget for this year is about $175,000, including about $83,500 from the Clark County Commission and about $85,000 in local government funds, in addition to donations, program fees and fines.

That’s not enough to buy equipment or increase staff.

“It is a hand-to-mouth-type scenario,” Campbell said.

It gets by with volunteer aid, including for park maintenance and rangers, and aging equipment kept working by repairs. Campbell also helps out with maintenance.

“We feel good we got everything started and we’re maintaining the park district with the minimal staff,” Szczesny said.

As the district never dissolved, that meant it often stayed in the background during the partnership with NTPRD, Szczesny said.

So now that it is back on its own, he said it has to re-establish its identity to the public.

“There is some of this confusion now of what is the Clark County Park District,” Szczesny said. “That’s something we continue to have to overcome.”

It owns George Rogers Clark Park and related properties, Estel Wenrick Wetlands, trails in the county and some other undeveloped land.

Going forward, the district will have to proceed a step at a time, Campbell said, and focus on maintaining what is has as well as it can.

“Park systems in Clark County are in a survival mode,” he said.

The district also needs to find more secure funding. Everything is on the table, Szczesny said, from grants to possibly a levy in a few years. The current economy doesn’t make a levy likely soon.

“Right now, that’s a big question mark,” he said. “We’re of course talking about all these things, but I can’t say we have an answer at this time.”

Szczesny would like to find ways to continue to cooperate with National Trail, such as on the connecting trails each district owns, and is looking to work with townships.

The park district is focused on its future.

“We’re moving on from there and making the best of it,” Szczesny said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0363 or ssommer@coxohio.com.

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