MetroParks board and Hirsch group testify in dispute | News, Sports, Jobs
Staff photos / Ed Runyan
Chris Flak (left) was the group’s first speaker Wednesday, asking a probate judge to remove Mill Creek MetroParks board members. He sits at a table with attorney Marc Dann, while MetroParks CEO Aaron Young sits at a table in the foreground.
YOUNGSTOWN – After two hours of testimony from four members of the group Save the Deer of Mill Creek Park and an hour of testimony from four members of the Mill Creek MetroParks board and its executive director, visiting judge John Campbell of Carroll County said he would reconsider the question of whether to remove board members and decide later.
The deer group petitioned Mahoning County Probate Judge Robert Rusu Jr. to demand the removal of MetroParks board members, but Rusu recused himself and Campbell was appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court.
At the end of the hearing, Campbell said he had decided against allowing attorneys to cross-examine the opposing side because he hoped the hearing would help the parties “listen to each other.”
“I hope you all go home feeling better because you were able to listen without getting angry first. Because once you’re angry, nobody is listening, not you, not me, not anyone else in the room,” he said.
He asked the lawyers to submit a written closing argument within 10 days.
The hearing was unusual in that it differed in many ways from the procedures of a criminal or civil hearing. However, MetroParks attorney Andrea Ziarko said Ohio law gives Campbell “complete discretion” in firing park board members.
Attorney Marc Dann, who represents the deer conservation group, said at the start of the hearing that the group’s main concern was a petition it had submitted to the park board calling on the board to fire Aaron Young, the park’s executive director.
He said the board “simply refused to listen to the concerns of citizens on this issue.” One of the most important duties of a parks board is “to hire and fire a director. Therefore, its failure to address in any way the concerns expressed in a constructive and thoughtful manner through the signatures of 2,500 Mahoning County residents was simply dismissed as unimportant.”
He then introduced Chris Flak, a member of the deer group. He said the deer group was formed as a result of the MetroPark board’s announcement in early 2023 to implement a deer reduction program.
She said a petition calling for Young’s firing was delivered to the MetroParks board on Dec. 11, 2023, the same day as a board meeting. “Nothing was done about that. We never got a response at that meeting,” she said. There was no response in January or February either, so Flak stood up at the March meeting and asked about it.
According to the meeting minutes read by Flak, MetroParks Board Chairman Lee Frey said at the March meeting, “The board feels that Mr. Young is doing a good job and will not act on these petitions. That’s all we have. 2,500 signatures, and that’s all we have.” The second petition, calling for the board’s removal, was filed in probate court on February 5, 2024.
She said one of the Hirsch group’s concerns is that everything will be “rubber-stamped.” “At board meetings, all board members vote unanimously. I have reviewed board minutes for many months and personally attended every board meeting for the last 15 months, and I have never seen a board member actually vote against Aaron Young.”
A video was later played that was filmed by someone in the audience at the April 10, 2023 MetroParks board meeting where the board approved the deer reduction plan.
It shows an angry confrontation between Frey and members of the deer group.
Mickey Drabison, another deer group organizer, talked about the close relationship he has built with the deer in the park.
“You are my friends,” he said.
As a photo of several deer was projected onto the screen, Drabison said, “These are Minnie, Queen and Bebe. I can see these deer from twenty feet away. I can tell you exactly who they are,” he said.
“Minnie, I watched her from ten feet away sitting on a log giving birth to her babies. When this white one, Queenie, was born right behind the maintenance building, two white ones and one brown one were born that day. I sat there with my daughter and watched the babies being born. This deer didn’t care at all that I was there. She came over, sniffed me, licked my head and came back and gave birth again.”
METROPARKS
Ziarko urged the judge to dismiss the petition and not to fire the board members. He said, “The petitioners have not presented any evidence that would justify firing in this case. The commission members are all qualified for their positions. The petitioners simply disagree with some of the board’s decisions.”
The first witness was Frey.
When Ziarko asked Frey if it was his job to “give in to the demands of certain people,” Frey said, “I’m there to do the research necessary to make the best decision possible based on research and facts, and if someone doesn’t like that, that’s part of my job.”
When asked about the wildlife management plan, Frey said that Nick Derico, the park system’s naturalist, is responsible for such things “along with” the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
When asked about the motion to fire Young, Frey said he thought about it for about a month after receiving it. “I was asked the question, are you going to grant the motion, and I said no, the board is not going to grant the motion.”
Three other park board members, Tom Frost, Paul Olivier and Jeff Harvey, also testified.
The fifth board member, Germaine Bennett, could not attend due to a planned trip, Young testified during his testimony.
Young also said that he has worked under 13 parks commissioners during his nine years as executive director, but that “consistency” in parks management over the past few years has been key to improving operations at MetroParks.
He said the current board does not “approve” of his recommendation.
“I can’t say I’ve never seen a board sign off on something. There’s always been an investigation. They’re curious minds. They’re the ones who run the meetings up there. What they’ve provided is consistency in how we operate,” Young said.
