Sandusky Register Viewpoint January 14, 2004
Go Public With How We Pick Park Board

Erie Metroparks is a dynamic organization with programs and operations that, unlike many groups, impact the entire county in a variety of ways popular and not.

Its parks are natural wonders. Its programs offer diverse education for folks of all ages.

But it is also not your typical mom-and-pop non-profit.

It can seek its own taxes. It can go after property it deems vital for expansion. It can secure significant tax dollars and grants.

Given all of this, it seems a bit odd that the professional staff, the three directors and the judge who oversees the board, Judge Beverly McGookey, take such a low-key approach to finding folks to serve on the three-member board.
It's low key to the point where it borders on a disservice to taxpayers and easily fosters within the folks who love to hate EMP a feeling of a "good old boy" network.

In the last two years, two of the board's three seats have turned over with the departures of Kevin Zeiher and Starr Truscott.

Yet the public learned about the transition only after a new appointee was announced.

Judge McGookey politely explains that no one ever really asks about serving, so she usually looks to the few who ask about it. We should be grateful some people haven't asked.

We don't believe that there is anything "good old boy" about the quiet shuffling of people in and out of the post.
But we do believe that an organization with the powers that MetroParks has, as well as the politics, deserves to have its top directorial posts publicized and vetted before a wider public audience than just those who choose to ask about it.

With MetroParks, we're not exactly talking the tree board or the facilities committee.

And if after that, only one person speaks up, then the public has at least had its chance to speak up.

...from The Sandusky Register (subscription required)