Large audience challenges RJRD board action

by Sue Serdinak

Jan. 27 RJRD meeting

Richfield Village Council chambers was packed with people eager to voice their opinion about the December 2024 actions of the Richfield Joint Recreation District board, which refused to

renew the memorandum of understanding with the Friends of Richfield Heritage Preserve.

Board members voting at that meeting said the Friends could continue to work in the park on a project-by-project basis and report to Park Director John Piepsny. The board did not request additional financial information.

Board Chair Anita Gantner was absent from that meeting.

Immediately following the December meeting, Piepsny notified the Friends that they would not be permitted to lead guided hikes, offer docent talks or hold their signature event, Winter Wonders, in the park in 2025. He also told them to discontinue their work on the Kirby Mill, including restoration and painting for which the Friends had signed a contract with an outside company to complete.

Piepsny ordered the locks changed on all of the buildings. The Friends were permitted to continue restoring Garfield Hall because the board had given them approval to work on the structure until June 2025.

Piepsny also requested the Friends’ financial information for the Kirby Mill and said their money should be redirected to improving the Lodge as a wedding venue. He said that he plans to create a new 501-C-3 to replace the Friends.

Public speaks

Before giving the public a chance to speak, Gantner said the board would not engage in formal discussions with the Friends until board members receive more financial information from them. (Gantner later told the Richfield Times the board wants to see the “books and records” of the Friends. The Friends have submitted annual financial reports to the board every year since 2014.)

Audience speaks

Lynn Richardson, secretary of Friends, said the group has raised enough money to complete the restoration of Kirby Mill, yet Piepsny notified them that they will no longer have access to the historic structure, and he recommends the building be mothballed.

“For that to be zinged at us without warning was wrong,’’ she said. “We continue with our commitment to restore the mill.”

Richardson said donations they received were restricted to restoration of the mill.

Corey Ringle, president of Friends, said she has been involved with the park since its inception, and it has become clear what the community wants.

“As a resident I like when we can use other resources to offset the tax base,” she said.

Ringle, an architect, added that mothballing the buildings would be harmful to the historic structures.

She said the Friends submitted $400 for an ad in the 2025 park program guide, which outlined their work in the park in 2024, and the park director refused to accept the ad or the money. 

Art Gonzales, a former RJRD board member, said everyone is excited about the mill. “I’m shocked that you would even talk about mothballing it,” he said.

He said earlier boards spent over $1 million on the dam and protecting the mill house and worked with the Friends in doing so.

With the completion so close, he said he would be “horrified if it were mothballed. … Let’s use the free labor and the money that is coming into this park. It is crazy to turn it away. You don’t need to like anybody. Just get it done.”  

The audience broke out in applause.

Calista Bajorek, a docent in the park, said visitors come from all over and are interested in the history of the Kirby Mill. She said they often want to have their photos taken in front of the mill wheel that the Friends paid to have rebuilt.

Carolyn Sullivan, outgoing Richfield Village Park Board president, said the Friends should be permitted to continue working on projects. She said the summer barn could become a rentable facility and credited the volunteers who worked to locate the water line to the barn.

Lisa Collert, resident, said, “This is total insanity.  Look at everything that they have done. … I’m having a hard time grasping the concept of throwing away somebody who has so much to give you, for nothing except their toil, their time and their labor. … We’ve watched them from the beginning to this point. … I truly don’t understand it.”

Patrick Hayes of the Buckeye Trail Association asked for more transparency from the board.

Karen Smik, resident, said the Friends were the only group that applied to champion a building and yet they are being turned away. The Friends tried to apply to champion the Kirby estate. “I’m dismayed at how you are you handling taxpayer money?”

Village councilperson Rick Hudak said canceling the MOU with the Friends was a waste of fiduciary resources, adding, “We’re going to have several people who will be elected (to office) next year. … I would support the candidate that supports the Friends.”

Nagwa Ahlborg, resident, asked if the board would reconsider their position if they receive information they requested from the Friends. “People feel that they have worked so hard for this community and are getting slapped,” she said.

Response

Gantner told the audience the board would not respond to their questions.

Board business

Following a summarized grant committee report by board Vice Chair Mike Selig, Piepsny reported that the park’s revenues exceeded expenses in 2024 by $98,946.

He attributed that to rental income from the Lodge. In addition, a $10,000 donation was received from Sam Petros.

He estimated rental income from Amity House should add to the revenue in 2025, saying that 30 couples have already applied to rent the building.

Although the Friends completed the renovation to Amity in 2023, the park had not acquired an occupancy permit in time to get clearance to rent the building in 2024.

Piepsny presented a 10-year master plan for the park, which included the two large projects that Mike Selig described in the grant committee meeting: removing the pedestrian bridge over the Lake Linnea spillway, removing the fence and gate at the Broadview Road entrance, and paving the driveway.

Not included in the master plan was dredging the two lakes. Piepsny said that would cost over a million dollars, and they would need to apply for a grant to pay for the dredging.

Board action

Piepsny asked the board to consider allowing the administration to make purchases for up to $10,000 without board approval.

Mike Lyons, chair of the governance committee, said the committee would discuss the request at its next meeting on Feb. 18.

The board unanimously approved a pay increase from $19.50 to $20 per hour for the volunteer coordinator, the office administrator and the service employee.

The board also approved hiring JG Environmental to perform water testing at an annual cost of $720 for sampling and $4,400 for weekly oversight supervision. They approved hiring Gannett Fleming for engineering services related to the pedestrian bridge at a cost of $13,142.  This work will be covered by a Nature Works grant.

Oviatt House

Trisha Steiner, incoming president of Oviatt House, reported that volunteers worked 127 hours in the last quarter de-cluttering the basement and preparing the building to be wired appropriately as a museum.

A 10-volume reference library was produced for the future museum. The library contains information on the abolition history of Richfield, indigenous peoples, John Brown, the Civil War and the experiences of the Freedom Seekers and Black people. Research for the reference books was paid for with a grant from the Network to Freedom Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

Snowbird Festival

Piepsny reported that about 600 people attended the Snowbird Festival. He also said the annual program guide has been created, generating almost $3,000 from the sale of ads. ∞