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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.
Scott Elliott is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He writes about education, city and suburban issues, politics, business, workforce and consumer issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > August > 21 > Entry
Vet Metro Parks’ new chief publicly
Five Rivers MetroParks is at a fork in the stream.
Its executive director, Charlie Shoemaker, has announced he’s retiring in February, 2011. After 33 years with the agency, nine years as the top executive, he wants to fish more and work less.
The announcement comes in the wake of the park system renewing its levy last fall with 71 percent of the vote. Especially in these times, that outcome was an impressive endorsement of the work of a system that insiders sometimes affectionately called Three Rivers and Two Creeks.
(Mr. Shoemaker’s predecessor, Marvin Olinsky, was once visiting Pittsburgh and liked its “Three Rivers” brand. He came home and dubbed Montgomery County’s park system Five Rivers, a formal recognition of the Great Miami, the Stillwater, the Mad River and Wolf and Twin creeks. A little hyperbole is not so awful.)
If the levy vote had gone the other way, Metro Parks would have been in a bad way. The organization operates 25 parks and oversees 15,000 acres on a $20 million budget. Almost $18 million comes from local tax dollars.
Given that the levy runs for 10 years, Mr. Shoemaker is picking a good moment to step aside.
People who’ve watched MetroParks over the years still speak glowingly of Mr. Shoemaker’s former boss, crediting him with having the vision that the park system is a regional amenity that has to be more than picnic tables and clean green spaces. Without that thinking, RiverScape, a lovely urban park that is a spectacular addition to downtown, for example, might never have happened.
Mr. Shoemaker has made sure that RiverScape has continued to blossom on his watch, including overseeing the addition of its striking new pavilion.
And he has continued to create new venues — Second Street Market, for example — and new programming designed to help people make outdoor recreation part of their lifestyle.
Going forward, Five Rivers has big questions to confront.
What is its next big thing? What is its role in supporting a budding local outdoor recreation industry that is critical to growing interest in bikeways, blueways and parks? How can it continue to be a force for encouraging business development along the Great Miami downtown and elsewhere along it?
How can it promote partnerships, for example, with the University of Dayton, which wants to have a side door to its campus on the river? What is its relationship with other county park districts going to be in a time when money isn’t growing on trees?
Mr. Shoemaker’s successor has to have thoughts on all these issues and more. And the park district’s three commissioners need to make sure that the public hears the applicants’ pitches. Specifically, the commissioners need to create a committee of stakeholders to help vet candidates. And there need to be opportunities for the public to put questions to the finalists.
The City of Dayton has had a lot of success with just such a process. It has followed this format when it has picked its police chief and airport director. Some applicants won’t like the drill, but the parks belong to the community, and many people care about this selection.
Montgomery County doesn’t have mountains, a seashore or canyons, and that puts a special burden and responsibility on Five Rivers. The burden is that the district has to be creative in making green spaces, trails and fishing spots extra special. The responsibility is that nature and its wonders, whether they’re one-of-a-kind or more common, deserve to be protected and leveraged.
To keep a good thing going, MetroParks deserves a special leader. He or she will be taking over an organization that can help set the community apart, while also making it a more fun, vibrant place to live.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment | Categories: Ellen Belcher, Sports and Recreation
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By Horace
August 21, 2010 8:18 AM | Link to this
How about the DDN pick out their favorite and then we can hire the other guy or gal because you people are too stupid to pick the right one to begin with. For proof I give you…… Ready? PHIL PLUMMER
By David Esrati
August 21, 2010 8:24 AM | Link to this
The mark of really great leadership is when there is someone under the boss ready to step in. Everytime you see “national search” you should be aware that something isn’t quote right in the organization yet. Note- Marvin had Charlie ready, why doesn’t Charlie have someone ready?
By Davidss2
August 21, 2010 9:19 AM | Link to this
Anyone can run an organization that’s getting a lot more money than it used to get. The one parks levy wasn’t a renewal that kept the income the same, with an added new levy for voters to choose or not choose. Instead it was a 50% increase in rate which increases the original amount of levy to current dollars and then adds 50% as the additional rate. With all that money I’ve seen lots poured into the silly fountain fiasco and building stuff in downtown Dayton, but little in the real parks the people in the county voted for. Just like the Human Services levy shell game the Parks System got a big increase. Montgomery County in the future will be a place for people to come visit the parks, but there won’t be anyone employed there in meaningful private sector jobs to pay the taxes.
By David Esrati
August 21, 2010 11:06 AM | Link to this
So Ellen, when do we get to do a national search on your replacement? How about community input on your job? You’ve brought in talent from out of town- how’d they do? Eddie Roth ring a bell? Leigh Allan? If the deputy director isn’t ready for the job- does that mean Charlie failed, the board failed- or we’ve got a bunch of incompetent underlings in the 5 Rivers Metroparks? Answers please- I ask the questions here: http://esrati.com/nationalsearchfail/5537/ How can our community NOT have some local talent that can do the job? Ah, yes- but you endorsed Rhine McLin and Joe Roberts….
By Ed Borden
August 22, 2010 1:49 AM | Link to this
I cannot believe that this kind of minor beaurocratic position is worthy of a news article. This is Dayton. These are parks.
By Achoo
August 23, 2010 3:38 PM | Link to this
Why does metro parks have to have a next big thing? Montgomery Co. has an eroding tax base. The next park director will be lucky to get any levee passed and will have to preside over the sad, but necessary dismantling of many of the big park improvements made the last ten years. FRMP built a system of park improvments that are unsustainable. Maybe FRMP can pay for the next big thing by selling off the laser equipment that sits unused at riverscape. The next director had better be a bean counter that stretches a dollar like never before—-at least at FRMP.