DEAR EDITOR:

The Trumbull County Commissioners are playing politics with your MetroParks.

The MetroPark Board of Commissioners have two separate and distinctive functions.

First, The MetroPark Board of Commissioners are unpaid volunteers, appointed by the court to provide a service to Trumbull County by maintaining the MetroParks.

Secondly, since the MetroParks own Canoe City, where the Leavittsburg dam is located, they were approached by federal and state government agencies to determine the effectiveness and usefulness of the low-head dam in Leavittsburg.

Neither function of the board is related to the other, and all decisions relating to the MetroParks OR the dam, are made based on what is best for ALL the Trumbull County residents.

Each time I attended a Trumbull County Commissioners meeting I heard that the MetroPark Board of Commissioners were playing politics by trying to leverage the continued operation of the MetroParks to promote the removal of the Leavittsburg dam. But at several MetroPark Board meetings in 2024, the MetroPark Board of Commissioners were threatened with law suits and the withholding of funds for the MetroParks if they continued with the removal of the dam. To me, that sounds political.

In 2024, the MetroPark only received $136,000 for the maintenance and repairs of 5 parks, 7 water trail launch areas, 8 hunting areas and the Western Reserve Greenway Bike Trail. They requested the same amount in 2025 from the Trumbull County Commissioners.

The MetroParks’ only paid employee voluntarily cut his hours from 5 days a week to four (a 20% cut in pay) to help keep the parks open as long as possible.

In the meantime, the Trumbull County Commissioners have given only half of the requested budget to the Metroparks, while, as the Tribune reported, the battle over the dam continues.

No funds provided from Trumbull County have ever been used for anything other than to run the MetroParks of Trumbull County.

It is time the Trumbull County Commissioners quit being led by a small group of residents, with self-serving motives, and make the right decision for all the Trumbull County residents.

SHERRY MOLITERNO

Braceville