By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Kathy Attwood and Jonathan Smith have some things in common. They both live in Perrysburg and are avid patrons of the Wood County Parks. They attended the January meeting of the Wood County Park District Board of Commissioners as the two newest members.
Attwood, who lives near W.W. Knight Nature Preserve, has volunteered with weeding at some of the county parks for several years and also enjoys working in the greenhouse at J.C. Reuthinger Memorial Preserve.
She has completed the Master Gardener training and enjoys gardening and being outdoors.
“We have to stand up and protect our green space or we will lose it to development, asphalt or industry,” she said. “The parks are important to me; I wanted to contribute. Being on the board seemed like a good fit.”
Smith, whose family has four children from 11 months old up to nine years, said the is very familiar with the parks because as a family, they use the parks all the time.
He recently gave up his Perrysburg City Council seat after eight years to devote more time to family. However, he admitted he wasn’t ready to give up public service. The park board checked a couple of boxes: very few night commitments, which will allow him to more frequently participate in his kids’ evening activities, and the fact that most of the park events can involve his family.
Attwood and Smith were appointed by Wood County Probate Judge David Woessner to replace Tom Myers and Bill Cameron, whose terms ended Dec. 31, 2023. Attwood and Smith’s current terms run Jan. 1, 2024, through Dec. 31, 2026.
After welcoming the new board members, the board took the following action:
- Renewed the district’s membership in the Owens Community College Center for Law Enforcement and Professional Development Training Consortium. The district uses the consortium to provide additional training and networking opportunities for the park police staff. “With our size and scope, we don’t have the budget or the manpower to have a huge internal training mechanism. The consortium allows are police staff to interact with other law enforcement agencies in a training and learning capacity, and provides a number of outside resources,” said Christopher Smalley, director of the park district. The district has been a member of the consortium since it was formed shortly after 9/11.
- Authorized Smalley to enter into a lease agreement for the 50-plus acres of farmland the district owns adjacent to the Bradner Preserve. The land, owned by the district since the late 1990s and early 2000s, has been farmed routinely by the same group, Smalley explained. The resolution allows him to work out a lease agreement for the coming year with the group that farms the land.
- Approved updates to the Park Police Policy Manual, as recommended by the Lexipool Enforcement Policy and Training Service which the park utilizes to keep policies current. The sections that were updated included victim and witness assistance, medical marijuana, line-of-duty deaths, wellness program, and records maintenance and release.
- Updated the mileage reimbursement amount to 67 cents per mile that will be paid to district employees when a district vehicle is not available, and they have to use their own vehicles. The amount follows the Internal Revenue Service standards. To eliminate the need to update the reimbursement amount each year, this year’s resolution included language that the park district will follow the IRS guidelines in perpetuity or until the board changes the policy.
- Learned the park district has four images included in the Public Entities Pool of Ohio (PEP) 2024 calendar—three inside and one on the back cover. “It’s always nice to see our work recognized, especially print media by other organizations,” Smalley said, praising Jamie Sands, community and communications specialist, for a fantastic job sending in park district photos for possible inclusion in the calendar.
- Congratulated Jim Witter, whose job title was updated from program coordinator to program manager with a wage increase from level 9 to 10 after a review of his job description was completed. “With the updated job description and job duties therein, we actually now have a good grasp of what actually is being done in the position,” said new board chair Becca Ferguson.
