At the May 25 meeting, Scott Savage, president of the Metroparks Toledo park commissioners, was recognized for his 20 years of service on the board and his recent appointment to a sixth term by Lucas County Probate Court Judge Jack Puffenberger.
Board vice president Fritz Byers commended Mr. Savage for his service to Metroparks, a sentiment echoed by U.S. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur.
“You make it look far easier than it is,” Mr. Byers said to Mr. Savage, whose work on behalf of the park system began even before joining the board in 2007.
Five years earlier, Mr. Savage co-chaired with then Toledo Fire Chief Mike Bell a levy campaign to acquire additional parkland. The passage of that levy–by a 2-1 margin–resulted in two decades of growth that included 10 new parks and the addition of more than 5,000 acres of protected natural area.
“One of the many things for which we are grateful is your leadership style, which is selfless but at the same time passionate,” Mr. Byers said, noting that it is “not an easy balance to strike.”
Lera Doneghy, the board’s other vice president, presented Mr. Savage with a token of their appreciation.
“You are a commissioner who has given 150 percent, truly,” she said. “I call him our money man. He is always looking at the dollars to make sure we are doing our best for the citizens of Lucas County.”
Rep. Kaptur presented the board president with a proclamation in recognition of “outstanding service to our community.” It will be entered into the Congressional record.
“Thank you for getting us recognized nationally and probably internationally, and for leading us to be a truly beautiful and humane community–America needs that,” she said.
Mr. Savage was “humbled,” by the recognition, but credits his fellow commissioners for the park district’s success, “We are in the early innings of transforming the region, and I want to thank my fellow commissioners. It’s been a tremendous ride so far.”
When the “land levy” appeared on the 2002 ballot, only one Metropark existed in the City of Toledo, Swan Creek Preserve. Today, there are four, plus many miles of trails.
In 2020, with the opening of Manhattan Marsh Preserve in north Toledo, the agency made good on a pledge to place a Metropark within five miles of every county resident.
With that vision realized, Mr. Savage said, the board now set sight on a larger task: to “elevate our region. To get the rest of the world to change the way they think about our region” and to get people who live here to “think a little differently about themselves and where they live, and how proud they should be of what we have here,” he explained.
“We are elevating our region,” Mr. Savage continued. “People who cut the grass in our parks, they aren’t cutting grass, they are elevating our region. The grounds techs here, the rangers, everyone, all of you who work so hard every day picking weeds, making sure this place looks like a Metropark. When you go to a Metropark, you know what you are going to experience, and that has never wavered.”
Since becoming a park commissioner, Mr. Savage has played an integral role in Metroparks.
In addition to unprecedented growth in parkland, from about 7,500 to more than 12,000 acres, he saw the number of parks jump from nine to 19.
Highlights under his leadership include:
•Acquiring a corridor that will one day connect five Metroparks and three state nature preserves while restoring the globally rare habitat in the Oak Openings region;
•Opening Fallen Timbers Battlefield Metropark, an affiliated unit of the National Park Service and one of three locations that make up a National Historic Site;
•Opening Howard Marsh, a 1,000-acre wetland restoration near the Lake Erie shore, one of the most ambitious projects in Metroparks’ 90-year history;
•Beginning the development of Glass City Metropark and Riverwalk, which will open in stages over the next several years, connecting six neighborhoods on both sides of the Maumee River in downtown and east Toledo, and
•Winning dozens of awards, such as the National Gold Medal Award in 2020.
Land Acquisitions
Also at their meeting, the park board purchased parcels at 2659, 2675 and 2751 North Crissey Road in Sylvania and 0 Gannons Island, Maumee.
The Crissey Road parcels totaling 30.49 acres are adjacent to Secor Metropark and were purchased from Northwest Ohio Properties Ltd. and Perry Real Estate for $852,600.
Metroparks is being reimbursed for 100 percent of the cost from the Ohio EPA water resource restoration sponsor program.
Tim Schetter, director of natural resources, said the property contains high quality forested wetland and upland habitat. “It is one of the last remaining unprotected blocks of forestland in Sylvania Township,” he said.
Improvements to the land will include demolition of a former residential structure and 0.5 acres surrounding the structure will be restored to native Oak Openings plantings.
With the purchase, Secor park will expand to 867 acres.
Gannons Island, near the City of Maumee was purchased for $30,000 from Kevin C. Gannon. The 2.8-acre island is the last privately-owned island in the Maumee River island complex known as Audubon Islands State Nature Preserve, Mr. Schetter explained.
The nature preserve is owned and managed by Metroparks, and Gannons Island will become part of that management system. “The island is connected to Ewing Island due to decades of sediment deposition and features a variety of floodplain forest, shrub/scrub, meadow and shoreline habitats,” he said.
Other Business
In other business, the park board:
•Contracted with Coleman Systems Inc. of Sylvania for $247,590 to perform HVAC maintenance and repair throughout the park district. The work will consist of preventative maintenance on and necessary repairs and improvements to heating and cooling systems and backflow prevention devices.
•Contracted with Enterprise Fleet Management, Inc. for the lease and disposition of vehicles at an annual cost of $250,000.
•Approved a professional services contract with West Erie Realty Solutions for $94,358. The company will serve as project manager for right-of-way acquisition services of 13 commercial parcels and public parcels. All work will conform with ODOT’s right-of-way appraisal and acquisition policies.
•Approved payables for April totaling $5.2 million.
•Approved at a special meeting May 16 the issuance of land acquisition and improvement tax anticipation bonds for $7 million. The funds will be used to maintain the construction schedule for the Glass City Riverwalk project.
Matt Cleland, chief financial officer/treasurer, explained the bonds “are not additional monies, nor new monies, but rather an opportunity to borrow funds from levy proceeds to meet the needs of the construction schedule.”
Of the four financial institutions that responded to Metroparks’ request, Key Bank offered the best bid with a fixed interest rate of 2.98 percent.
The next park board meeting will be 8:30 a.m., Wednesday, June 22. The location has not yet been decided. The meeting is open to the public.
