Setting the Record Straight

This was forwarded to the Massillon Review and we thought this might be of interest to our readers;


To the People of Massillon

I am writing this letter to set the record straight on the “Parks and Recreation Tax” and its relationship to the “Legends of Massillon Golf Course”. I would like to state up front that I have nothing to gain by writing this letter. What I do have an interest in is for the Mayor and City Council to do the right thing for all the citizens and friends of the Parks that worked so hard to make the Parks and Recreation plan become a reality.

The Parks and Recreation Master Plan differed itself from the Legends of Massillon Golf Course in a couple of very distinctive ways. One was that the Parks and Recreation plan offered “something for everyone” not just golfers and secondly all the registered voters in Massillon had an opportunity to vote on the Parks and Recreation issue up or down - they had a real say in the outcome unlike the Golf course which was decided on by nine council members.

We pitched the Parks and Recreation Master Plan to groups like the Little League, Girls fast pitch ASA, MAGI (Massillon Area Greenways), The Massillon Senior Center, Massillon Football Booster Club just to mention a few groups. We also held town hall meetings in every ward in the city using an open forum format where citizens could input ideas and ask any questions they’d like about the plan. During every presentation there were a couple of questions that were asked repeatedly. One question was if the parks and recreation master plan had anything to do with the Golf course and the second most asked question was who will control the money. My answers were simple and factual – the Parks and Recreation tax has nothing to do with the Legends of Massillon Golf course and that the money by statutory Law (Massillon is a Statutory city) would be controlled by a five member Parks and Recreation Board with three members being appointed by the Mayor and two being appointed by the Massillon School Board.

The parks and recreation board was to function outside the political landscape of city hall. With its own funding source approved by the voters, its focus was to oversee recreational facilities, recreational programming, developing parks and playgrounds as well as any other recreational or quality of life opportunities they envisioned for the citizens of Massillon.

With that said, during the master planning process I was asked by Don Hulick of Leisure Group to approach Mayor Cicchinelli about the possibility of transferring the Golf Course at some point in time to the Parks and Recreation Board. The impetus behind this question was related to the proposed three- tenths of a percent (0.3%) income tax funding source that we had used for developing the master plan. It was uncovered through Mr. Hulick’s master planning process and his own experiences with developing a municipal golf course in Cuyahoga Falls, where he was the Superintendent Parks and Recreation for his entire career, that if, we were going to bring the Legends of Massillon Golf Course under the Parks and Recreation Department we would need to ask the voters for an additional tenth of a percent tax raising the amount it would require to fund the Master Plan to four- tenths (0.4%) of a percent. If we didn’t account for it now, that down the road the parks and recreation tax at three- tenths of a percent would not support both the master plan and the golf course. Mr. Hulick also stated that if moving the Legends of Massillon Golf Course under the Park and Recreation Boards control was even a remote possibility that we better go for the increase funding now, and that it would be virtually impossible to go back to the voters at a later date and ask for more money.

When I asked Mayor Cicchinelli about the possibility of moving the Legends of Massillon golf course to the control of the Parks and Recreation Department either before the tax issue went on the ballot or even down the road at some point in time due to the fact that the park and recreation tax would not support both - he responded emphatically that the Legends of Massillon Golf Course would not now or ever be under the control of the Parks and Recreation Board. Furthermore, the Mayor stated to me he would not even consider that option when the Golf course was a money maker for the City, or so he thought. With that said, our committee moved forward with putting the Parks and Recreation plan on the ballot without including the golf course. We passed the park tax issue (0.3%) in August 1995 by over a 100 votes.

As the Superintendent of the Parks, I was involved in every detail of the master plan. I worked hand in hand with the Leisure Group which was the firm the city contracted to produce the master plan as well as the “Citizens for Parks and Recreation” which was the committee formed to support the issue and included hundreds of supporters thought out the community.

To all those who supported the parks and recreation issue then and to those who have come to enjoy the fruits of the parks and recreation tax to date I say, “Unite and get engaged.” Call the Mayor, call your council person, call Judge John Haas and go to the council meetings and demand that this issue be made right. No one voted to include the Legends of Massillon golf course in the Parks and Recreation Master Plan. It’s your quality of life that’s at stake.

Bob Straughn

Parks Superintendent 1990 - 1995