Cleveland Metroparks is hiring for 1,000 spring and summer jobs at various locations. A job fair will be held March 15 at Stillwater Place, which is part of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Credit: Jeff Haynes / Signal Cleveland

Summary:

  • The weather has affected some Metroparks revenue streams in the first six months of the year.

  • Metroparks officials are anticipating possible cuts from Columbus and are considering an agreement with the Ohio Lottery in order to diversify their revenue streams.

  • The county’s collection and disbursement of property tax delinquencies, as well as Metroparks receiving cash advances for projects, helped Metroparks financially weather the first six months of the year, despite the bad weather.


Follow-Up Question:

  • Do the commissioners always reply to public commenters like they did in this meeting? That was off-putting to me. Making clarifying comments for the public’s benefit, like Board President Yvette Ittu asking the Metroparks finance officer to explain the potential Ohio Lottery agreement, makes sense to me and was appreciated. But there were a few points where I felt like they were all ganging up on the public commenter and talking defensively. That felt low-key hostile to me.

All three Cleveland Metroparks Board of Park Commissioners were present:

  • Yvette Ittu, president
  • Bruce Rinker, vice president
  • Dan Moore, vice president.

The meeting began right on time at 8 a.m. and followed this agenda.

The financial report by Metroparks chief financial officer CFO Wade Steen

Metroparks overall

  • Steen began by addressing the weather in the first half of 2025, pointing to 67% more rain between May 15 and June 30, 2025, than during the same time period in 2024. Colder, snowier December through February. More cloudy days, more wind.

  • Rough weather led to lower park attendance and some lower revenue from certain streams.

  • Despite the weather, June park district financials were OK, Steen said, up about $7 million from June 2024. A $6.5 million grant came in from Solon for the Solon to Chagrin Falls Trail. Some cash advances and collected property tax delinquencies also came in.

  • Revenue was up 6.5% and expenses were up 6.45%. 

  • “We’re running well,” Steen said.

Zoo

  • Zoo: “General admission revenues are down 32% [through the first six months of 2025 compared to the same time last year]. That’s directly impacted by the weather,” said Steen. “All in all, revenues for the zoo right now are down about 20%.”

  • Steen: The zoo has done a great job of holding expenses in line, limiting the impact the bad weather has had on the financials.

Golf

  • Month over month, June 2025 beat June 2024, even given all the weather issues.

  • Attendance revenue was down, but some of that is due to a recent rate hike.

  • Mastick Woods, Sleepy Hollow, and Shawnee Hills are all ahead of where they were at the same time last year.

Enterprise

  • Still profitable but not quite where it should be. Merwin’s Wharf made a huge difference in keeping financials healthy. Merwin’s positive operating surplus went from roughly $18,000 in June 2024 to $91,000 in June 2025 on revenues that were about the same. The Flats restaurant lowered its operating costs from about $977,000 to $840,781. 
Members of the Cleveland Documenters team at City Hall. Top row: Anastazia Vanisko, Larry Gardner, Andrea Jones, Ronaldo Rodriguez Jr, Regina Samuels, Mary Ellen Huesken, Gennifer Harding-Gosnell. Bottom row: Doug Breehl-Pitorak, Kellie Morris, Laura Redmon, Cleveland City Council Member Rebecca Maurer, Sheena Fain, Jeannine Isom-Barnhill, Jotoya Gray, Angela Rush. Credit: Anastazia Vanisko

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The Metroparks CEO’s report:

Action Item (a). A 2025 Budget Adjustment. The requested increase of $8.7 million was approved (see image from the presentation materials below).

Action item (b). An adoption of Revised Codified Rules and Regulations was approved. The updates are now in line with Ohio Revised Code. Language was added language for potential collaboration with Ohio Lottery (see meeting materials below for more details).

Action item (c). A maintenance agreement for the Garfield Boulevard Trail and Green Infrastructure Project. The board authorized the chief executive officer to enter into a maintenance agreement with the City of Garfield Heights for the Garfield Boulevard Trail and Green Infrastructure Project and any other documents/agreements as may be necessary to effectuate the above, in a form to be approved by the chief legal and ethics officer.

Action Item (d). A contract amendment for Cleveland Metroparks Community Sailing Center at Lakefront Reservation. The board authorized the CEO to amend the guaranteed maximum price (GMP) contract with Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. for the construction of the Patrick S. Parker Community Sailing Center, Lakefront Reservation, for a total contract valued at $16.6 million in a form of contract to be approved by the chief legal and ethics officer. 

Action Item (e). Award of Contract for professional services for Irishtown Bend Park. The board approved a contract for the schematic design and design development of the Irishtown Bend Park with Osborn Engineering, for $1.4 million.

Action Item (f). An amendment to the preliminary engineering services agreement with Norfolk Southern Railway Co. The board approved the amendment to the preliminary engineering agreement with the Norfolk Southern Railway Co. for additional preliminary engineering review services, resulting in a total revised amount of $114,280.

Action Item (g). An amendment to contract for Cleveland Metroparks Gordon Park improvements. Brief presentation given by Sean McDermott, Metroparks chief planning and design officer, on Gordon Park updates.

  • Restoration has already happened. Ready for construction. 

  • The community was asked for what they wanted; access to open space was No. 1 request.

  • Safe and well-lit space, inviting entrances, thoughtful placing of structures such as pavilions and sport courts to emphasize “great lawn” experience are a focus.
  • The board authorized an amendment to the contract with MKSK, Inc. for professional services for $535,300, resulting in a total revised contract amount of $885,300 for design services.

[Editor’s note: More details about the above action items begin at this point in the agenda.]

Signal background

Public comments:

  • One person, Marty Lesher of Olmsted Township, spoke in the meeting’s public comment portion. She is the same individual who gave public comment the last time I covered this meeting. The commissioners addressed her by name, indicating to me that she is a regular at these board meetings. 

  • She spoke against in-house enterprises and said these enterprises should be run by the private sector.

  • She spoke on scaling back “bigger, grander” projects and emphasized the need to focus on “the essentials,” like trails and giving people access to nature.

  • She also spoke against the potential collaboration with the Ohio Lottery.

  • The commissioners indirectly replied to her concerns without addressing her directly. The manner of address suggested good intentions and a need to explain, but it came across to me, a member of the public, as a little dismissive and slightly defensive.

  • In regards to the potential collab with the Ohio Lottery, Metroparks Chief Legal and Ethics Officer Rosalina Fini, at the request of Board President Ittu, said the Metroparks is aware of potential cuts coming from Columbus and of the Ohio General Assembly saying that governmental entities need to “diversify their revenue streams.”  

The public portion of the meeting ended at 8:40 a.m.

These notes are by Documenter Alicia Moreland.

If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@signalcleveland.org  with “Correction Request” in the subject line.

Cleveland Documenters pays and trains people to cover public meetings where government officials discuss important issues and decide how to spend taxpayer money.