Judge Grendell removes Guarino from park board; sides dispute reasons

Geauga Park District Commissioner Raymond “Ray” Guarino and Probate Judge Timothy Grendell offered differing accounts of the circumstances that led to the judge’s decision to remove Mr. Guarino, a five-year board member who served as president for the past year. Mr. Guarino unsuccessfully asked Judge Grendell to let him finish his term in a 7 a.m. hearing on Monday. He said the park district recently interviewed candidates to replace retiring Executive Director John Oros. “I would like to publicly advise that Matt McCue, the park district’s current deputy director, would be an excellent successor to John Oros, as John has groomed him for this role in the last few years,” he said. “Accordingly, I was surprised when Judge Grendell asked me to meet for coffee two weeks ago and, out of the blue, asked me to leave the park district over a year before my term would end. He explained to me that he had his own agenda and wanted me to step aside. I was confused as to what agenda could possibly want to effectuate as he has less than 100 days as the appointing judge. I also found it strange that the outgoing judge was also trying to micromanage the last 100 days of his term. I hope that Judge Grendell is not trying to upset the succession of Matt McCue as the executive director.” Judge Grendell accused Mr. Guarino of abusing his authority by telling fellow park board member John Ralph that he could not contact Mr. Oros without permission. Mr. Guarino said he did not. “You’re under oath. Well, I should put you under oath,” Judge Grendell replied. Mr. Guarino said he should. “I never told him that,” he said. “I told him to follow the protocol, which pretty much every board has, that everything should come to the board. We discuss it as a board and then bring it to the director of the parks.” Judge Grendell said he disagreed with much of what Mr. Guarino said and would issue an order. He also said that Mr. Ralph resigned from the park board. In his subsequent order, Judge Grendell gave grounds for removing Mr. Guarino: “attempting to direct and unilaterally restrict Board member John A. Ralph from talking to, meeting with, or interacting with Executive Director John Oros”; “personally failing to preside over the park board’s meetings”; “unfortunate negligent hiring and negligent administrative oversight” evinced by the hiring process for the director of finance role; “essentially excluding three other board members from the interview process” to find a new executive director; and his “misrepresentation to the court” about a recent fiscal officer hire amid a “terrible” record of hiring fiscal officers. Mr. Guarino said he spent more than 33 years in management at the Ohio Lottery Commission. “My entire life has revolved around public service. That is why I was honored when Judge Grendell requested that I become a volunteer park commissioner at the Geauga Park District.”