Letter to the Editor: Reminder: Two Park Board seats up this year

Editor:

To Hill County residents and to members of the Hill County Park Board whose terms will expire this spring. Existing rules designate that Park Board members terms are three years.

Currently, there are no term limits for Park Board members, which means an individual could be reappointed indefinitely.

Automatic reappointment of existing board members has been common practice to a point that there are members who have been on the Park Board for more than 20 years.

In recent times, open positions have only been announced when a board member dies or resigns.

This has left an appearance that appointments to the Park Board are lifetime or at least indefinite leaving little opportunity for citizens to participate on the Park Board.

For some county boards, it can be difficult to find individuals willing to serve; however, that has not been the case for the Park Board.

When a board member resigned in 2013, there were 13 individuals who applied/volunteered for the position.

On Feb. 24, a comment signed by 39 Hill County residents was presented to the Hill County commissioners asking that they open the application and appointment process to citizens each year as terms of existing board members expire.

Existing board members could reapply with other residents and the commissioners could appoint who will best serve the Hill County parks, county and residents.

Regardless, if there is a public announcement or not, there are terms of Park Board members expiring this, spring and commissioners will make decisions about who they will appoint.

Lou Hagener

Havre