CANFIELD — In a sense, the long-simmering dispute between the William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society and the Mill Creek MetroParks Board of Commissioners can be distilled to one word: pond.

During the commissioners meeting Monday at the Mill Creek MetroParks Farm, Richard S. Scarsella, chairman of the historical society’s board of trustees, reiterated his request to see the park board transfer 73.6 acres of the McGuffey Wildlife Preserve in Coitsville Township to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

“We admit that the words ‘pond’ and ‘dock’ are not shown in the original agreement (between the park and the historical society), but they have a moral obligation to maintain and preserve the property as we intended for it to be preserved,” Scarsella said after the meeting.

He was referring to a written agreement from July 1998, at which time the historical society donated the land to the park, along with a one-time $15,000 contribution.

Nevertheless, Scarsella and other historical society members have contended that instead of abiding by such obligations, park officials have been negligent in caring for and maintaining a small pond and dock on the property, allowing the nondescript body of water to fall into disrepair and resemble a wetlands area filled with weeds, silt, algae and plants. The dock, which they have complained was unsafe, has been removed, Scarsella added.

The board took no action Monday regarding transferring to the ODNR the property, which has been designated a national historic landmark.

Board Commissioner Lee Frey said the agreement does not explicitly mention the pond. He added that, contrary to Scarsella’s claims, park officials are abiding by terms of the pact.

A provision in the 1998 agreement between the two entities states that the historical society will donate the land “with the restriction that the funds be used only for improvements or maintenance of the property,” the interpretation of which is at the center of the dispute between park officials and historical society members.

Aaron Young, the MetroParks’ executive director, said that, as a courtesy to Scarsella, he spoke with the ODNR about the preserve. In response, ODNR stated that it would maintain the property in the same manner as park officials have, Young explained.

Young’s stance on the matter seems to reflect that in a Sept. 16 letter Jeffrey A. Johnson, chief of the Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, wrote to Scarsella about the possible property transfer.

The Division of Natural Areas and Preserves is under the ODNR’s umbrella.

Even though the nature preserve in Coitsville “does possess the necessary geologic and ecologic attributes to qualify for designation as a state nature preserve,” Johnson concluded that, based on conversations with Young, the park is neither interested in dedicating the land as a state nature preserve nor transferring title of it, the correspondence states.

Nevertheless, if MetroParks officials “would indeed invite conversation” regarding the two possibilities, the Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves would be interested in working with the park board and the historical society “to make either option possible,” the letter further says.