BOARDMAN — Monday’s regular board of trustees meeting had a little of everything.

The township welcomed a new police officer, said farewell to two long-serving township officials and introduced a new one, while some residents voiced their opinions about a familiar problem.

Residents have been coming to meetings to voice their opposition to hunting on Mill Creek Park property in the township, expressing concerns about everything from their own safety to the welfare of the park’s wildlife.

The problem is one that trustees have heard about for nearly the past two years, but they can do nothing about it.

“I don’t think any of us like the idea of hunting with guns or bows and arrows in our township,” Trustee Brad Calhoun said. “If we had the authority, I think we would certainly oppose it.”

And while trustees and other officials listen to them, they keep trying to emphasize one simple message: they cannot do anything to stop the hunts.

“The state does not give us that authority,” Calhoun said.

“Youngstown can do that because they are a city and they have a city ordinance,” Trustee Tom Costello said.

Calhoun said that even as a home-rule township, Boardman still cannot override the authority of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources or the Mill Creek MetroParks board, which authorized hunting on MetroParks property within the township.

Fire Chief Mark Pitzer noted that the original plan for the park’s deer reduction efforts was to allow regular licensed hunters to use rifles. Pizter said the township successfully lobbied to restrict hunting in Boardman to bow-and-arrow only.

Township Administrator Jason Loree worked last year to provide sets of postcards residents can send to Ohio lawmakers petitioning them to eliminate the Mill Creek Metroparks board and remove the authority of Mahoning County Probate Court Judge Robert Rusu to appoint the board members, and instead compose a board consisting of one representative each from Boardman, the city of Youngstown and Mahoning County.

But as for regulating anything to do with the hunt, the township’s hands are tied, they said.

Police Chief Todd Werth said police can enforce simple hunting laws like not shooting in the direction of a home or across a road, or anything else that poses a clear risk to public safety, but as long as hunters are operating within the law, especially if they are on private property, police cannot stop anyone from hunting.

“Any issues concerning public safety, we will respond to those calls,” he said. “But this township has done everything else it’s able to do about this issue.”

HELLO, GOODBYE

The township welcomed two new faces at Monday’s meeting and said farewell to two others.

The proceedings opened with the police department swearing in David Corll, a new patrolman. In recent months, the department has seen several retirements, which led to promotions within the ranks to supervisory positions, opening up new spots on the patrol roster. Werth said Corll has been on the job for about a month after the department paid to put him through the police academy.

Also in the gallery for the meeting was new road superintendent Kim Blasco, formerly the service director for the City of Cortland. Blasco takes the reins Feb. 3, replacing outgoing road superintendent Marilyn Sferra Kenner, who retires at the end of the month. Kenner will work part-time at ABC Water District to help oversee the implementation of a $47 million FEMA flood mitigation grant in the township. Kenner has worked as road superintendent since 2016. Before that, she served the township as assistant zoning inspector, following a 32-year career at the Mahoning County Engineer’s Office.

Trustees all took turns thanking Kenner for her years of service.

“We’ve known each other and worked together for about 20 years,” Costello said. “I’m glad to be able to celebrate the retirement of someone who is a friend and somebody I’ve come to rely upon.”

Sferra and Loree paved the way for the grant in recent years and oversaw several smaller flood mitigation projects, including the Forest Lawn Stormwater Park at the site of the old Market Street School.

Also retiring from the township after nearly 40 years of service as both a fiscal officer and a school board member is William Leicht. He was not at Monday’s meeting but trustees spoke highly of him after the meeting.

“He was a good mentor and taught us all a lot about finance,” Calhoun said. “In all his time, we never had a bad audit or a finding of recovery, and for a township with a budget of our size (about $24 million), that’s very good.”