New Philadelphia mayor honors retiring parks and recreation superintendent

Jon Baker, The Times-Reporter
·3 min read

NEW PHILADELPHIA ‒ Mayor Joel Day paid tribute to a retiring city employee at the most recent New Philadelphia City Council meeting.

Rod Miller, New Philadelphia's superintendent of parks and recreation, will be retiring on Sunday after working for the city for 52 years.

A new Ferris wheel for kids can be seen at New Philadelphia’s Tuscora Park.
A new Ferris wheel for kids can be seen at New Philadelphia’s Tuscora Park.

"The improvements that have been made in the city's park system over the span of his career were the result of Rod's support and encouragement," Day said. "There is no doubt: He loves this town and its people."

In other business:

  • The mayor reported the city parks and recreation board has approved adding tilapia to the assortment of fish in the Tuscora Park pond. Tilapia are algae eaters and should remove the nutrients that encourage algae growth, he said. The park had a serious problem with algae in the pond in 2021. Day noted that tilapia cannot survive in water temperatures below 55 degrees, so they will have to be fished out of the pond by October.

  • Day thanked the Geib Foundation for its donation of $10,000 to offset expenses related to the acquisition and installation of a new children's Ferris wheel on the Tuscora park midway. Also, delivery of a new train is expected by mid to late June. RTY, Inc., which operates rides at the park, traded the old train to an amusement ride operator for three additional children's rides that will be installed along the midway sometime in the future.

  • Jami Bailey, the mayor's executive assistant, gave a presentation to council on the new Yodel app. The app provides a listing of all community events in New Philadelphia. It is already being used in Newcomerstown and Coshocton. The app is free for city residents and organizations to use. Residents get access to the app by downloading it at their app store by searching for yodel community connections. There is also a link on the city's website at events.yodel.today/newphiladelphia/community.

  • Law Director Marvin Fete said he has been doing research on a 4.66-acre city-owned tract on the south side of New Philadelphia that was once the site of the Ohio & Erie Canal. The city is hoping to sell or lease it. The land is subject to a governor's deed, which set restrictions on its use. Fete said he is in the process of getting those restrictions lifted so the city can sell the land and do whatever it wants with it.

  • The law director said he will also be closely monitoring a case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court involving an Oregon city's crackdown on people sleeping in public places. The issue came up in New Philadelphia last year when a homeless person was living in the dugouts at Waterworks Park. Fete was asked to see what could be done about the situation. "I thought it would be a no-brainer," he said. "I thought, well that's an easy one. Certainly, you can't have homeless people living in a dugout where kids are playing. It was much tougher than I thought it would be." There was a court case that said cities cannot restrict that. Since New Philadelphia parks are only open from dawn to dusk, that rule was used to deal with the situation, the law director said.

Reach Jon at 330-364-8415 or at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: New Philadelphia parks superintendent retiring on Sunday