About Us

Beginning in May, 2023, Friends of Hyland voiced several concerns to Three Rivers Park District (TRPD) Board of Commissioners (BOC) regarding operations at Hyland Hills. We sent a document with our concerns formulated as easily answerable questions and exchanged a few e-mails.

Please see here for these documents and emails with the Commissioners. One of the commissioner's responses (scroll down to June 21 - DeJournett) was quite emotional, threatening and irrelevant.

Our initial concerns were:  Safety, Equity, Misuse of Public Finances, and Retaliation.  

Since then, three new concerns have emerged:

1. The TRPD Board of Commissioners, has known about, created and enabled the above issues for decades. This is despite many of the actions being in direct violation of the Park’s Mission, Policies and governing laws.

• Some members of this current board have known about these issues and this “special relationship” with Team Gilboa for at least 13 years. These same members have been aware of citizen concerns going back to 2013 when a group of citizens raised these same concerns with Superintendent Boe Carlson, Fred Seymour (former Hyland General Manager) and former Board Chair John Gunyou.

Chair John Gibbs and Vice Chair Jennifer DeJournett have known about citizen concerns as they were elected in 2011 and 2012 respectively.   They:

• Were present at several public Board meetings in 2015/2016 when Citizens 4 Hyland testified and presented a petition for fairness.
• Have seen the multitude of letters and responded, and received phone calls.
• Along with Superintendent Carlson, Hyland's former manager and current managerJeff May have been aware of these issues (including safety), the collusion with Team Gilboa and past history of the favoritism of Team Gilboa. Possibly, they've participated in public letters written on behalf of the Park District and contracts with Team Gilboa (operating agreement). 
• At the very least, they approved the TRPD/Gilboa Operating Agreement renewal in 2014 which perpetuated the injustices and “special relationship” with Gilboa that is unexplainable.
• Along with  former TRPD chair John Gunyou and the former Hyland general manager, have children who participated in Team Gilboa creating a conflict of interest.

Yet, the Board of Commissioners (past and present) have refused to address and act to reform these concerns, despite taking oaths to uphold mission/policy/laws for the benefit of the public.   

2. TRPD’s current Board of Commissioners' lack of transparency and action are causing continued harm on a daily basis and give the impression of continued coverup.

Please see here for a summary.   

Our asks are simple and actionable.  We ask that TRPD uphold its mission and policies and adehre to laws governing the Park District agency.  More specifically:

• Hyland implement industry standard safety procedures to address obvious safety hazards - mainly by adding suitable and industry standard fencing for crowd control skider/rider/spectator protection
• Hyland be fair and equitable to ALL the children who train in ski racing at Hyland.  This includes fair/equitable access to hill assignments, start ramps, and preferred lane times. 
• TRPD stop marginalizing 1,000+ children each year because of favoritism.
• TRPD stop subsiding a private team (Team Gilboa) at the expense of the public in terms of financial subsidies, subordinating the importance of other teams/children by giving preferential designation to Gilboa as Hyland's "Home Team",  and allowing over-subscription which leads to overcrowding and safety issues.  
• Stop allowing an elite, private program (Team Gilboa) to profit off public assets by giving them preferred access to public facilities that they can market/sell and keep the "profits".  This does not benefit to the public in any way.  It hurts the public in many ways.  
• Stop retaliating against those speaking up for reform and end the retaliatory culture at Hyland.
• Stop covering up these activities by not being transparent and working toward reform.

RESULTS TO DATE

• NONE of our questions have been answered.  
• No Justification for these actions has been given.
• NO REFORM has occurred or been communicated.
• A personal injury lawsuit has been filed

It's been over a year.  It is very disappointing and frustrating that the stonewalling and perceived cover-up continue because these practices harm the public every day in several ways.

One looming question in particular was not answered (yet again):  

• Why is Team Gilboa favored at the expense of the majority of patrons (all of whom are children [and their paying parents]) who are systematically discriminated against year after year?  Clearly there is no benefit to the public for this arrangement. In fact, we taxpayers have been subsidizing them an estimated $6.6 million to $10.2 million over the past 25 years.     

• Why is the public expected to subsidize a privately run, exclusive, elite ski program for kids?

• Since there has been no justification given, we are left to wonder: Who is benefitting from this arrangement... and how?

• If there is public benefit, why can't this be shared?

Several times, Chair Gibbs suggested a meeting with Friends of Hyland and TRPD representatives.  However, when Friends of Hyland asked for assurances of no retaliation, we received no such agreement. Therefore, we have not met and we will continue to communicate via e-mail as this is the safest way to protect our supporters from retaliation.   Issues, requests and suggested solutions are laid out very clearly on this website.   

We are looking for solutions - not more meetings that fail to produce a plan of action.

Two commissioners, Louise Segreto and Jesse Winkler, met with Hyland management in June, 2023, at the request of Chair Gibbs, presumably to discuss the issues.  We asked for meeting minutes and a plan to address the concerns.   Chair Gibbs responded that there were NO MEETING MINUTES to address concerns. And sadly, there has been no action.

MN DATA PRACTICES REQUEST

On August 8, 2023, we made a MN Government Data Practices Request to TRPD.  This is analogous to a FOIA, or Freedom of Information Act Request of the Federal Governement, but at the MN State level.   At that point TRPD attorney, Eric Quiring, became engaged and sent some documentation.  The requests are here (scroll to bottom) and the documentation received is available here.  

It is notable that we requested ALL information that they had received in the past regarding the equity issues.   Only a few documents were sent to us. However, there are hundreds of letters and commissioner responses, phone calls, testimonies, a petition, meeting handouts and minutes/follow-ups related to equity concerns that were not provided.

• Superintendent Boe Carlson, Hyland manager Jeff May,  Chair John Gibbs, Vice Chair Jennifer DeJournett, Commissioner Marge Beard and former commissioners John Gunyou, Penny Steele, Steve Antolack, Dan Freeman should all have this documentation as they were sent emails & letters, they responded to these letters, and they participated in the private and public meetings.      

• We are disappointed that TRPD has withheld this information.

The summary of this request and TRPD's response is that , NONE of our questions or concerns has been addressed.  

Sadly, detailed procedures DO NOT EXIST within TRPD for  important operations such as Safety and DEI, as it would apply to hazard mitigation on the ski hill and equitable facilities sharing at Hyland Hills Ski Area.   

• One would expect with TRPD being one of the largest park districts in the country, adequate procedures would be in place.
• There is a fair amount of mention of DEI in the first few pages of the TRPD 2040 plan (see pages 4-9) but this is not honored at Hyland.
• Saftey is mentioned in the TRPD Ordinance policy here: https://www.threeriversparks.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/ordinance

Please note that these policies are akin to "local law" and are written, approved and implemented to successfully operate organizations while upholding mission and laws.  

• The good news is that TRPD has these policies in place.  
• The bad news is that TRPD is not upholding these policies at Hyland.

ISSUES CONTINUE, WITHOUT REFORM

The issues with these concerns have been ongoing for over 20-25 years, and have been voiced many times, by hundreds of citizens.  

Despite all the public outcry and obvious inequities and hazards, very little has been done in terms of reform.    

• People are getting seriously injured on a daily basis because of these unmitigated hazards, and most ski patrol calls at Hyland involve children.  
• Each season, every day, 1,000+ children are discriminated against at Hyland.
• The public unknowingly subsidizes ongoing favoritism, estimated at $276,000 - 416,000 per year ($6.6 -10.2 million over the past 25 years). 
• Team Gilboa takes in about $1,100,000 per year because of TRPD giving them preferred public assets that they sell to the public.  This is a gross misuse of public assets.
• Team Gilboa does not own the land, the hills, the lifts, the start ramps, the lane times or possibly even the warming house at the base of North.   However, one might think differently based on how TRPD favors them with exclusivity afforded only to them and the lack of transparency about the "special relationship" of TRPD and Gilboa.  The Gilboa operating agreement documents do not provide clear definitions of ownership, access, or management.
  

The past and current TRPD Commissioners, Superintendent, Hyland General Manager and Ski School Supervisor all know about these issues as they have been apprised of these concerns many times in countless meetings, e-mails, letters,  phone calls and a petition. Yet, the problems continue each year.

• In 2014, the  BOC, chaired by John Gunyou, and Superintendent Carlson renewed Team Gilboa's operating agreement with no changes. The issues of inequities and discrimination had been raised with Superintendent Carlson and John Gunyou prior to this.    
• In 2015, a citizen led petition, letters and call campaign, meetings and public meeting testimonies resulted in a few minor changes.  However, Hyland then cancelled their own profitable program as retaliation and gave the business to Team Gilboa, who knew about this in advance of Hyland's own management.  Because of this  decision, about 40 employees - many of whom supported the petition - lost their jobs.  And, 200 children and their families lost their affordable ski program.

Please see here for additional Retaliatory Activity.

We believe the situations are getting worse each year leading to more collisions/injuries and greater inequity.   

CONCLUSION

The ongoing stonewalling, lack of transparency, fear of retaliation, and lack of action on these easy to resolve and important items, ensure that discrimination  and hazards persist year after year.  

Taxpayers and patrons are funding this continued favoritism with subsidies each year that amount to approximately $275,000 per year.

We ask: 

• Isn't it TRPD's mission to be stewards of our parks and resources... for the people - ALL of the people represented?  
• Why isn't TRPD upholding their own DEI and Safety policies - and laws governing retaliation and fiduciary repsonsibilies?
• What exactly is the relationship between TRPD and Team Gilboa... and what makes this one team (out of 18 teams) so "special"?
• Is the relationship special because approximately six children of two sitting commissioners (chair and vice chair), the former chair and former Hyland general manager participated in Team Gilboa?  Or has there some type of quid pro quo with Commissioners, Hyland Mangement and Team Gilboa parents?   
• Why aren't the Commissioners being transparent and accountable?  What are they hiding?

These are a few of the age-old questions at Hyland that the TRPD Commissioners refuse to answer. 

We are asking that the current Board of Commissioners commit to improvement.  Please:

• Act with integrity and CHOOSE REFORM for the benefit of the public... who are mostly children.
• Implement industry standard safety procedures to mitigate obvious and known hazards, start treating everyone fairly, stop the retaliation, and stop the subsidization of Team Gilboa at Hyland.    Starting now, and into the future.  

Our asks are simple and cost very little to implement.  Please see requests here.

As always, we are open to meeting with TRPD if the Board of Commisioners agree that no retaliation will occur ,and the meetings will be action plan focused.

If you are interested in these concerns, we hope you read on.  Also, we encourage you to take action here.