Complaint, Letters and MN Data Practices Request

June 16, 2023 - From Chair Gibbs

On Friday, June 16, 2023 at 10:08:06 AM CDT, John Gibbs <commissionerjohngibbs@gmail.com> wrote:

As Chair and on behalf of the Three Rivers Park District and its Board of Commissioners I am writing to confirm that we received this and your May 22, 2023 e-mail submission, that they are public documents in our Three Rivers Park District records system and that we strive to take all input and address any concerns with diligence and respect.

We invite you to meet and share your concerns and ideas with me, along with a small group of other commissioners or Three Rivers leaders I may invite. If you would like to do so, feel free to contact Superintendent Boe Carlson at boe.carlson@threerivers.org and he will assist in scheduling.

- John Gibbs, Chair
Three Rivers Park District Board of Commissioners
Cell: 651-324-0874

June 21 From Vice Chair DeJournett

Note; XXXXX is redacted information with names of minors, spouses and specific minor activities written by Vice Chair DeJournett.

On Wednesday, June 21, 2023 at 05:35:37 PM CDT, Jennifer DeJournett <jennifer@jendejournett.com> wrote:

Dear “Friends of Hyland”,
I am speaking for myself and in relationship it your false accusations related to my minor children; XXXXX

I ask that you immediately cease and desist referencing my minor children in your “allegations”.

The activities of minor children who are NOT public figures are private.

XXXXX participated for one or two years on Team Gilboa. We paid the full freight for the cost to partic
Here are the facts; minor child ipate in the athletic club, just like any member of the club.

I made no decisions based on their participation because their participation had no bearing on my decision making.

Minor child XXXXX also participated in the District’s ski club, again paying the full costs, like any member of the public.

Again, my children who are private individuals are entitled to their privacy.

I did not participate in any of their organizational meetings of Team Gilboa or any of the private clubs that use Hyland or participate in their internal decisions. Nor did I have a leadership role in any private club that uses the Park District facilities.

My minor children’s participation in Team Gilboa was short lived, ended years and years ago asthey moved on to participate in other sports.

My children have participated in XXX, XXX, XXX, XXX teams, etc. over the years. None of the activities of my minor children is relevant to my service as a public official and my children are not public figures.

I do not have nor have I ever had a conflict of interest of any kind and do not make decisions with that lens. Any accusation related to my decision making is false because again I did not nor did I make any decisions based on my kids participating for such a small amount of time.

I made and make decisions based on the facts, staff reports and using my best judgement. Every decision I make is with careful thought.

If you disagree with my decisions, you are entitled to your own opinion and there is a public comment period where you are more than welcome to express that. That option is available to any member of the public whether I agree with them or not.

Now that you have the facts related to my minor children, you are being asked to immediately cease and desist making any kind of false accusations related to the minor children of XXX andJennifer DeJournett; specifically XXXXX.

I also ask that you not disseminate any private information related to minor children as my children are entitled to their privacy, just like any one would expect for their children.

Any future communication related to your other issues will come from the Board Chair and the Board. I do not intend to correspond any further than this communication where you have been told to cease and desist, been given factual information. Any further dissemination of false information is unacceptable conduct.

Jennifer DeJournettCommissioner, District 2
CC: Supt Boe Carlson, Three Rivers Park District, XXXXX

June 22, 2023 To Vice Chair DeJournett and Commissioners

To: John Gibbs

Cc: Jennifer.DeJournett@ThreeRiversParks.org,

Dear Vice Chair DeJournett,

Please enter this letter into the public record for concerns at Hyland Hills.

Thank you for your email (June 21, 2023) and clarifications. Please know that we have no intent of harming children – or adults.

In fact, our complaint is about mitigating harm to people of all ages.

Please let us know of any specific wording in letters and the complaint documents that you feel is harmful or accusatory and we will consider modifying the wording appropriately. However, facts are facts.

Also, we are not sure why you are divulging personal information about the activities of your minor children, Commissioner DeJournett, as all correspondence is a matter of public record and this information is not pertinent to anything we are discussing.

It is quite common for public officials to recuse themselves from situations where there might be a conflict of interest – real or perceived. This decision is entirely up to the official and we will be respectful of these decisions moving forward.

Dear Commissioners,

We would like to point out that our letter and complaint was sent May 22, 2023. Per the advice we received, we asked questions about why things are the way they are at Hyland.

As of today, we have not received one answer to any of the questions posed. We have not received any written correspondence that speaks to resolutions to the myriad of problems that exist.

Nor have we received assurances that there will be no retaliation against people speaking up in the spirit of making Hyland (and thus TRPD) a better place to recreate.

What we have received is deflection, and now, a cease and desist letter that is baseless and threatening. Is this meant to be intimidating? Are we at the point of needing legal representation to resolve matters of safety, fairness, fiduciary concerns and retaliation? We hope this is not the case.

Again, we are a citizen action group and we are requesting answers to our questions as stated in the complaint documents.

More importantly we are asking for real solutions to the problems that are harming people and will continue to harm people the longer they go unaddressed.

And, we are asking for protection for those speaking up. It’s that simple.

Sincerely,

Friends of Hyland

To: John.Gibbs@ThreeRiversParks.org, Jennifer.DeJournett@ThreeRiversParks.org, Marge.Beard@ThreeRiversParks.org, Erin.Kolb@ThreeRiversParks.org, Louise.Segreto@ThreeRiversParks.org, Jesse.Winkler@ThreeRiversParks.org, Jan.Guenther@ThreeRiversParks.org

FriendsofHyland.com

June 29, 2023 From Chair John Gibbs

Gibbs, John <john.gibbs@threeriversparks.org>To:friendsofhyland@yahoo.comCc:Carlson, BoeThu, Jun 29 at 5:20 PM

I am writing as a follow up to your various correspondence and my e-mail invitation of June 16.

I acknowledged receipt of your various correspondence in the Announcements section of the regular Three Rivers Board of Commissioners meeting on June 15 and announced that I had requested two of my colleague commissioners, Louise Segreto and Jesse Winkler, to join me in a review of the correspondence, meet with appropriate District staff and be available to meet with your group as appropriate. We have since reviewed the original and your subsequent correspondence and we have met with staff.

The role of the Three Rivers Board of Commissioners is to establish and guide policy. Three Rivers staff is responsible for operations. Your June 21 letter noted that there are no policy changes necessary to address the issues raised. We agree. Our sense is that the matters raised are fundamentally operational in nature. As such, we urge you to reach out directly to Superintendent Boe Carlson or Hyland Hills Manager Jeff May to have them addressed. Please be assured, retaliation is not consistent with Three Rivers Park District policies. Nonetheless, if you desire, I am quite willing to attend any meeting or join any conversations that you schedule with staff.

John Gibbs, ChairThree Rivers Park District Board of Commissioners

August 8, 2023 Letter To BOC and MN Data Practices Request

August 8, 2023

Dear Chair Gibbs,

Thank you for your response dated June 29th, 2023.

We are pleased to know that you agree that policy changes are not necessary to address these concerns. We realize that procedures to effectively support and carry out the policies need to exist and may need to be created, and responsibilities need to be assigned to implement them in order to carry out and adhere to TRPD policies.

And thank you to Commissioner Segreto and Commissioner Winkler for engaging to presumably investigate and resolve these important concerns.

Thank you for reviewing the documents we sent and agreeing to meet with operational staff to review these issues.
We are requesting an update on what the outcomes are of these meetings and any documentation and/or minutes related to the meetings.

We are also requesting how operationally; the following areas of concern will be addressed:

1. Safety

2. DEI

3. Financial Subsidies for Special Interest Groups

4. Retaliation

We would like to reiterate that without a specific and detailed plan and procedures for how these key areas will be addressed, we cannot have faith that the needed resolutions will be implemented thoroughly. This concern for transparency and accountability is due to history of many, many people from various departments and organizations requesting changes…. but not much being accomplished or addressed.

Consequently, the lack of resolution has led to more harm, more injuries and persisting inequities. Too many people (thousands, each year and mostly children) are being harmed each year by this. Again, we are asking for major reform to prevent this harm.

Minnesota Statutes Section 13.025, subds. 2 and 4 require Three Rivers Park District (TRPD) to prepare a written public access policy that tells the public how to gain access to data held by TRPD. It also requires that you make that policy available to the public either by public posting or posting on the TRPD website. There is no posting of the legally required policy on the TRPD website.

Because there is no posting, we are making an educated guess as to how to begin exercising our rights under Chapter 13, Government Data Practices Act.

As the administrative head of TRPD, we are guessing that the Board of Commissioners has appointed you, Chair Gibbs, to be the responsible authority for assuring TRPD complies with Chapter 13. Therefore, we are directing the following data requests to you, as the Chapter 13 responsible authority.

We also want to note that TRPD has also failed to publicly identify the responsible authority as required by Chapter 13. If you are not the responsible authority, please tell us who it is and how to contact them.

We are hereby requesting the following data by August 31, 2023:

1. Meeting minutes and follow up information from meeting (as mentioned by Chair Gibbs in the letter below) with Hyland staff, Commissioner Segreto and Commissioner Winkler.

We would request that this information be sent as soon as possible as the meeting occurred and meeting minutes should be easily accessible.

2. A written statement that TRPD/Hyland will - or will not - uphold the Operating Agreement between TRPD and Team Gilboa to keep membership capped at 275 for this coming season and subsequent seasons.

If TRPD/Hyland does not intend to uphold the operating agreement and continue with oversubscription of this program, please explain why.
As mentioned before, this action to hold Team Gilboa to the stated operating agreement membership number will reduce crowding, improve safety, and improve DEI (that is, if facility scheduling is also addressed to be fairer and more equitable – see below).

3. TRPD’s safety policies and procedures for Hyland Hills concerning skier/rider management and crowd control on the ski hill and in areas where people are merging and coming into contact with riders/skiers.

4. Policies and procedures that will be implemented for more safety, fencing and crowd management at Hyland for the upcoming (2023-2024) and future seasons. This is to reduce injury (and death) by providingreasonably safe experiences for patrons as would be common “to a layperson” in the industry, mitigate collisions and reduce crowding. Specifically:

Beginner area fenced-off so gangs of riders/skiers cannot come through the woods into the beginner area (from Center Hill and Catwalk to South cut away)
Limiting of ticket sales (including pass holders) on weekends and other busy times to reduce crowding and improve traffic flow of skiers/riders and improve street traffic congestion.
Fenced off areas in front of chalet to protect people from the riders/skiers coming down the park features into the area just in front of the chalet where patrons drop their equipment and children who put their equipment on to go ride/ski.
Fencing along bottom of Big Kickers to allow for safe passage of skiers/riders and spectators to the North Hill. Please note: This is the only way to access this part of the ski area other than walking through the vehicle drop-off area.
Closing of the Borealis trail permanently because there is no way to safely access lifts unless the bottom of North is fenced off from free skiers/riders and race training participants.
Fully fenced off rope tow on North so no one can crash through the rope tow and onto North. Fencing at the top would help prevent this also.
Fenced off lift line areas at South, Center and North chairlifts for better crowd management and reduced collisions.
Fully fenced off (B-Net) ditch at the bottom of North
Fenced off lift towers and snow guns on North (B-Net)
Closing the race training areas (while in session) to public, lessons and free skiers to mitigate collisions. There simply is not enough room on the North hill for safe free skiing in between race lanes during the heavy practice times when hundreds of youth are training and these areas should have signage and fencing to inform patrons and prevent injuries. This is consistent with what other ski areas do.
Replacement of the old, narrow and dilapidated start ramp on the north side of the north chairlift to be equal in quality and safety to the south side ramp, that was replaced last year. This would ensure that all youth using these start ramps have equal access to safety.

5. Policies and procedures for enforcing the Industry-wide Skiers’ Responsibility Code and how you will address infractions of these rules.

Packs of unsupervised children bombing hills, cutting lift lines, cutting through the woods, and causing collisions - are an ongoing concern at Hyland. This dangerous behavior has caused serious and life-threatening injuries and needs to be mitigated.
Please be specific on how you will enforce this with partner programs/teams, and other patrons at Hyland.
This applies to both snowboarders and skiers.

6. Policies and procedures for reporting of accidents and collisions, etc.

Do all partner programs need to report their accidents? Or, do some programs not need to report their injuries?

7. Policies and procedures for honoring Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in TRPD and at Hyland Hills.

8. Letters of concern received and responses by TRPD commissioners and employees regarding DEI at TRPD since 2008.

Please include all letters received by TRPD board of commissioners, TRPD superintendent and assistant superintendents regarding concerns related to Equity at Hyland going back to 2015.
Please include letters received, responses and public meeting statements made by Former Chair John Gunyou and other board members during the Black Lives Matter protests in June of 2020.

9. Policies and procedures for allocating public race training facilities to youth programs for the coming season.

Will facilities be rotated and allocated considering preferred times, quality of facilities, and amounts of time for all children so that they ALL have equal access to the preferred race lanes, start ramps and desirable times?
Who will do the assignments? Will this person be independent and not have a conflict of interest with the programs/teams (e.g., not working for Team Gilboa also – or having a “special relationship” with Team Gilboa?)
Several options for fairer and more efficient ways to manage this have been presented over the years, but the allocations have been far from fair or equitable, as evidenced by race lane schedules over the past 20-25 years. These ways have also led to inefficiencies in that certain programs are given non-standard times and this causes the facilities to go unused at the tail end of the evening – which is unfortunate in a situation of constrained capacity.
The current process (as stated previously by the Hyland GM) is that Team Gilboa gets first choice, preferred and non-standard lane-slots, most of the available facilities, and the best quality lanes – all other teams must be slotted in after the Gilboa allotment. This practice means the 16-18 remaining teams/programs must take what they can get of the leftovers - thereby settling for inferior lanes and a fraction of time that a Gilboa member gets. It has been set up this way every year for at least 12 years running, as reflected by lane schedules published by Hyland that show the same favoritism for Gilboa - every year.
Nearly half of team Gilboa kids also ski for high school teams, so they not only get their Team Gilboa time that they pay for by joining Gilboa (Gilboa keeps that money), but they also get their (sometimes paltry) high school race training time as well.
Clearly this system and ongoing practice seems wrong in many ways – the inequities for many, and the ability for Team Gilboa to sell access to public facilities and profit from this (or “realize proceeds” in non-profit terminology) are not aligned with publicly owned assets or DEI.

10. Policies and procedures that govern how services/products provided by TRPD to patrons and partners are to be paid for, and how certain patrons/partners can get these fees waived, if this is part of your policy. Also, please include your policy on how donations from TRPD can be procured for fundraisers, etc.

Will all financial subsidies and favors given to Team Gilboa stop immediately? Or will TRPD allow other groups/individuals to have access to same services (identified and unidentified) for free, as well?
Will TRPD be asking for payment on these past subsidies that have been given to Team Gilboa?
If you need more specifics on these favors that have been unaccounted for over the years, we can supply information on this. You have been sent an estimate of these favors previously.

11. Policies/procedures for how teams/programs can get “Home Team” status at Hyland and what this status means.

Does an organization need to pay for Home Team Status? If so, how do they do this?
How does giving Home Team Status to certain programs benefit the public?

12. Policies and procedures for structures on park property.

Who owns them and how is rent/leasing amount established? Is there a time period for the terms of these leases?
Who legally owns the structure that Team Gilboa uses at the base of North, and will all children/racers and teams be given access to this warming house? Will other organizations have an opportunity to bid on access if this structure is owned by TRPD?

13. Policies and procedures regarding concerns being raised and retaliation (e.g., whistleblower complaints)

Chair Gibbs, you have stated in writing, that it is not your - BOC, TRPD, or Hyland policy to retaliate. We would like to request a copy of this policy.
How will you ensure this does not happen in the future, and what is the process for reporting it? There are many layers to this retaliation, and they are all harmful. There is a history of actions against persons, teams, and programs. There have been activities with evidence of covert and overt retaliation.

14. An org chart and roles/responsibilities documents with names and roles of operational staff that are responsible for overseeing and implementing these policies mentioned above.

15. A workplan with activities, assigned responsibility and dates for implementing the changes necessary to uphold policies and procedures per the concerns we have outlined.

We are assuming that all of these requests can be sent via e-mail or with links to on-line locations. If there is a need for paper documentation, please let us know and we will arrange to pick this up or have it mailed.

At this point, it seems unproductive for us to meet with TRPD/Hyland staff unless there are specific questions about the noted concerns, or if TRPD/Hyland would like to engage us regarding specific solutions.

We are happy to engage on these items and communication can take place via e-mail at FriendsofHyland@Yahoo.com.
In the absence of assurances for no retaliation, email correspondence is currently the safest way to communicate.

As you can see from these letters, we are committed to seeing that positive change be implemented to improve Hyland Hills for the safety, DEI and respect of all patrons, staff, teams, clubs, and citizens and fiscal responsibility to the public and patrons.

Again, we appreciate your taking the time and effort to address these concerns. We hope that with your continued vigilance, and attention, these problems will be solved thoroughly, addressing root causes, and achieving the long overdue reform that is needed.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Friends of Hyland

FriendsofHyland.com

Responses from TRPD Attorney Eric Quiring

Please see here for the responses received.

January 3, 2024, Letter To BOC

Friends of Hyland

Email: FriendsofHyland@yahoo.com

Website: FriendsofHyland.com

To: Three Rivers Park District Board of Commissioners

Jennifer.DeJournett@ThreeRiversParks.org,

Cc: Boe.Carlson@ThreeRiversParks.org – Three Rivers Park District Superintendent

Jeff.May@ThreeRiversParks.org– General Manager at Hyland

Ashley.ORourke@ThreeRiversParks.org – Supervisor of Hyland Ski Patrol

Luke.Williams@ThreeRiversParks.org – Supervisor of Hyland Ski School and Race Department

January 3rd, 2024

Dear Chair Gibbs and Commissioners,

Please enter this letter (and the attachment) into the public record for concerns at Hyland Hills for the upcoming TRPD Board Meeting, January 4th, 2024, or February 15th, 2024.

Please note: if the threat of retaliation against supporters of these concerns were adequately addressed by you, Chair Gibbs, we would happily attend public or private meetings with your representatives. As you are aware, we have made this request but have yet to receive assurances of no retribution or retaliation.

Please acknowledge receipt of this email.

This is an update that despite many letters, with supporting documentation, and eight months of time lapse (starting in May 2023), nothing has resulted from our concerns about Hyland Hills being raised with you, the TRPD Board of Commissioners.

Most concerning is that safety issues at Hyland, that are easily addressed, have not been mitigated. Over the years, these hazards have resulted in unnecessary serious injuries to patrons, mainly to children. Already this season, one child crashed into the steel piped chain link fence at the bottom of North and required ski patrol assistance. B-Netting would have likely prevented this injury.

The equity issues that have persisted for 20-25+ years have not been addressed either, and the unfairness continues.

What is especially concerning is that the Board of Commissioners has not answered our questions of

1. Why is this discrimination enabled to continue year after year?

2. What justifies this favoritism? What is the public benefit to this when the majority of the kids are marginalized, each ski season?

This is on your watch, Commissioners. You have the authority to easilyrectify this situation. Your own policies call for it in your Ordinances (https://www.threeriversparks.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/ordinance.pdf- see safety) and your 2040 System Plan (https://www.threeriversparks.org/2040plan- see DEI sections).

Yet, judging by your lack of response, you don’t seem interested in reform.

We ask you once again:

1. Why haven’t the safety hazards been addressed this winter?

2. What are the reasons for the continuation of the favors being given to one group (Team Gilboa) when fairness could be easily achieved for all 18 programs, and the subsidies (resulting in $millions over each three to four years’ time) could either be ended, or given out to all the patrons at Hyland?

Again, we would appreciate your making the effort to address these concerns. We hope that with your vigilance, and attention, these problems will be solved, achieving the long overdue reform that is needed.

After all, Three Rivers Park District exists to serve all of the public – and not favoring a select few for no legitimate reason.

Sincerely,

Friends of Hyland

Attachment

Please include this letter also in the public record for the upcoming meeting on either January 4th or February 15th, 2024.

Please note: As of January 3, 2024, we have not received a response to this letter dated December 21, 2023.

To: Three Rivers Park District Board of Commissioners

Jennifer.DeJournett@ThreeRiversParks.org,

Cc: Boe.Carlson@ThreeRiversParks.org – Three Rivers Park District Superintendent

Jeff.May@ThreeRiversParks.org– General Manager at Hyland

Ashley.ORourke@ThreeRiversParks.org – Supervisor of Hyland Ski Patrol

Luke.Williams@ThreeRiversParks.org – Supervisor of Hyland Ski School and Race Department

December 21, 2023

Dear Chair Gibbs and Commissioners,

Please enter this letter into the public record for concerns at Hyland Hills

Please acknowledge receipt of this email.

This is an update to inform you that none of the safety changes that have been requested by us and many others have been implemented.

These requests are standard operating procedures for ski areas around the country that the common lay person would find reasonable. These requests are not frivolous, and they are neither difficult nor expensive to implement.

In some ways, safety is worse off this year than last year.

Several coaches, patrons and Hyland staff have made these safety requests (again) this year. Yet, nothing is being done. Specifically:

There is no B-Netting at the bottom of lanes 3-11 on North to stop skiers from colliding with permanent chain link fencing and large trees. This B-Net fencing has been in place intermittently in previous years. There is some flimsy netting on part of this hazard but this only provides a visual barrier and does not stop a skier from hitting the solid objects right at the bottom of the ski runs.

Currently, with the way the snow is piled up, a skier could hit big ice chunks, a chain link fence with steel poles and large trees.

Already, one out-of-control child (in the Gilboa program) collided with the chain link fence and steel top bar on Saturday, December 16th, because of lack of proper fencing at the bottom of North. This child was carted off by ski patrol.
Last year alone there were several collisions with this permanent chain link structure fencing.
There is also a large ditch between the snow/ice and the fence that is a hazard and gets worse when the snow is deeper. When the snow reaches a certain level, out of control skiers can launch over the fence and into the trees.
It should be noted that there is not much run out at the bottom of this part of the hill, worsening the hazards.
The snow gun towers on North have the same situation with flimsy red netting in place that does not break a collision like B-Netting is designed to do. There should be B-Netting around the tops and sides of these towers.
There is no fencing to protect the skiers/riders who are out in front of the chalet and allow safe passage from Center/South to North or to the stairs to get down to the shuttle bus and parking lot.

This is a major hazard – right in front of the chalet!

There is only one way to get off the entire ski hill, and it is not safe.

The kids in the park are coming down in droves, launching off of jumps right in front of the chalet, where the skis and boards pile up further constricting passage.
Children and adults who are learning and in lessons are especially vulnerable here, but all riders/skiers are at risk.
Please see video here (https://unofficialnetworks.com/2022/04/05/chaotic-ski-resort-video/) on what this looks like on a typical afternoon/evening and weekend days.
Once the kids start jumping off the big kickers, the passage to North will be even more dangerous.
It is interesting that there is B-Netting in front of the ski patrol room. Is it here to protect the windows or to protect humans? If the latter, why is B-Netting in place here but not other places as well?
“B-Net” is a standard of netting used at ski resorts all over the world because it breaks the fall of a person, reducing injury. It protects humans better than an immovable fence structure in the event of a collision.
The Hyland Ski Patrol department obviously knows about the benefits of “B-Net” because they have it installed in front of the ski patrol room.

It’s only a matter of time before another person is seriously injured or killed due to collisions.

We are not sure why these easily mitigated safety hazards continue to go unaddressed. This is after multiple request and letters to you, the Board of Commissioners and to Hyland Management this year and in years past, including Boe Carlson, Jeff May, Luke Williams and Ashley O’Rourke.

Several requests have been made to Hyland management starting in December of this season. Yet, nothing has been done.

It must be lack of knowledge, lack of effective management, lack of equipment (fencing), lack of procedures, insubordination, or a combination of these things.

Or, it could also be a lack of caring or a feeling of immunity and arrogance on the part of Three Rivers Park District.

Maybe this hubris is because, as several people have been told in the past:

“Insurance will take care of it”

We hope this “reliance on insurance for potential lawsuits” isn’t the case and that proactive measures will be taken to remedy these issues regardless of how big your insurance policy is.

There are huge costs to this type of ignorance – legal fees and most importantly, injured people and altered lives.

Harming people needlessly (especially children) is never a good strategy for any organization – public or private. Safety should never be treated in a cavalier or incompetent manner.

Again, we would appreciate your taking the time and effort to address these concerns. We hope that with your vigilance, and attention, these problems will be solved thoroughly, addressing root causes, and achieving the long overdue reform that is needed.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Friends of Hyland

FriendsofHyland.com

January 5, 2024, Response from Chair Gibbs

Gibbs, John

From:john.gibbs@threeriversparks.org

To:friendsofhyland@yahoo.com

Cc:Carlson, Boe,May, Jeff

January 5, 2024

Friends of Hyland: We have received your December 21 correspondence and January 3 and January 4 resubmittals and attachments. Those communications and their attachments are included in the records of the Three Rivers Park District.

As shared in previous correspondence, the role of the Three Rivers Board of Commissioners is to establish and guide policy. Three Rivers staff is responsible for operations.

Your various correspondence has noted policies in place and that there are no policy changes necessary to address the issues raised. We agree.

The matters raised are fundamentally operational in nature. Three Rivers staff, rather than the Board, is responsible for operations and as such, we urge you to reach out directly to Superintendent Boe Carlson or Hyland Hills Manager Jeff May to have the matters addressed.

We do not take lightly the importance of safety, and the staff leaders will be open to all input in that regard. No specific instances of retaliation have been brought to our attention - but retaliation is not consistent with Park District policies. Please be assured that the Park District goal is to strictly adhere to such policies and follow all procedures in place to have any such matters addressed.

I would also like to restate my offer that I am quite willing to attend any meeting or join any conversations that you schedule with staff.

- John Gibbs

Chair, Three Rivers Park District Board of Commissioners.

(651) 324-0874

January 7, 2024, Response to BOC

Friends of Hyland

Email: FriendsofHyland@yahoo.com

Website: FriendsofHyland.com

To: Three Rivers Park District Board of Commissioners

Jennifer.DeJournett@ThreeRiversParks.org,

Cc: Boe.Carlson@ThreeRiversParks.org – Three Rivers Park District Superintendent

Jeff.May@ThreeRiversParks.org – General Manager at Hyland

Ashley.ORourke@ThreeRiversParks.org – Supervisor of Hyland Ski Patrol

Luke.Williams@ThreeRiversParks.org – Supervisor of Hyland Ski School and Race Department

January 7, 2024

Dear Chair Gibbs and Commissioners,

Please enter this letter (and the attachment) into the public record for concerns at Hyland Hills for the upcoming TRPD Board Meeting on February 15th, 2024.

Please acknowledge receipt of this email.

Thank you for your response dated January 5, 2023.

The reason Friends of Hyland have been reaching out to the Board of Commissioners is that the operations staff at TRPD (led by Superintendent Boe Carlson and Jeff May) have not resolved issues that have been presented repeatedly to them over the last 10 years or more.

Boe Carlson has stated that he’s been hearing about the equity issues for over 15 years.
Both Boe Carlson and Jeff May has received numerous letters/emails, and been in meetings about equity and safety issues over the past 10 years.
Yet, the issues are not resolved, and in fact they are getting worse.

Boe Carlson and Jeff May have been on the recent e-mails from Friends of Hyland and are certainly capable of reaching out via e-mail to let us know that they understand the issues, ask for clarification and share resolutions.

The issues are very clear and laid out at FriendsofHyland.Com.
Solutions have been suggested repeatedly over the years and are very easy to implement. They also are on the website.
It’s not complicated to share facilities equally, stop giving favors (subsidies) out to Team Gilboa, limit over-crowding and put-up fencing in strategic places around the ski area. Other ski areas do this quite effectively.

With the simplicity of solutions, lack of refutation of the issues, and lack of action, it is apparent that TRPD wishes to keepthe unfair and unsafe status quo for reasons that you, Chair Gibbs, refuse to share.

This is a Board of Commissioners matter at this point. TRPD Superintendent Boe Carlson reports directly to the Board of Commissioners. All TRPD operational staff, including Jeff May and Hyland staff, report up through Mr. Carlson. We are well apprised of how governance is designed to work. The Board of Commissioners is at the top and is ultimately responsible for the strategy, policy, finances and that these functions are carried out effectively under the direction of your hired superintendent.

The only value to a meeting with Friends of Hyland at this point would be for TRPD to share resolutions for reform or ask questions. This is easily accomplished by email. And, to reiterate, email communication has a lower risk of retaliation for our supporters of fairness and safety.

We appreciate this statement in your letter: “No specific instances of retaliation have been brought to our attention - but retaliation is not consistent with Park District policies.” However, judging from other policies (e.g., DEI, Safety) not being upheld, we have little faith that the TRPD retaliation policy will be upheld – especially without specific assurances from the board. Additionally, there is documented retaliatory behavior that has occurred in the past.

Examples of past retaliation are available. Please see the website for examples of job loss, entire teams being retaliated against in terms of limited facilities allocation, intimidation tactics by former commissioners, reprimands/threats by TRPD and Hyland management to whistleblowers, etc. We’d be happy to discuss this with you in detail. Of course, we would like witnesses present, minutes taken and written assurances that no more retaliation will occur.
We can also supply written accounts that should be on record with TRPD, and letters to employers that resulted in job loss and harmed reputations.
In addition, there is a voice recording of a meeting (October 2015) with your staff at TRPD HQ where a Hyland supervisor was threatened with their job for speaking up about inequities. TRPD followed through on that threat. Boe Carlson will be aware of this situation because his office scheduled that meeting. And, Mr. Carlson did not show at the meeting.
During that same timeframe, several Hyland staff were threatened or “advised” not to sign a petition for fairness. Several lost their jobs over this matter.
Past lane schedules produced by TRPD starting in 2016 show evidence of retribution against teams. These schedules should be on file with TRPD and we can also supply them if needed.

Kicking the can down the road does not make these problems go away, Mr. Gibbs.

However, it does appear that the Board of Commissioners is protecting the favoritism that has been occurring for decades with egregious favors handed out to a privileged few, at the expense of the majority.

Friends of Hyland and citizens are especially confounded as to why safety continues to be treated in a cavalier manner with unmitigated hazards year after year, seriously injuring many (vulnerable) people needlessly.

If the staff doesn’t have the power/authority or ability to implement the changes needed to effectively run the organization per established policy, it is the board’s responsibility to remedy the situation, as that couldbe a policy or procedural matter. It could also be staffing issues at any level - from the top on down. This might be your responsibility depending on the level of staff involved.

If someone within TRPD is – or has been – getting favors for giving favors (e.g., Quid Pro Quo or kickbacks), that is a very serious issue, no matter how small the favors. Again, TRPD is a publicly funded, taxpayer supported public entity within the State of Minnesota. As patrons and taxpayers, it is easy to see how people could wonder about this possibility, as corruption and coverups seem rampant across government entities these days.

If there is rational justification for the inequities and subsidies to Team Gilboa, then why won’t TRPD share this? We’ve been asking for this repeatedly, and there has been no refutation of the issues.
We must say, it’s hard to imagine your superintendent or operations staff taking kickbacks for favors. It would be a terrible shame if they were being forced to violate TRPD's policies to keep their jobs. If people were hired and promoted based on their willingness to keep the status quo despite being in direct violation of TRPD policies, that is also problematic. We already know that several people have been threatened, reprimanded and let go for whistleblowing.
Again, as stated above, we will be happy to speak with you in depth about this, Mr. Gibbs.

Since we citizens don’t have the power to develop procedures (easy as it would be in this case), direct staff or make staffing changes when policies and procedures are not followed, we rely on the Board of Commissioners to oversee that this gets done.

That’s your responsibility as overseers of TRPD – not ours.

We’ve done our job as concerned citizens - which is to alert you to problems with clarity, and alert you to the fact that your superintendent and management have not addressed these concerns. This is despite being apprised of them many times, for over a decade.

Now it’s time for you to do your job.

Friends of Hyland was optimistic that the board would be appreciative of knowing about these concerns because of the enormous negative impact on Hyland’s patrons and the taxpaying public.

It’s been eight months since we first contacted this current board. And it’s been 20-25 years of inequity and favoritism at Hyland.

We have yet to receive answers to our questions, resolutions to the problems or justifications for the inequities and lack of safety.

Thank you. We would look froward to hearing from you, Boe Carlson and Jeff May regarding reform.

Sincerely,

Friends of Hyland