YOUNGSTOWN — Attorney Marc Dann has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to review the ruling by the 7th District Court of Appeals in the lawsuit filed by the Save the Deer of Mill Creek Park group against the Mill Creek MetroParks.

The lawsuit sought to stop the MetroParks from carrying out a deer reduction plan, but Judge Anthony Donofrio of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court and his magistrate ruled against the deer group and upheld the reduction plan. The appeals court then affirmed their decision.

Dann recently filed his memorandum in support of jurisdiction to the Ohio Supreme Court, which asks the state’s top court to determine whether the MetroParks can use what Dann called “implied powers” to continue to carry out a deer reduction plan. Such appeals are discretionary, meaning the Ohio Supreme Court can refuse to review it.

Dann urged the Supreme Court to hear the matter, saying it is a case of “significant public and great general interest, as it raises crucial questions regarding the scope of authority granted to political subdivisions (such as the Mill Creek MetroParks) under Ohio law.”

He argued that the 7th District court’s affirmation of Donofrio’s ruling “suggested that political subdivisions have broad ‘implied powers’ and relied on these ‘implied powers’ to uphold the actions of the Mill Creek Metropolitan Park District. The decision conflicts with well established principles related to powers delegated to political subdivisions by the Ohio General Assembly.”

Dann said the review “is necessary to ensure consistency and clarity in the application of the law. Without guidance from this court, future cases could lead to conflicting interpretations of the scope of powers granted to political subdivisions … undermining the principle that political subdivisions must act within the bounds explicitly set by the legislature and blurring the separation of powers that defines state law.”

It also urges the court to consider the importance of this question: “whether a park district, operating a public park system, can justifiably engage in wildlife eradication efforts without specific legislative authorization. This court has not previously interpreted the General Assembly’s directive for park districts to ‘protect and preserve’ natural resources within public parks under” under Ohio law, the filing states.

Dann argues that wildlife conservation and park management is “becoming increasingly critical to Ohioans,” and therefore, the court’s guidance is needed to “clarify whether park districts can take actions outside of their expressly delegated powers.” The filing states that the “outcome of this case will have significant implications for the future of public park administration, wildlife management across Ohio and the delegation of such powers by the legislature.”

Interestingly, another Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge, Anthony D’Apolito, ruled against the MetroParks recently in another case that challenged the authority of the MetroParks. In that case, the judge and his magistrate ruled that the MetroParks did not have the authority to use a specific Ohio eminent domain statute to acquire the rights of way on private property to construct the final leg of the MetroParks Bikeway.

That ruling apparently had sufficient weight to convince the MetroParks to end its nearly six-year effort to acquire the property to extend the bikeway. Its executive director, Aaron Young, announced recently the MetroParks would not appeal D’Apolito’s decision.

It’s not known whether the arguments being raised with the Ohio Supreme Court over the MetroParks authority to carry out a deer reduction program might be persuasive enough for the MetroParks to also abandon its deer reduction plan.

The reduction plan began Oct. 1, 2023, and resulted in 204 deer being killed that season through January of 2024. So far this fall, the MetroParks has removed 203 deer, including 75 that were shot by U.S. Department of Agriculture sharpshooters.