Gilbert parks board member seeks reinstatement

The signs were there for Richard Gooch - because his sign wasn't there. He'd been a member of the Gilbert Parks and Recreation Board for about two years, but it had been difficult for him to make it to recent meetings due to a change in employment.

"Usually I can plan around those things, but with a new company, I had to go when I needed to be there," he said this week.

Gooch was barely able to get to the most recent board meeting Sept. 4, he said, flying back from his vacation in California that afternoon in order to be there for the 6:30 p.m. meeting.

Gooch noticed that his nameplate wasn't on the table, but he didn't think too much about it.

"They found the plate and put it back, and that was it," he said.

But when Gooch went to the post office a week later to pick up a certified letter sent by the town, he was stunned to read that his position was being "vacated" for lack of attendance.

He immediately e-mailed Town Clerk Cathy Templeton and Mayor Steve Berman that he was "extremely disappointed to get this letter," and that the initial disruptions to his work schedule would no longer be an issue.

He said he spoke to multiple members of the council when he knew he might end up missing a few sessions, and at that point "nobody thought it would be a problem, but nobody said they were sure it was OK, either."

Currently, members of Gilbert's advisory boards are given a letter at the time of their appointment stating that there is an attendance policy that drops members from the board after three missed meetings. But it's not a sheet that they have to sign, Councilwoman Linda Abbott said.

Another seat on the parks board is currently in limbo, with Cindy Barnes-Pharr also having missed three meetings. She could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Abbott sits on a council subcommittee that has been working for more than a year to revamp some of the town's boards and the rules that govern them. Their final recommendations have yet to be adopted by the council, but she said she would be willing to allow Gooch and Barnes-Pharr to remain on the board, with more strictly enforced attendance rules, once the changes are in place.

Councilman Don Skousen said attendance is important for the boards and commissions, which generally meet monthly, but both Gooch and Barnes-Pharr have been valuable members of the board who ran into circumstances that made their participation difficult.

"They didn't just say 'the hell with it, I'm going to stay home and watch TV tonight,' " he said.

Gooch, who has a degree in recreation studies from Arizona State University and applied for the parks board after learning that members were being sought while watching the town's cable Channel 11, said he'd like to stay on the board, even if he has to start from square one.

"I'm actually not upset about it, but I'm sorry I got into the situation," Gooch said.