CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Mountain bikes were not even on the agenda at the Cleveland Metroparks board meeting Thursday, but they dominated the last segment of the meeting as opponents and advocates had their say.

Currently the park system has two miles of dedicated mountain-bike trail in its Ohio and Erie Canal Reservation. Mountain bikers also may use the Metroparks' extensive all-purpose trails and roadways, just like other cyclists.

The parks frown on anyone going off trail, however. Marty Lesher, a private citizen from Olmsted Falls who keeps tabs on the parks, complained Thursday that rangers ticket horseback riders, but not mountain bikers.

Chief Ranger Greg Loftus said they do ticket some equestrians at the Hinckley Reservation and give no one special treatment. "We would not ignore violations," he said, but noted that when people complain of people biking off trail, the bikers are usually gone before rangers can respond.

Dan Moore, one of three park commissioners, is an avid mountain biker and has been pressing the park to accommodate the bikes. He has said repeatedly that far more people ride bikes than horses.

A Metroparks telephone poll of 1,200 households earlier this year indicated that about 30 percent of park users bike on paved trails, 5.7 percent enjoy mountain biking, and 2.6 percent ride horses.

Michael Melampy of the Northeast Ohio Sierra Club chapter said he recognized mountain biking as legitimate recreation, but trails for the bikes should be sited carefully to minimize environmental impact.

Brian Zimmerman, the Metroparks' executive director, said an environmental impact study is underway.

Moore complained that the park has 62 miles of all-purpose trails and 82 miles of bridle trails, but only the two miles for mountain bikes, which he called "a big disconnect."

He said greater accommodation of mountain bikes will give the park system "a greater buy-in from the community."

Matthew Collings, vice president of the Cleveland Hiking Club, said he was less concerned about the bikes than the bike riders.

"It's their attitude," Collings said. "Sometimes they are not as responsive or have the proper etiquette toward people who are walking or riding horses, and charge ahead."

Carol Miller, who described herself as a life-long park user, and hiker, called herself "a quiet park user," and said quiet users and bike riders are not compatible.

Greg Jackson, owner of the Spin bike shop in Lakewood said the paucity of bike trails in the Cleveland Metroparks encourages "a constant flow of people out of the county," to bike elsewhere.

Within an hour's drive of downtown Cleveland, there are few: Reagan Park in Medina; the Lake Metroparks' Hogback Ridge Park near Madison; Findley State Park in southern Lorain County; and West Branch State Park near Ravenna.

Tom Humphrey, a history professor at Cleveland State University, urged the commissioners to open up the parks for mountain bikers. To do otherwise would be a violation of the principles upon which William Stinchcomb founded the state's oldest county park system 93 years ago.

He said Stinchcomb "abhorred exclusivity."

Executive session

As the meeting was ending the commissioners announced they were going into executive session to consider collective bargaining and real estate issues. A reporter asked if Cuyahoga County Probate Judge Anthony Russo, who appoints the park board, would be attending, and if so, what statutory authority he had to do so.

Commission President Bruce Rinker, a lawyer, said he did not know and deferred to Rosalina Fini, the parks' law director. She said there is case law -- based on court decisions -- that allows commissioners to invite any member of the public to the closed sessions. When a reporter asked if he could attend, all three commissioners said no.

Russo did attend the closed-door meeting.

Russo, a brother of former county auditor Frank Russo, has stirred controversy by taking a more active role in the running of the Metroparks than judges in other counties.