ADP Board Special Meeting - April 11, 2024
Meeting Details: The Automatic Data Processing Board (ADP) held a Special Meeting at 2:00 pm on April 11, 2024 in the Geauga County Auditor’s Office Appraisal Conference Room at 231 Main St. Chardon, OH 44024. Virtual access was available via MS Teams, and the agenda was provided in advance. This observer attended via MS Teams.
Public Comment: ADP does not have a written policy. In practice, public comment is solicited at the end of the meeting.
Board Attendance:
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Auditor/Chief Administrator – Charles Walder
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Clerk of Courts – Sheila Bevington
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County Commissioner – James Dvorak
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Engineer – Katie Taylor for Joe Cattell
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Board of Elections – Nora McGinnis
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County Prosecutor – Jim Flaiz
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Recorder – Mile Risko for Celesta Mullins
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Sheriff – Scott Hildenbrand
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Treasurer – Christopher Hitchcock (absent)
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Coroner – John Urbancic (absent)
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Court of Common Pleas – No representative yet named
ADP Staff Attendance:
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Frank Antenucci – Chief Deputy Administrator
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Allen Keener – Chief Technology Officer
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Corey Thompson – Systems Administrator (virtual)
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Josh Widdifield – Server Administrator
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Joe Birli – Physical Security Analyst (virtual)
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Rocco Albertino – Intern
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Tracy Rahimi – Help Desk Clerk (virtual)
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Sarah Perry – GIS staff (virtual)
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Lou Marion – GIS staff (virtual)
Other Government Representatives:
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Linda Burhenne – Assistant County Administrator
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Adrian Gorton – County Finance Manager
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Nick Gorris – Director of Water Resources
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Velta Moiso – Court of Common Pleas, Director of IT (virtual)
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Tom Huff – Court of Common Pleas, IT officer (virtual)
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Ron Leyde – Chief Deputy Auditor
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Pam McMahan – Fiscal Office Manager, Auditor’s Office
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Kate Jacob – Chief Compliance Officer, Auditor’s Office (virtual)
Others Present:
The meeting was called to order at 2:00 pm by Mr. Antenucci.
Minutes: Minutes for the March 12, 2024 Regular Meeting were approved without edits.
The Board took the following actions:
APPROVED - Accellis Technology Group ($60,000, not to exceed). Mr. Antenucci explained that this project with Accellis was for Microsoft Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) for Geographic Information System (GIS). The structure had been in place for one and a half years, and this service will further enhance the environment.
APPROVED - Water Resources Mettler-Toledo ($58,750). Mr. Gorris explained that this new truck scale solution was an upgrade and complete replacement for an outdated system. He noted that the software included in the solution utilized a data bridge and was not directly connected to the county network. The Water Resources scale is certified and is used by private operators, including septic tank companies, to weigh their trucks. ID cards are required to utilize the scale and data is moved via password access. Mr. Walder reminded Mr. Gorris of certain commitments made by the Water Resources Department at the time the Missions software solution was approved by the ADP Board in September 2023. Observer Note: See the September 27, 2023 Observer Report for more information. At that meeting, the Water Resources team agreed to enhance their cybersecurity policies and to ensure that Mission software adopted a multi-factor authentication (MFA) process. Water Resources was to update the ADP Board on their actions by early 2024. Water Resources has yet to provide this information to the ADP Board. Mr. Gorris explained that Water Resources had adopted the ADP password policy and that the Mission software company was in the process of implementing MFA capabilities in its software. Water Resources is assisting with this development which is expected to be finalized by the end of 2024.
DISCUSSED - ADP Usage of Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) Conference Room #332 in the County Office Building. Mr. Antenucci informed the Board that ADP was in receipt of a letter from the BOCC formally requesting that ADP vacate conference room #332 by April 26, 2024. This was first discussed at the March 12, 2024 ADP meeting. Observer Note: See the March 12, 2024 Observer Report for more information. A discussion ensued regarding the appropriate response to the BOCC letter. Mr. Flaiz commented that at a recent onboarding session at the County Office Building, he noted how efficient and convenient it was to have ADP onsite at the office building. He further stated that he believed the letter represented the “ongoing beef” some members of the BOCC seem to have with ADP that would end up costing Geauga County taxpayers. Mr. Antenucci explained that a recent inventory of the equipment stored in this conference room was valued between $115,000 to $150,000. Several people noted that the conference room space in the building continues to be underutilized. Sheriff Hildenbrand asked whether the parties had ever sat down together to work out a solution. Mr. Walder noted that discussions have been held before with Commissioner Lennon about where ADP could be alternatively located, but that no alternatives ever came to fruition. Mr. Walder stated that the ADP team is spread across a number of locations and that he could investigate finding a building for all of ADP to be housed in, but he didn’t feel that would be cost effective. Mr. Dvorak mentioned that Adam Litke at the Geauga County Board of Health offered a small room that is currently unused. Mr. Flaiz stated that legally the BOCC was required to provide adequate space for county employees to conduct their work and if the matter went to court, he felt that ADP had a good legal position. It was decided that ADP would respond to BOCC with a letter providing the history of the issue, indicating that they would be willing to move out of the conference room once suitable space was made available to them, and offering to discuss the matter constructively in a work session focused on identifying potential alternatives. A copy of the letter will be provided to the ADP Board members.
Regular Business: Mr. Antenucci noted several additional items that recently arose and were not included on the meeting agenda that he wanted to bring to the Board’s attention. The Board took the following actions and/or addressed the following matters:
APPROVED - Corrected Spectrum Circuit for Annex ($66,250). At the March 12, 2024 Regular Meeting, the Board approved a Spectrum circuit for the Annex building enhancement at a cost of $65,649. After the approval, Spectrum communicated to ADP that their quote had been based on a coax cable instead of fiber as requested. The corrected quote of $66,250 was approved.
UPDATE on Developmental Disabilities (DD) Lake Geauga Computer Association (LGCA) Contract. After the March 12, 2024 ADP Board meeting, ADP met with the DD staff to review the services provided by LGCA and determined that DD could be migrated under ADP who could provide the same IT-related services. Observer Note: See the March 12, 2024 Observer Report for more information. A migration plan was developed after ADP met with the DD Board and LGCA. Soon after the meeting, LGCA abruptly notified ADP that they would terminate their services in 10 days, and then soon after terminated their services immediately. ADP accelerated their migration efforts, and DD is now up and running under the ADP service umbrella. Security was upgraded as a part of the process. Mr. Walder noted that the ADP team did a great job with this transition while under intense time pressure. The only service not yet shifted to ADP is the DD phone system to which LGCA is refusing ADP access. Mr. Antenucci noted that the DD phone system is unique technology which caters to remote use with linkage to cell phones. They will research this system and convert to ADP control as soon as possible. Mr. Flaiz noted that the original contract that DD brought to the ADP for approval was a contract between LGCA and Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve (ESCWR) and DD. By law, ESC is only allowed to provide computer services to schools. The legality of the contract is in question and discussions with LGCA continue. See Public Comment below regarding payments to LGCA.
DISCUSSED a directive received on April 10, 2024 from BOCC to ADP to develop a county-wide e-signature policy. ADP currently uses an e-signature system and has a corresponding policy which could be considered for expansion county-wide. Mr. Walder noted that a recent Ohio statute change requires the County Auditor to work in cooperation with the BOCC to develop a credit card policy for county employees to follow. Mr. Leyde reached out to the BOCC regarding this and was advised that the BOCC is working with counsel to develop such a policy. The Auditor’s Office contacted the Prosecutor’s Office to identify counsel working on the policy and was told that the Prosecutor’s Office was not aware of such an effort. Mr. Flaiz stated that the BOCC usually contracts with outside counsel only when there is a conflict of interest, and he said that he did not understand why they would pay an outside counsel on this matter. Mr. Gorton indicated that he thought this request is a part of a broader effort to update the Geauga County personnel policy and the travel policy within it, which includes the accepted use of credit cards. Mr. Dovorak commented that he was not aware that outside counsel had been hired to do such a review. It was recommended that the credit card policy be removed from the personnel policy and instead be referenced in the policy to simplify updates and changes. The discussion concluded without specific next steps identified.
Public Comment: Mr. Antenucci asked for any public comments/questions. This Observer asked whether any payments were made to LGCA as earlier requested by Don Rice, Superintendent of DD. Mr. Flaiz responded that no payments have been made. Ms. Nicholas from the Geauga Times Courier asked Mr. Dvoark why he was not aware that outside counsel had been obtained in regards to the update to the county personnel manual. He responded that he did not know why. Ms. Nicholas informed Ms. Burhenne that she would be following up with her regarding more information on the outside counsel hiring and for validation that the statements made in the meeting regarding this matter were accurate.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:07 pm.
The next meeting of the ADP Board is the Regular Meeting that is scheduled for June 12, 2024.
Minutes when posted are available here: Meeting Minutes | Geauga County Automatic Data Processing
Virtual Meeting Information: Contact Pamela McMahan at pmcmahan@gcauditor.com
Observer: Carol Benton
Reviewer: Sarah McGlone
Submitted 4/17/24
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