Geauga Public Health (GPH) - Regular Meeting - April 24, 2024
Meeting Details: The GPH Board met in Regular Session at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B167-168, Chardon, OH, on April 24, 2024 at 5 pm. This meeting was live-streamed by Geauga County ADP. Typically the Agenda is posted on their Facebook page a few days prior to the meeting. The video is available here.
Public Comment Policy: There is no separate written policy, but in practice “Citizens’ Remarks” are included on the agenda and are permitted as detailed there.
Board Attendance: (as seated, from L to R).
Staff Attendance:
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Adam Litke - Administrator (end of table left)
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Ron Graham, Heath Commissioner for both Geauga and Lake Counties (seated at the end of the table right)
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Dan Lark, Environmental Health Director (end of table far right)
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Katie Stromp, Supervisor, Food Program (in the audience)
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Paul Stromp, Lead Sanitarian (in the audience)
Legal Counsel: Bryan Kostura, McDonald Hopkins, LLC
Others Present: Chris Alusheff, Councilman for Aquilla Village and current HDAC President, and several members of the public were present.
Call to Order: Called to order at 5:00 pm. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. A quorum was declared. There was no certification of delivery of official notices of meeting.
Minutes: The Board approved Minutes of the Regular Meeting on 3/20/24. Observer Note: Board of Health Published Minutes are up-to-date; the most recent minutes published are for the February 28, 2024 Regular Meeting. Use the down arrow under Select Category at the top to search for the correct year at the link provided.
Health District Staff Reports (Observer Note: These reports are available with the agenda on the GPH Facebook Page)
13:08 Population Health Report - Ms. Brakey said she was glad to see in the report the training provided to members of the Harriet Tubman Foundation. Ms. Brakey said she is involved with the Foundation. (Observer Note: The Foundation serves people who have been subjected to sex trafficking, prostitution, or other forms of exploitation; more information about it is available here. The Health Educator provided naloxone training to the group, demonstrating how naloxone is used in an emergency).
Ms. Brakey asked for clarification on the school validations. Mr. Litke said the GPH nurses review the records of the nurses at the schools as part of an ORC regulation. The reviews are done annually.
15:00 Environmental Health Report - Mr. Lark introduced Katie Stromp, who is a supervisor for the food program. Ms. Stromp gave a presentation about the Clean Inspection Awards that are awarded to restaurants in the county for having good inspections. This is a new program, and efforts will be made to publicize the awards on social media and by other means, such as displaying them on monitors at the YMCA in the workout rooms.
22:16 Dump Site - Butternut Road Observer Note: See the February 28 Observer Report and the March 20 Observer Report for background on this issue. Mr. Lark visited the dump site earlier in the day and said that he did not see any evidence of dumping in the past week. Mr. Litke distributed documents to the Board outlining all of the rules and regulations that must be followed for sewage dump sites such as this one (available on the GPH website). He spoke to the County Prosecutor who will look into whether the county has any authority to shut down the dump site even if they meet all the regulations. Mr. Litke said GPH compared disease incidence rates in the area of the dump site and compared to another similar area and found no difference. Mr. Litke spoke to Nick Gorris, Director of Geauga County Water Resources, about doing water testing in the area and in waterways throughout the county, hopefully in the next month, weather permitting (when it’s not raining). Mr. Litke and Mr. Lark plan to return to the site in the summer when sewage is being spread in the dry months. Water testing will be repeated in the summer.
Ms. Brakey asked about the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) fees. She said she has been hearing that people are shocked at how high the fees are. Mr. Lark said the GPH fee including lab fee is $155/year. Private contractors charge $200-$400 for servicing that is required twice a year. Mr. Litke has reached out to state representatives Sarah Fowler Arthur and Steve Demetriou about the high costs to homeowners. Mr. Lark said the homeowners have signed paperwork and should know about the costs, but the servicing requirements and inspections haven’t really been enforced until recently.
31:50 Administrator’s Report - Mr. Litke said he didn’t have much to add to his written report. (Observer Note: These reports are available with the agenda on the GPH Facebook Page). There was extensive discussion about a new public records request that was submitted to GPH, Lake County Health Department, and the Geauga Health District Advisory Committee. Bryan Kostura, attorney with McDonald Hopkins, is handling the request with assistance from paralegals. He said he couldn’t give an estimate of the costs until he knows the number of records that will be identified by GPH for legal review. Previous requests involved 9,000 documents ($5,000) and 100,000 documents ($50,000). Ms. Brakey said she would like to itemize the costs for the requestor and the public so they know the cost.
GPH held a meeting in Hambden the previous week about the O&M program and about 15 members of the public attended. Dr. Hendrickson asked if GPH could make a video of one of these presentations that could be made available to the public. Mr. Lark said he thinks Lake County has a video.
44:15 Financial Report- Ms. Brakey asked about the payments to Donemark. Mr. Litke said these payments for the new wells in Parkman Township are ongoing, and there are more bills to come. Ms. Brakey also asked about the $34,000 payment to McDonald Hopkins for attorney fees, and what time period was covered by these fees. Mr. Litke said it was about one and a half months. Ms. Brakey asked whether it would be beneficial to hire an in-house attorney. There was further discussion about attorney fees. They are difficult to budget for, given the unpredictable nature of public record requests. Mr. Litke said that currently attorney fees average around $50,000 annually.
It was mentioned that the health department still has about $2.5 million in reserves, and that the new O&M program is not yet bringing in enough money to cover staff costs.
52:59 Min. Health Commissioner’s Report - Mr. Graham met with a grant writer from the Ohio Department of Health, who may help with finding new grants that GPH and Lake County can apply for. He also said the hybrid overdose review committee is in the process of getting approvals. Hybrid Overdose/Suicide Committee is expecting to hear from Geauga Prosecutor as to its legality
53.54 Min. 5.0 Old Business
5.01 Resolution to Create Certain Fees, Operation & Maintenance Program, Third and Final
Reading
55:30 New Business
6.01 Resolutions Observer Note: The resolutions differed slightly from the published Agenda. The resolution on the agenda numbered 6.01.02 was removed from consideration and replaced by new resolution 6.01.02. The resolution on the agenda numbered 6.01.03 was removed and resolution 6.01.04 became 6.01.03
6.01.01 Financial Reports, Resolution 24-04-06-01-01 - Approved.
6.01.02 Increase/decrease for ADP equipment - Most of the computers are out of date, with the oldest one being from 2014. The cost to replace computers is $70,000. The motion was approved.
6.01.03 Resolution 2024-8: Then and Now Purchase Order to SC Strategic Solutions, Not to Exceed $6,500.00 - This purchase order is for work on scanning documents so that records will be digital and can be accessed by staff in the field. Approved.
6.02 Resolution to Award the 2023 Clean Inspection Award to the Qualifying Food Services and Food Establishments - Approved by voice vote.
1:05:10 Public Comments
Mr. Hellinger, neighbor to the Kaufmann dump site that was discussed earlier in the meeting, spoke about the site and requested that Geauga County shut down the site. Mr. Lark said he had visited the site and saw no sign of dumping and the property had been mowed. Mr. Litke said they cannot shut down a site that is following the rules. Mr. Graham said that GPH doesn’t have jurisdiction over bad smells. Mr. Hellinger stated that Geauga can pass a law. Mr. Litke and Ms. Brakey said that Geauga doesn’t pass laws. Mr. Litke said that even a new resolution would grandfather in the existing site.
Mr. Lark said they’re keeping an eye on the situation, they have 24/7 access, and they can go there any time. He said that the Amish school that had been mentioned by Mr. Hellinger was built after the dump site was in operation.
Mr. Alusheff asked about wells that were strategically placed around the county to test different aquifers, but were discontinued. Mr. Lark and Mr. Alusheff agreed to look into this further. Mr. Litke said he will talk to Nick Gorris at Water Resources to see if he knows where they are. Mr. Litke said that Water Resources are looking at where to monitor water resources such as lakes. Mr. Alusheff also asked if GPH could maintain a public log of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.
A member of the public asked who made the most recent records request. Mr. Litke said that the recent requestor was Skip Claypool.
Mr. Litke said that costs for FOI requests do not include his own time spent working on them. He stated that he doesn’t keep track of the time he spends on these requests.
Another member of the public asked if the county tests water in park ponds. Mr. Litke said that GPH is looking into this with Soil and Water. Mr. Lark said that the O&M program will eventually have a positive effect on water in the county.
Executive Session - There was no Executive Session.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:12 pm.
Next Regular Meeting: May 22 at 5 pm. All meetings are held at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B167-168, Chardon, OH.
More Information: Geauga Public Health
Observer: Nina Lalich
Editor: Gail Roussey
Reviewer: Sarah McGlone
Submission Date: May 7, 2024
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