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ADP Denies One BOCC Request and Tables Another, 

Both Related to Geauga County Office Building Technology 

ADP Board Regular Meeting - December 10, 2024 

Meeting Details: The Automatic Data Processing Board (ADP) held a Regular Meeting at 11:00 am on December 10, 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 public comment policy. In practice, public comment is solicited at the end of the meeting.

Board Attendance:  (Note: Mr. Dvorak and Mr. Flaiz joined the meeting at 11:04.)

• Auditor/Chief Administrator – Charles Walder

• Clerk of Courts – Sheila Bevington (absent)

• County Commissioner – James Dvorak

• Engineer – Katie Taylor for Joe Cattell

• Board of Elections – Scott Daisher for Michelle Lane and Nora McGinnis

• County Prosecutor – Jim Flaiz

• Recorder – Celesta Mullins

• Sheriff – Scott Hildenbrand

• Treasurer – Caroline Mansfield for Chris Hitchcock

• Coroner – John Urbancic (absent)

• Common Pleas Court Judge (absent)
  

ADP Staff Attendance: 

• Frank Antenucci – Chief Deputy Administrator

• Jeff Vaji - Archives and Records Clerk

• Tracy Rahimi - Help Desk Clerk

• Joe Birli - IT Physical Security Analyst (virtual)

• Karen Murphy - Archives and Records

• Ashley Serraglio - Archives and Records

Other Government Representatives:

• Linda Burhenne – Assistant County Administrator

• Adrian Gorton - Geauga County Finance Manager (virtual)

• Nick Gorris - Director of Water Resources

• Linda Applebaum - Assistant Prosecutor

• Kristin Rine - Assistant Prosecutor (virtual)

• Velta Muisio - Court of Common Pleas IT Director (virtual)

• Ron Leyde – Chief Deputy Auditor

• Pam McMahan – Chief Operations Officer, Auditor’s Office

Others Present:

• Carolyn Brakey - Member of Geauga Public Health Board & County Commissioner-Elect (virtual)

• Tom and Diane Jones - Members of the Public

• Anastasia Nicholas - Chagrin Valley Times (virtual)

• Carol Benton - LWV Geauga Observer (virtual)

The meeting was called to order at 11:00 am by Mr. Antenucci.

Minutes: Minutes for the September 10, 2024 Regular Meeting were approved without edits.

 

The Board took the following actions:

APPROVED - ADP equipment list from August 1, 2024 to October 31, 2024.

APPROVED - ADP purchases list from August 1, 2024 to October 31, 2024.

APPROVED - Policy on Ethical Vendor Interactions for IT Professionals - Mr. Antenucci introduced a new policy on ethical vendor interactions aimed at clarifying and codifying existing laws to prevent IT professionals from accepting gifts or loans from vendors. Mr. Walder questioned the necessity of the policy, stating it is redundant as such actions are already illegal, but Mr. Antenucci emphasized the importance of the policy to eliminate ambiguity and ensure compliance. He stated that this policy was prompted by the termination of a Water Resources IT employee. Observer Note: See Maple Leaf article from September 23, 2023 addressing this matter. Mr. Antenucci will require county IT professionals to acknowledge and sign-off on the policy. 

TABLED - Request from Board of Developmental Disabilities for onsite ADP support - Mr. Antenucci reported that Mr. Don Rice, Board of Developmental Disabilities Superintendent, requested onsite ADP support for the Developmental Disabilities agency for 3 to 4 days per week beginning in 2025, the full cost of which would be covered by Developmental Disabilities. ADP Board members had questions about the type of services needed, but no representative from Developmental Disabilities was in attendance to provide more background information and to explain the request. The matter was tabled until a DD representative provides more information behind the request.

TABLED - Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) Audio Visual (AV) Vendor Support ($24,862) - Ms. Burhenne described ongoing issues with AV equipment in the conference rooms in the Geauga County Office Building (GCOB). After determining that the issues primarily related to the poor quality of service provided by the initial contractor, Intertech, and the lack of user training, the BOCC decided to contract with another vendor, Root Integrated Systems (Root), to reconfigure and add equipment and to provide training. Mr. Walder noted the agreement with Root provided for review did not include performance requirements, so it was unclear what Root was being contracted to do. He also noted that the lack of clear AV specifications at time of installation were a contributing factor to the current situation and pointed out that the AV equipment in place could not support live-streaming of BOCC meetings if that became a requirement in the future. He said, “rather than throw money at another outside vendor,” he recommended the BOCC wait until future needs could be clearly identified and assessed.

DISAPPROVED - BOCC Vasu Communications, Inc. ($52,033) - Ms. Burhenne explained the request for 24 police-type emergency radios (one for each office) at the GCOB as a means to address the need for better communication with occupants during emergencies such as the recent snowstorm. The Board discussed additional options to this approach, including the possibility of utilizing current functionality of the GCOB phone system or the technology used for similar purposes in local schools and during the Geauga County Fair. The limitations of portable radios were noted including limited battery life and portability. Mr. Walder stated that communications “are driven by the people communicating, not the medium being used.” Ms. Burhenne was asked to reevaluate the situation and consider other options.

APPROVED - Engineers’ Allen Precision Equipment ($64,855) - Ms. Taylor explained the request for a handheld scanner enabling personnel to quickly capture data in the field to be loaded into GIS upon return to the office.

APPROVED - Sheriff’s Motorola Solutions, Inc. ($101,929) - Mr. Antenucci explained that this was the second year of a three-year contract for support of the county’s 911 emergency service. Mr. Hildenbrand expressed his office’s satisfaction with the quality and the service.

APPROVED - Water Resources Mission Communications ($3,750) - In relation to the latest invoices from Mission Communications, Mr. Antenucci communicated that Mission Communications (Mission) again revised the timing of multi-factor authentication (MFA) security capabilities in their software, now scheduled for Q1 2025. Mr. Walder pointed out that in 2023, Mission promised timing of Q1 2024 and is now delaying finalization again. He explained the importance of MFA security by highlighting the recent embezzlement by a township trustee in Trumbull County who diverted payments by changing banking details in a system where MFA was disabled. Payment was approved with a caveat that if MFA was not in place in the Water Resources Mission instance in 6 months’ time, no more payments to Mission would be approved. Observer Note: See Observer Report from September 10, 2024 detailing the long-running matter with Mission regarding MFA capabilities.

DISCUSSED - Tyler New World Reimbursement Payment - The delay of payment by Water Resources of the invoice from ADP for their use of the New World ERP system due to Water Resources' ongoing questions was addressed. Observer Note: Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a business management software system that is designed to manage and streamline an organization’s functions, processes and workflows with automation and integration. Mr. Walder explained that the charges were retrospective in nature and represent Water Resources' share of total New World services already paid for by ADP. Mr. Gorris agreed to approve payment.

DISCUSSED - Proposed 2025 Cost-cutting Initiatives - Mr. Walder explained that ADP was directed by BOCC to reduce costs by 3% in the coming year. He noted that in the past ADP paid for some technology products not related to ADP. He mentioned ZeroEyes, an AI-enabled gun detection technology utilized at the GCOB, as an example. Heavy users of technology will have to cover a larger share of technology’s costs in the coming year under the budget constraints.

DISCUSSED - Archives and Records (A&R) End of 2024 Summary - Mr. Antenucci explained that ADP took over responsibility for A&R in January and at that time decided to keep the A&R separate within ADP given the different nature of its function and confidentiality requirements of A&R stored documents. ADP performed a salary evaluation of A&R staff and determined that salaries were below market. Salary adjustments averaging 3% were made, improving staff retention and avoiding costly replacement and training of new employees. Ms. Murphy provided an end-of-year recap of A&R’s activities highlighting the large increase in boxes shredded, improvement in the microfilm vendor performance and reorganization of the records room to facilitate efficient records retrieval. Mr. Flaiz expressed his “110% customer satisfaction” with A&R service, and Mr. Dvorak concurred that A&R is functioning much better now.

APPROVED - Geauga County Engineer’s Office RC-1 Donations - Ms. Murphy briefed the Board on the documents that had been donated by the Engineer's Office including old titles contained in a log book. Some of the items were to be donated to the Ohio Genealogical Society. Observer Note: RC-1 is the State Archives of Ohio form used for one-time disposal of obsolete records.

Other Business:

• Mr. Antenucci notified the Board that an ongoing dispute with OpenText, a former provider of backup tape service, was settled. Ms. Applebaum explained that the agreement included a release of all claims and a negotiated settlement amount of $25,000, down from OpenText’s claim of $68,000.

• Mr. Daisher inquired about the status of the wiring required for the installation of cameras in the GCOB elevators as required by the BOCC and Board of Elections consent decree. Mr. Antenucci explained that the recent quote for wiring was expected to be approved. ADP already acquired the necessary cameras. Observer Note: See Consent Decree filed May 26, 2023 for settlement terms of the legal action taken by BOE against BOCC to ensure the new space in the County Office Building meets requirements for executing elections as set forth by the Ohio Secretary of State. 

• Mr. Antenucci informed the Board that Burton Village asked to extend their current ADP service beyond the current Police Department arrangement to include the whole village. This would include operating on the general county domain and utilizing MS365 Microsoft Office. Mr. Walder noted that the recent South Russell township migration to ADP services went very well.

Public Comment: Mr. Antenucci asked for any public comment/questions. There were none.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:36 pm.

The next meeting of the ADP Board is the Organization Meeting that is scheduled for January 13, 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

Editor & Reviewer: Sarah McGlone

Submitted 12/15/24

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