Airport Funding Request Tabled Again;
No Action to Change Recording of Commissioners’ Meetings
Board of County Commissioners Meeting - April 15, 2025
Meeting Details: The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) met in Regular Session on Tuesday, April 15, 2025 at 9:30 am for a meeting at the County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Room B303, Chardon, OH. Meetings can also be live streamed through the Geauga ADP Youtube channel. Recordings are available for the public. The April 15, 2025 meeting recording can be found here. As of the date of publication this video has been viewed 445 times. Notations in the report refer to the minute notation on the first video for a particular section. An agenda is available in advance via request to the Commissioners’ Clerk and at the meeting. Items discussed at the meeting but not on the agenda, if any, are addressed at the end of this report.
Public Comment Policy: Permitted as outlined in the BOCC’s Public Comment Policy that was adopted on January 28, 2025 and revised on April 15, 2025.
Attendance: Present were Commissioners Ralph Spidalieri, James Dvorak and Carolyn Brakey. Also present were Commissioners Clerk Christine Blair, Acting County Administrator Linda Burhenne and Finance Manager Adrian Gorton.
County Representatives: Frank Antenucci, Chief Deputy Administrator, ADP (Automatic Data Processing); Charles Walder, Auditor; Shane Hajjar, Engineer’s Department; Tracey Salkiewicz, Deputy Engineer, Engineer’s Office; Laura Lachapelle, Prosecutor’s Office; Traci A. Salkiewicz, Geauga County Engineer’s Office; Glen Vernick, Maintenance Department Director; Richard Blamer, Airport Manager and George (Chip) Hess, President, Airport Authority and Greg Gyllstrom, Vice-President, Airport Authority Board Members.
Others in Attendance: Mathias Lee, Munson Township resident, County residents Tom and Diane Jones, other members of the public and press, this LWVG Observer and LWVG Observer Rooney Moy.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited and a prayer was offered by Commissioner Dvorak.
Minutes: No minutes were submitted for approval. Observer Note: Weekly LWVG Observer Reports for BOCC are available online through April 15, 2025 for informational purposes but are not substitutes for approved minutes. Approved BOCC Minutes are posted online here through April 1, 2025.
Administrator Report - There was no report at this meeting.
14:35 Min - Financial Report: Mr. Gorton received approval for the following: Observer Note: Monetary figures are given when available.
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Supplemental to the Airport Construction Fund in preparation for construction of the T-Hangar Project.
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Cash Transfer from the Commissioners to Job and Family Services (JFS) for the first half of the Children’s Levy Reduction payment
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Travel for the Clerk of Courts Office
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Vouchers:
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$28,055 from JFS to Preston Ford for a Ford Escape replacement vehicle
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$98,143 from Water Resources to Ohio Water Development Authority for McFarland Waste Treatment Plant improvements administrative expenses
15:56 Min. Auditor and ADP - Auditor Charles (Chuck) Walder and ADP Chief Deputy Administrator Frank Antenucci presented on several topics. Observer Note: The Agenda listed only one of these items (videotaping of Commissioners’ meetings) but Mr. Walder brought up several other items. See the video for more detail on this discussion.
Mr Walder started out by saying: “I am here today to clarify a series of questions and/or comments that the Board has expressed in the past couple or three months.” The topics were as follows:
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Salaries of ADP
Mr. Walder mentioned several factors leading to increased personnel costs:
He reminded the BOCC that on January 1, 2024 the BOCC passed a resolution to transfer the Archives and Records Department to ADP. Mr. Walder said that he believed that Mr. Dvorak knew that salaries were not competitive, so they did a salary comparison and he said, “Unfortunately, they were competitive with the fast food industry.” Mr. Walder reported that they were able to retain employees, fill vacancies and maintain morale. They authorized increases in pay to more align with market rate and all performances have been “stellar.”
Mr. Walder said that the salaries paid to ADP technical staff are under market value, both in comparison to private and government rates. He described the important work that they do, which he said is constant, to head off cyber threats. He also mentioned increased technology needs, including AI (Artificial Intelligence).
Mr. Walder said that the ADP Board regularly reviews salaries and functions and that they come annually to the Commissioners to review salaries. He pointed out that some departments and agencies have been able to waive their annual budget reviews, which he feels should not be done.
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Equipment in the new County Office Building.
As far as the AV equipment in the new County Office Building, Mr. Walder said that there still seems to be confusion as to “how we got here.” He went on to say that, “Fundamentally all decisions were outside ADP.” He said that the non-performing AV equipment in the BOCC conference room was not vetted by ADP.
Key Card Access - Mr. Walder said that ADP had approved a cloud based system which would have permitted individual departments to have individual control, but instead what was purchased and installed was not cloud based and not approved by ADP, and is not workable.
Access for ADP - Mr. Walder discovered, after the building was constructed, that there was no plan to house ADP in the new county office building. Mr. Walder said he approached the Board of Health and asked if they would be able to allow ADP a portion of their space.
He said that ”while we are willing to fix it, we don’t own the problem, but we will own the solution.”
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Live Streaming. Mr. Walder said that prior to January 2025, ADP was never approached to live stream Commissioners’ meeting. He said that the equipment placed in the conference room is not equipped to livestream. When approached by Commissioner Brakey, ADP presented several different options, both temporary and permanent. They put in place a temporary solution and will report to the BOCC by July regarding a more permanent solution.
Cost of live streaming - For this service to the Geauga Public Health for their 5:00 pm meetings, through a request from them, they hired a consultant, who charged $1,000 per meeting. For BOCC meetings, they explored doing this in-house, and even with a two person team it is $150/meeting. Mr. Walder strongly suggested keeping the two person team so that there would always be someone available to do the filming. He said, “I believe in redundancy…” in the event someone couldn’t make it, someone could be there for back up.
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Email Anomaly reported by Commissioner Spidalieri. Mr. Walder said he learned of Mr. Spidalieri, Mr. Lennon and Mr. Morgan’s concerns about an email breach by watching the Youtube broadcast of the BOCC meetings. He said that “this is a huge alarm for me….“ He indicated that no one ever reported this to ADP and that now two of the three are no longer with the county. He said that he didn’t even know when this took place. He said that anyone who feels there has been a security breach of their email has several avenues to pursue, including reporting to ADP, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Sheriff, Homeland Security or the Attorney General. Mr. Walder said that as far as he is aware there was never a report about a suspected email breach. Mr. Walder said that the gold standard for investigating such a breach is to hire an independent investigator, which he reminded the Commissioners that they had done when there was an issue with Water Resources. They hired the company, Dragos, which Mr. Walder said does IT triage.
He said that only the day before there was an incident in one of the township fire departments that could have been very costly if it had not been caught in time by ADP staff.
Commissioner Brakey asked how many people can access someone’s email.
Mr. Antenucci said it is similar to law enforcement. There are 2 people in security and 2 people in the data department, with checks and balances on each other.
He said that logs are kept and that these would be a public record, with possibly some redaction for privacy.
Mr Antenucci also said that sharing password information caused the most issues. When asked directly whether Mr. Walder and/or Mr. Antenucci had access to emails, they both responded that the only emails they could access were their own.
Mr. Antenucci said that his biggest concern was outside access and for that reason he recommended and they are using the highest level of Microsoft licensing.
Mr. Walder that if there is a suspected breach then there is a protocol. They investigated 3 computers in a fire department within Geauga County that had a virus with the potential to extract ransom. These computers had access to the Sheriff’s department.
Commissioner Dvorak said, “Thank you for the clarification and details.” Mr. Spidalieri had no comments or questions.
No decisions were made.
43:04 Min. The County Engineer’s Office received approval for the following:
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To award the Bid to Ronyak Paving, Incorporated for the Reconstruction of Butternut Road (CH-0021), including the Replacement of Structure #0021-00.320 and the Resurfacing of Sections A-C in Munson Township in the amount of $1,991,420.00 as they represented the lowest and best bid. The Bid Bond will be held to serve as the Performance Bond for this project.
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To execute the Unit Price Contract with Grade Line, Incorporated for the Replacement of Culverts on Various Roads in Munson Township in the amount of $195,521.15.
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To execute Resolution #25-066 to Order the Replacement of the Haskins Road Bridge (Structure #0191-03.210) in Bainbridge Township. This resolution also includes executing the Title Sheet of the Plans for the same. Further, this resolution sets a Bid Opening using Bid Express at the County Engineer’s Office on Friday, May 2, 2025, at 10:10 a.m. Notice of this Bid Opening will be advertised on April 17, 2025, and on the county website.
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To execute Resolution #25-067 to Order the Replacement of the Riverview Drive Bridge (Structure #0380-00.310) in Bainbridge Township. This resolution also includes approval to execute the Title Sheet of the Plans for the same. Further, this resolution sets a Bid Opening using Bid Express at the County Engineer’s Office on Friday, May 2, 2025, at 10:12 am. Notice of this Bid Opening will be advertised on April 17, 2025, and on the county website.
The Common Pleas Court – Juvenile/Probate Division received approval to execute the Certification Request to County Auditor, Request to Board of Commissioners Quarterly Use of County Credit Cards, pursuant to O.R.C. 301.27 for the Year 2025 (Quarter 2) for the Geauga Credit Union – Visa.
48 Min. The Maintenance Department received approval for the following:
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To execute the Contract Agreement with Geauga Mechanical Company to replace the boiler at the West Geauga Senior Center effective April 15, 2025, with work to be completed within 180 days, in an amount not to exceed $46,640.00. Mr. Vernick said that the boiler is 25 years old and they have been having problems with it.
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To execute the Agreement for Professional Design Services with Verdantas Architecture, Incorporated to provide professional design and contract administration services related to upgrading the existing vertical accessibility lift at the Patterson Center building located at 14269 Claridon-Troy Road, Burton in an amount not to exceed $24,600.00. Mr. Vernick said that they had this contract last year but didn’t need to spend anything. Mr. Vernick explained that there is a basement in this building with a large meeting room, which is why the lift is required.
51:44 Min. The Commissioners’ Office received approval to execute the Application for Real Property Tax Exemption and Remission (DTE 23 form) for Permanent Parcel No. 10-709526 located on Short Court Street, in Chardon, Ohio. Mr. Gorton explained that this was required because the property was transferred (as part of the courthouse expansion project) to the Commissioners. Prior to the transfer, the property was owned by the City of Chardon and was exempt. The Commissioners own the land now and it will remain owned by the County as long as it is used for purposes related to the courthouse. If not, the land will revert to the City of Chardon.
53:44 Min. The Commissioners’ Office received approval to amend the Policy and Public Comment during Board of County Commissioners’ Meetings, effective April 15, 2025 changing the comment time from 2 minutes to 3 minutes.
54:22 Min. Discuss the vacation of Sandhill Trail in Munson Township - Laura Lachapelle, Assistant County Prosecutor, and Traci A. Salkiewicz, Deputy Engineer for the Geauga County Engineer’s Office discussed the vacation of this road in Munson Township. Ms. Lachapelle said it had never been an improved road and there was only one property owner adjacent to it - Jessica and Mathias Lee. Munson Township requested that the land be vacated and there was a Public Hearing at the BOCC meeting on April 8, with no objections. It was agreed that the landowner would have both a benefit and loss of benefit, with no net value, so no compensation would be paid. The landowner agreed to this arrangement. The property owner Mr. Lee was present but did not comment. Observer Note: This discussion was taken out of turn on the Agenda to allow it to be concluded before the more lengthy discussion about the Airport that followed.
1:04 Min.The Airport Authority received approval for Reimbursement Request #1 for the Taxiway Extension Construction Project, specifically to Construct Parallel Taxiway A including Taxiway Connector A1 and A2 – Construction, Final Phase and Install Taxiway Edge Lights – Construction, Final Phase of Grant #3-39-0054-028-2024 for Professional Services in the amount of $36,915.00 (FAA share $33,223.50, ODOT share $1,845.75 and local County match share $1,845.75). This was approved without discussion.
Geauga County Airport - Observer Note: There was a resolution on the agenda to approve an encumbrance and expenditure to the Geauga County Airport Authority in the amount of $800,000.00 from the Airport Construction Fund for contributing funds towards the construction of a new T-Hangar at the Geauga County Airport.
Mr. Gorton said that his understanding was that if Commissioners approved the encumbrance and expenditure of $800,000 that he would put $800,000 in the Airport Construction Fund. He would then transfer these funds and give it to the Airport Authority.
The discussion was about the terms of the Agreement between the Airport Authority and BOCC.
Mr. Hess said that the Airport Authority at their Board meeting approved an amended agreement. Commissioner Brakey questioned why the Airport Authority at their Board meeting took out the sentence that said something to the effect of “the Airport Authority has complied with the terms of the agreement and will comply with the agreement between the Airport and the Commissioners.” Observer Note: The Agreement was not available to the public.
Vice President Greg Gyllstrom responded that they didn't want that sentence included because they didn’t want to run into problems due to an oversight in the past. Mr. Gyllstrom offered a “cure period” if something was found deficient.
Commissioner Brakey said “why will you not promise that you are following the terms of the Agreement?”
Observer Note: There was a somewhat contentious discussion at this point. See the Video at 1:14 Min. and following.
Mr. Blamer said that to his knowledge they were following the Agreement and providing the information required.
Mr. Gyllstrom also said that the original Agreement from 2018 was a “flawed document” and that they should focus on moving forward.
Commissioner Brakey said that this really isn’t for infrastructure, ”it is for 8 private planes for 7 rich guys… (it) doesn’t really benefit the county as a whole.” She further said that the Commissioners should have the power to permit a cure period.
Airport President Hess said that the new hangars would net $7.5 million over the next 50 years, which he said was the useful life of the T-Hangars. Commissioner Brakey said that she had not seen any of these numbers.
Mr. Gyllstrom said it would benefit the County because the County would no longer have to contribute to maintenance.
1:27 Min. Mr. Gyllstrom said that this type of Grant, to build these hangars, was very unusual and was the result of Covid, because infrastructure spending for airports is permitted under a different type of fund. He said the FAA will not generally pay for repairs or hangar construction. The grant will expire at the end of April. He again discussed the revenue of $7.5 million. He said they would net $48,000 the first year, and he calculated that in 50 years with an annual rent increase of 4% that amount would result in the $7.5 million.
Commissioner Brakey asked how much was required as a match for the grant, and it was stated to be $30,000. Mr. Blamer said that although $30,000 is the match, the terms of the Grant require that the Airport Authority demonstrate that they have the full funding for the project.
Commissioner Brakey asked if the Airport Authority had looked elsewhere for funding, but Mr. Blamer said that they had an agreement in December and had not looked for other funding until very recently.
Commissioner Brakey asked about whether the potential users of the hangers would be asked to contribute. Mr. Gyllstrom said they are not set up for that.
Commissioner Brakey asked if there were 19 people on the waiting list, and Mr. Blamer and Mr. Gyllstrom said that people move off and on the waiting list depending on their circumstances.
Commissioner Dvorak offered the possibility of going forward from this time forward, with the consequences set forth. He then said that they need to see what the Prosecutor suggests since they just got this new Agreement.
Mr. Hess said that they have already expended money for professional and engineering services.
Assistant Prosecutor Laura Lachapelle indicated that because changes were made (deleting the sentence) that the Prosecutor’s Office would need to review it.
It was agreed that the Prosecutor’s Office would work directly with the Airport Authority attorney to attempt to get an Agreement finalized before the next BOCC meeting on April 22, 2025.
Commissioner Spidalieri asked Ms. LaChapelle if they could make a motion to get the money transferred at this meeting because they “are at risk for losing this money.” This motion died for lack of a second. Mr. Spidalieri then expressed his opinion that nothing had ever been flagged regarding the Airport. He said they are all volunteers and “It is hard for me to sit up here and listen to this knowing how much you guys have committed to what you do.” He continued, “At the end of the day it is a County asset.” He referred to the “minimal investment” that the Commissioners have made to the airport. Observer Note: In a March 27 article in the Chagrin Valley Times, the following statements were attributable to Mr. Gorton: “... the County provided the Airport with $1.328 Million in the past four years, $750,000 of which is a 2% interest rate loan that the airport will have to repay to the county over 20 years. The total not covered by a loan comes to $578,890.”
Mr. Blamer said that the cost of running the Airport for the individual taxpayer is $0.14 a year.
Commissioner Spidalieri apologized “for some of the word exchanges” and concluded by thanking the Board Members and Mr. Blamer.
Ms. Blair asked Mr. Gorton if any cash had been transferred, and he said that he had not yet done so, but was waiting for the outcome of today’s meeting.
Board Discussion – Letter of Support – First Energy Middlefield Service Office. At the April 8 meeting of the BOCC, Commissioner Spidalieri brought up the fact that the First Energy/Illuminating Company facility located in Middlefield planned to close. The letter of support to keep the Middlefield office was approved and signed. Commissioner Brakey also referred to comments about service made in a recent rate case.
Public Comment - This Observer spoke in favor of maintaining the new practice of live streaming the BOCC meetings and posting of videos of the meetings.
Another member of the public also spoke in favor of live streaming the meetings and mentioned that he had turned in to see 23 people watching a live stream of a meeting.
Meeting adjourned approximately 11:30 am.
More Information and Posted Minutes: Available here.
Next Regular Meeting of the BOCC: The next BOCC meeting is on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 at 9:30 am at the County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Room B303, Chardon, OH.
Observer: Gail Roussey
Editor: Sarah McGlone
Reviewer: Carol Benton
Date Submitted: April 22, 2025
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