Fiscal Officer Resigns Unexpectedly; GPH Board Finalizes Fee Changes
Geauga Public Health (GPH) - August 20, 2025
Meeting Details: The GPH Board met in Regular Session at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B334, Chardon, OH, on June 18, 2025. The meeting began at 5 pm. This meeting is in person with no virtual viewing or video. The Agenda is posted on the GPH Facebook page a few days prior to the meeting and then typically is posted on the GPH website. The Agenda can be found here.
Public Comment Policy: There is no separate written policy, but in practice “Citizens’ Remarks” are listed on the agenda and are permitted as detailed there.
Board Attendance: Dr. Mark Hendrickson, Melissa DeBoth, Lynn Roman, and Christine Sutter were present. Dr. Ashley Jones, President, was absent.
Dr. Hendrickson conducted the meeting in Dr. Jones’ absence.
Staff Attendance: Dan Lark, Director of Environmental Health, and Adam Litke, Administrator, were present. Ron Graham, Lake and Geauga Health Commissioner, was absent.
Others Present: Geauga Maple Leaf Journalist Allison Wilson, this LWVG Observer and two members of the public
Call to Order: Called to order at 5:01 pm.
Opening of Meeting - The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. A quorum was declared, as was a Certification of the Delivery of Official notices of meeting.
Minutes – Approval for the Minutes of the Regular Meeting July 16, 2025, was tabled until the next meeting for lack of a quorum. Dr. Hendrickson and Mrs. Roman were both absent at the July meeting, and therefore they were unable to approve the Minutes.
Health District Staff Reports
Observer Note: These reports are available with the Agenda on the Geauga Public Health (GPH) website. See August Agenda here.
Mrs. Roman asked whether vaccine quantities were rising or falling and expressed concern about anti-vaccine sentiment. Mr. Litke said vaccine clinic activity has increased, including interest at Amish safety events. He commented that it depends on the vaccine but people consider most vaccines safe given their successful history. Mrs. Sutter commented that the Amish community has been receptive, especially with pediatrician encouragement. There was discussion about increases in certain diseases such as tuberculosis around the State. Mr. Litke said that the number of tuberculosis cases has increased in the County, “something they don’t see very often,” but it is not considered an outbreak locally. Reviewer Note: In the Appendix contained in the detailed Agenda, it lists 1 case of tuberculosis in 2024 and none in 2025. It is possible that these cases to which Mr. Litke referred have just occurred and were not yet captured in the statistics.
Mrs. Roman asked if they were in “good shape” with Public Health Emergency Preparedness. Mr. Litke stated they are still doing all the work necessary for now but the State may reduce funding for these drills by 28%. They expect a determination on funding in October.
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Environmental Health Report – Mr. Lark said there was a probable case of La Crosse encephalitis, a mosquito-borne virus, reported in the County. He said Ohio has the most cases of this disease in the country. GPH has conducted education and treatment for the affected household and their neighbors as well as steps to identify breeding locations.
There was a brief discussion of an illegal dumping case against a resident on Clark Road. The resident agreed to remove 20% of any waste on the property every 30 days while providing proof the waste is going to an acceptable waste facility. The zoning inspector for Chardon Township and a health department representative will monitor progress.
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Administrator’s Report – Mr. Litke said the State Audit of GPH is underway and will cover two years, 2023-2024. The audit is biennial, instead of annual, because they don’t meet the $750,000 threshold for federal grants. He told the Board that they would be invited to attend a conference (date TBD) where the audit findings will be reviewed.
He said they have a Safe Community Audit coming up on August 25.
Mr. Litke stated that the Lake County Health Fiscal Officer, Michael Matas, had resigned unexpectedly. Mr. Litke said that he has been reviewing and preparing the budget in his stead. Reviewer Note: Please see additional information below.
Mr. Litke reported that he said the Community Health Assessment will be distributed soon.
Mrs. Roman asked how the property tax veto override by the Ohio House might affect GPH. A discussion followed about the impact of property tax changes on GPH as well as on township and village services under new tax rules. Observer Note: The State Legislature passed a number of changes restricting local tax levies as a part of the State Budget Bill (HB 96). Some of these measures were vetoed by the Governor; details on all vetoed budget items are available here. The Ohio House voted to override a veto to restrict the kind of local levies that can be put to voters; more information is available here. The Ohio Senate must still vote on that same provision for it to become law. In addition, a citizen-led group may attempt to put a constitutional amendment to abolish property taxes on the ballot. Read more about the grassroots effort here. Mr. Litke commented that the same citizen’s group that is behind the property tax abolishment movement is pushing to require a 60% approval rate for levy passage, saying he wasn’t aware of any levy passing by that margin.
Mrs. Roman asked if the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) supplemental nutrition program is in trouble. Mr. Litke shared that they had received a $50,000 grant increase, but costs (mainly salaries) continue to exceed funding. He said, “The name of the game is batten down the hatches.”
Old Business – The following Resolutions were approved unanimously:
Observer Note: This resolution reduces some fees (e.g., for Installer Registration and Service Provider Registration, the $200 fee was reduced to $175) and other fees remain unchanged (e.g., fees for Household Treatment System and Household Treatment System Replacement remained at $800.00).
Observer Note: The State sets the fee maximums, but GPH did not go to the fee maximums. Fees instead generally went up by about a quarter to a third, except for Mobile (food trucks), which went up from $86 to $160.
Mr. Lark confirmed that letters had been sent to entities who might be affected by the pending fee changes. He also said they had had a public meeting about the fee changes and nobody attended and their office had received no messages or comments from the public.
New Business – The following Resolutions were unanimously approved:
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Financial Reports, Resolution 25-08-06-01-01. Reviewer Note: The list of payments contained in the Appendix to the Agenda does not list any payments to Lake County for the Cross Jurisdictional Agreement. See LWVGeauga Report for June 18, 2025 for recent Then and Now payments and missed payments to Lake County.
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Permission to Approve Revised Appropriations Approved July 16, 2025
Mr. Litke explained that the revised appropriations refer to General Fund monies that had been broken out in the budget into individual program funds in response to a Budget Commission recommendation. Reviewer Note: See the June 30, 20205 Budget Commission LWVG Observer Report for more information.
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Appropriation Increase – Observer Note: This item was a “walk on” to the agenda. Mr. Litke wanted to distinguish the appropriation revision (above) from the increase. Mr. Litke said there were two inspection funds that had revenues exceeding those estimated in the budget. The budget change will reflect the actual receipts. He noted that one account was $29,000 higher than projected and the other about $13,000 higher.
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Resolution 2025-37: A Resolution to Authorize a Warrant for Payment Based on a Then and Now Certificate for Purchases, and Declaring an Emergency to Treasurer, State of Ohio, Not to Exceed $27,802.16
Mr. Litke said the appropriation is to the Vital Statistics Department to address a funding shortfall due to higher-than-expected state remittances related to more death certificates going through than expected.. He explained that GPH pays the department the “lion’s share” of fees collected.
Mr. Lark and Mr. Litke said they are working on making weekly food inspection reports available online by year-end.
Citizens’ Remarks
Ms. Wilson asked for clarification on Mrs. Roman’s remarks about the impact of property tax changes and whether she was referring to the Legislature’s property tax veto override. Mr. Litke referenced the County Budget Commission’s position on revising the 20 mill floor calculation and restrictions on an organization’s ability to pursue replacement levies. Reviewer Note: For more information on the property tax veto override, click here. For details on revising the 20 mill floor calculation and restrictions on replacement levies, see the July 7, 2025 Geauga County Township Association LWVG Observer Report.
Ms. Wilson also asked about the fiscal officer vacancy. Mr. Litke said the resignation had occurred about three weeks earlier. Observer Note: Mr. Litke explained subsequently that the person who resigned recently was Lake County Health District Finance Director Michael Matas. After the resignation of a prior fiscal employee at GPH in May (See May 28 LWVGeauga Observer Report), a person was promoted internally “as a backup for general tasks and is still with GPH.” The new position created at the July 16 meeting was for a Finance Director. See LWVGeauga Report for July 16, 2025 for more information.
This Observer asked where GPH was in the process of hiring a new fiscal officer and Mr. Litke replied, “I think I will be hiring one after this meeting.” Reviewer Note: See note below in which Mr. Litke said that no action was expected regarding a potential new hire at GPH.
There was extended discussion about community frustration with rising property taxes, the need for public education on what property taxes fund, and the dilemmas entities will face if the property tax funding goes away.
Executive Session - The Board adjourned at 5:31 pm for the purpose of discussing employment for a newly created job position at GPH. Mr. Litke said no action was expected upon return.
Next Regular Meeting: September 17, 2025 at 5:00 pm. All meetings are held at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B 167-168, Chardon, OH.
More Information and Board minutes can be found here: Geauga Public Health
Observer: Rooney Moy
Editor: Gail Roussey
Reviewer: Sarah McGlone
Submission Date: 08/21/2025
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