Ashley Jones Leaving the GPH Board When Her Term Expires in March 2026
Geauga Public Health (GPH) – December 17, 2025
Meeting Details: The GPH Board met in Regular Session at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B167-168 (first floor), Chardon, OH, on December 17, 2025. The meeting began at 5:00 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:
Staff Attendance:
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Ron Graham, Lake and Geauga Health Commissioner (absent)
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Dan Lark, Director of Environmental Health
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Adam Litke, Administrator
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Katie Taylor, Finance Director
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Cady Stromp, Supervisor, Food Program
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Paul Stromp, Lead Sanitarian
Others Present: Aileen Chan, co-owner of Hunan by the Falls restaurant; Attorney Bridey Matheney from the law firm Thrasher, Dinsmore & Dolan; Geauga Maple Leaf reporter Allison Wilson; a member of the public and this LWVG Observer were present.
Call to Order: Called to order at 5:00 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 – Minutes of the Regular Meeting on November 10, 2025, were approved 4-0, with Ms. DeBoth abstaining. Minutes of the Regular Meeting on November 19, 2025, were approved unanimously after a brief discussion about whether GPH was permitted to share an accreditation coordinator with another agency, including but not limited to the Lake County Board of Health.. The question was asked at the meeting, but the answer did not appear to be in the minutes. Mr. Litke explained that the State hasn’t yet responded to their inquiry on the issue.
The item below was moved up in the Agenda as a courtesy to attendees.
6.06 Permission to Suspend or Revoke the Food License for Hunan by the Falls, 508 Washington Street, Chagrin Falls, OH 44022 – No action was taken following discussion. The Board agreed to place the restaurant on an “enhanced inspection schedule” and re-evaluate its compliance status in 4 months.
A lengthy discussion preceded the decision:
Mr. Lark said they are not recommending license suspension at this time based on the two inspections since the November Board meeting that showed “substantially better” compliance. Instead, he said his department planned to conduct an “enhanced inspection schedule” of monthly, unannounced inspections for the next 4-6 months to ensure improvements are maintained.
Mr. Litke noted that the cost of the additional visits places a burden on the department budget which typically allots up to 9 hours per year for any one location.
Noting that she is “not interested in closing businesses,” Mrs. Roman questioned how long the repeated violations should be tolerated, noting the restaurant had been inspected 11 times over a two-year period. It was noted later in the discussion that most entities average only the two mandated annual inspections because they don’t require reinspection. Ms. Stromp said that if there are not an egregious amount of non-critical violations, such as cleanliness issues, they don’t go back. She stated that they are mandated to do follow-up inspections for critical violations. In certain cases, they are repeatedly seeing the same critical violations, which is why she and Mr. Stromp initially proposed the license suspension for the restaurant.
Mr. Lark confirmed that there is often a cycle in which a restaurant is cited for violations, fixes the problem(s), but then “slides back to their old habits.”
Mr. Lark stated that an imminent public health threat—"if you’re going to make people sick right now”- is the threshold for revoking a license, acknowledging it was a “high bar.” He said they had ultimately lost confidence in Hunan that “things were going in the right direction… things weren’t being addressed.”
There was additional discussion about food safety management requirements, including the role of certified food managers, inspection discretion, and the use of logs and other documentation.
Ms. Stromp explained that every location is required to have a certified food manager who is responsible for monitoring food preparation and food management. She said they don’t have to always be present but must still be responsible for that location. Facilities that opened after March 2010 must have one person in charge per shift.
Ms. Stromp said they provide logs to record temperatures, such as refrigeration temperatures. She noted that the logs are not required by state law, but inspectors encourage and sometimes mandate them as part of enforcement when problems persist.
When asked what they would recommend to help the restaurant maintain their improvements, both Ms. Stromp and Mr. Stromp stated that they had met with the owner multiple times, addressed all the violations, and provided them with as much information as they can give them, including educational material in the problem areas in all three languages (English, Chinese and Spanish) spoken by staff. She said they also had an office hearing prior to bringing the restaurant to the Board that addressed all these concerns and now have a legal enforcement document that’s been signed by Mr. Lark and Mr. Graham.
The Stromps said the regular inspectors have been handling the case up until they were called in two to three months ago when it was decided to take the case to Mr. Lark.
Speaking for the restaurant, Hunan’s attorney, Ms. Matheney was emphatic that the restaurant is committed to compliance, noting that the improvement from the November 25 inspection to the December 11 inspection speaks volumes. She said GPH staff has been very helpful in developing compliance plans and outlined the steps they have taken, including:
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They have a person in charge of the kitchen who is certified in food safety and are considering having another person get certified.
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They have posted written procedures with respect to time and temperature control.
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Written procedures are in English, Chinese and Spanish, all languages spoken by the staff.
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The food scale has been thoroughly cleaned, and they have purchased a new scale.
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Staff members no longer eat in the kitchen, but in the dining room before opening. This change has given them an opportunity to communicate with the staff and educate them about procedures.
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The restaurant is considering retaining a private food inspection investigator to provide additional guidance.
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They have retained legal counsel to give additional assistance.
Ms. Chan also spoke about her commitment to compliance, explaining past lapses resulted from reduced oversight and communication issues with staff.
She said after the seriousness of the violations became clear, the staff began to listen and change their behavior.
She stated she has resumed active oversight, focusing on organization, inventory, and food safety rather than food prep. She now helps track supplies, ensures proper shelving and refrigeration, checks the kitchen nightly, and questions staff about any improper practices.
Current procedures include keeping only small quantities of food on the counter, replenishing from the cooler as needed, and discarding all unrefrigerated food at the end of the night. Staff now follow clear instructions to store food properly in coolers or freezers and discard anything left out, which Ms. Chan says they now understand and agree to follow.
Board members acknowledged the recent improvement but stressed the need for sustained compliance, clearer documentation, and accountability.
Ultimately, they decided to set a 4-month probationary period for Hunan, with an “enhanced inspection schedule” of unannounced monthly visits. Mr. Litke said they would bring any future inspection violations to the Board and recommend action based on their severity.
Mrs. Roman said it is unfortunate that GPH has to absorb the cost of the additional inspections but acknowledged, “we have to go there for the public safety.”
Mr. Litke proposed a training session for the Board about Health Department critical and non-critical issues, noting that this information is posted at the GPH website. Members thought this would be a good idea.
Dr. Hendrickson asked if Board members were permitted to go along on unannounced health inspections. Mr. Litke said the bylaws allow members to go on inspections and to notify Mr. Lark of their intention to attend.
Mr. Litke thanked Ms. Chan and Ms. Matheney for coming to the meeting, saying it demonstrated a commitment to working with the health department and “that’s a good start.” Mr. Stromp and Ms. Stromp were also thanked for their time.
At approximately 5:30 pm, Mr. Stromp, Ms. Stromp, Ms. Chan and Ms. Matheney departed the meeting.
Health District Staff Reports
Observer Note: These reports are available with the Agenda on the Geauga Public Health (GPH) website. See the December Agenda here.
Mr. Litke said they are trying to offer more vaccine locations. They will be asking UH (University Hospital) for assistance with a vaccine event that GPH is hosting on January 19 as part of UH’s team day. Twenty-one people have already signed up for the event. The group speculated that they might reach more people because they would be off for the holiday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day). Mr. Litke praised Nurse Melissa Kimbrough for her willingness to work on a holiday.
Mrs. Roman asked how the lead testing locations were chosen. Mr. Litke said they have always partnered with Head Start to do their testing. He stated that additional testing depends on staffing availability.
Mrs. Roman asked if there was any education to give them about the rise in influenza cases which, at 132 YTD cases, is much higher than 2024 (62 cases) and 2023 (27 cases). Mr. Litke said they would have to wait and see and that colder weather (which keeps people together inside) might have influenced case numbers. He noted they are having a hard time getting vaccines as they are limited to receiving 10 doses at a time.
The group pointed out the norovirus and hand and mouth disease are “running rampant” as well. Dr. Jones observed that the influenza infection numbers are being driven by January and February of 2025 when Geauga had a significant volume of patient hospitalizations. Mr. Litke pointed out that in 2023 there was more testing for COVID than flu which could also have affected the difference in infection numbers.
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Environmental Health Report – Mr. Lark said, “they might have a pool (closure) next month.” He stated that they had to close the pool at Punderson State Park 3 times this year due to safety and chemical problems with the water. It is currently shut down. He said they are at a point where they will have to get more firm with them because “they are not taking it seriously.” Violations included no chlorine in the water and such extreme water cloudiness that the pool bottom wasn’t visible.
There was discussion about the food safety courses GPH offers. The first is a 3-hour “crash course,” and the second is a two-day in-depth course for food safety managers. Mr. Lark said they had started to charge a token $15 fee for the 3-hour course to motivate people who signed up to attend since no-shows had become a problem. The Board agreed it was unfortunate that the department is unable to monitor whether a food safety manager is actually working at a restaurant or if they are doing a good job.
There was also more discussion about the frustrations of the vicious cycle of violations and reinspection, and the massive investment of time and resources required by GPH.
Dr. Hendrickson asked about the results of the two office hearings in November with representatives of Vinny’s of Middlefield and Yummi Sushi of Bainbridge to discuss their failure to maintain their facilities. Mr. Lark said Vinny’s took the situation very seriously and “did a nice job with everything.” For Yummi Sushi, he explained that sushi places usually rent space in their grocery stores (in this case, from Heinen’s). He said the problem was “more of a training issue” and that Heinen’s is taking the issue seriously to help Yummi Sushi fix any problems.
He said they recently had a staff appreciation time during lunch. Mr. Lark and Office Manager Gina Parker covered the office, giving other employees the opportunity to socialize across divisions and do some team building.
Mr. Litke stated they made payments to Lake County Public Health totaling $522,000. He commented they are working on “settling up” on other minor, “non-crucial” charges. He said they are talking with Mr. Kostura, the GPH attorney, on ways to streamline the billing process with Lake County to limit delays. Ms. Taylor said she thinks Lake “needs some expectation that this (the current delays in payment) isn’t going to continue to happen.” Later in the discussion, the Board expressed appreciation for Lake’s patience and flexibility with the slow payments. Mr. Litke noted that Lake understands that the agreement is the first of its kind in the State and as a result there has been a learning curve in developing paperwork and payment mechanisms. He said that after early ridicule from other entities, GPH is already seeing them considering similar arrangements as a cost-saving measure.
Mr. Litke noted that they had added some new positions to the budget, pointing to the hiring of Ms. Stromp and Mr. Stromp. He said they have provided a lot of training for staff and, along with Mr. Lark, have “done a bang up job” ensuring processes are consistent, clear and “buttoned up.”
Ms. Taylor reported that she has been going to the Budget Commission meetings for the last few months and stated Budget Commissioners and staff have been very helpful and supportive, noting the face-to-face contact has improved relations. She said they now have a budget template they can follow going forward. Observer Note: See LWV Observer Reports for the Budget Commission Meetings on December 1, 2025 and November 17, 2025 for more information.
She stated they have resubmitted to the Budget Commission the encumbrances for 2026 which will be established on January 1. As they receive invoices from Lake County, whether monthly or quarterly, the funds will be available.
Mrs. Roman asked whether the Lake County Cross Jurisdictional Agreement had an expiration date. Mr. Litke explained that the agreement runs for 5 years, through the end of 2028, with an opt-out clause after 3 years. Dr. Jones said the contract was set at five years because they determined that withdrawing from the agreement would take approximately 2 years.
Mrs. Roman asked what payments to the Geauga County Maple Leaf were for. Mr. Litke explained the payments were for legal notices for public hearings.
Mrs. Roman inquired about payments to Jonathan Septic and Farris Excavating. Mr. Lark said the two businesses had provided septic services to residents using the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund (WPCLF), an EPA program that provides financial assistance to low-income residents.
Dr. Hendrickson commented that all the fines, fees, and permits have increased revenue “quite a bit.” Mr. Litke said the revenue is about what they expected. Mr. Lark pointed out that revenues include enrollment fees to the Operation & Maintenance (O&M) program which is in its first year. They both emphasized that the program is not intended to make a profit.
Dr. Jones asked how to respond to residents who might claim that GPH is making money on the O&M program. Mr. Lark said that they are closely monitoring revenues and expenses which are currently running “neck and neck” and are within $2,000 of each other Reviewer Note: At the November 19th GPH meeting, there was a discussion about the creation of an Associated Service Assistance Fund to be funded through late fees from the O&M program. This program will help residents who are at or below 200% of the poverty rate, meaning a family of four could earn no more than $65,000 a year to qualify for this program. The program will help residents remedy problems with their system. See LWVGeauga Observer Report for November 19th here.
Mr. Litke explained that differences between the accounts have been caused in part by clerical errors in expense coding. He said he and Mr. Lark are trying to keep track of and fix such errors and hopes that most will be corrected by the January meeting.
Referencing the Mortality and Morbidity Report regarding patients who had adverse reactions to Botulinum Toxin (for wrinkles) they had purchased online, Dr. Hendrickson said it was “mind boggling” that the toxin was available online, noting that just 200 units could be lethal. Dr. Jones stated the Ohio Board of Pharmacy and FDA have released fraudulent medication warnings on the drug. Mr. Litke said there had also been a recall for botulism in baby formula in the past week and there had been two unrelated cases in Geauga County.
Dr. Jones pointed out that the botulism problems can be traced back to med spas and similar violators who may be purchasing their medications through illegitimate sources and thus creating this risk.
Old Business – The following resolution was approved 4-0 with Dr. Jones abstaining:
5.01 Resolution 2025-39: Resolution of the Geauga Public Health Board of Health Setting Forth the Operation and Maintenance Program and Associated Service Assistance Fund, Second Reading
Mr. Litke reminded the Board that this fund is intended for GPH’s local public assistance program for low-income residents. Observer Note: See the LWV Observer Report for the November 19, 2025 Geauga Public Health Meeting for more information.
New Business
Ms. Taylor explained that the resolutions above cover Then and Now encumbrances opened to “clean up” the remaining 2025 invoices. She expects to have 10 to 12 more of these next month to close out 2025. Observer Note: See the LWV Geauga Observer Report on the December 1, 2025 Budget Commission Meeting for more information.
This resolution is tabled until the next meeting. Mr. Litke said he and Mrs. Roman will work together on potential revisions and invited interested Board members to email him their suggested edits.
Mr. Litke noted all meetings, except January, are scheduled for the third Wednesday of each month. January’s meeting is moved to the 28th since Mr. Litke will be on vacation during the third week of January. Meeting dates are:
January 28, 2026 May 20, 2026 September 16, 2026
February 18, 2026 June 17, 2026 October 21, 2026
March 18, 2026 July 15, 2026 November 18, 2026
April 15, 2026 August 19, 2026 December 16, 2026
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6.04 Permission to Allocate $25,000 for O&M Mailing Costs – Approved 4-0, with Dr. Jones abstaining - Mr. Litke explained they are required to send these notices certified mail. Observer Note: At the December 15, 2025 Budget Commission Meeting, the Budget Commissioners questioned GPH’s large annual expense in mailing costs and suggested GPH ask their Assistant Prosecuting Attorney if some notices could be emailed.
Mr. Lark explained the referrals are for commercial entities who have not paid their yearly fee. He said the list of businesses is probably smaller than the one the Board received as he is working with owners to prevent sending any complaints to the prosecutor’s office.
Dr. Jones Leaving Board
Before public comment, Mr. Litke noted Dr. Jones has chosen to leave the Board when her term expires at the end of March 2026. She said she has “thoroughly enjoyed” her time on the Board, especially last year. She explained that she has bi-weekly meetings at 5:00 pm which would cause her to miss half of the Board meetings going forward. Mr. Litke said they will post the position on the GPH Facebook page in early January, and the Health District Advisory Council (HDAC) will appoint a new Board member at their March meeting.
Citizens’ Remarks
A member of the public inquired how many compliance letters GPH sent out to its 40,000 Geauga County septic owners. Mr. Lark said they don’t send compliance letters but instead enroll owners in the O&M program. He explained that GPH expects to receive a service report for each septic system. After an extended exchange with Mr. Lark that clarified the resident’s septic type and the inspection and service requirements for it, the resident asked why homeowners were responsible for sampling. She said she had sent an email to GPH about this issue that had gone unanswered. She stated GPH had threatened legal action against her. Mr. Lark said he was unaware of the email and arranged to meet with the resident the next day to address her concerns.
Executive Session – No Executive Session
Adjourned – The Board adjourned at 6:21 pm.
Next Regular Meeting: The next two meetings are January 28, 2026 and February 18, 2026, both at 5:00 pm. All meetings are held at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B 167-168, Chardon, OH.
Observer: Rooney Moy
Editor: Gail Roussey
Reviewer: Sarah McGlone
Submission Date: December 22, 2025
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