GPH Board Acknowledges Ashley Jones for Her Service During Her Final Board Meeting
Geauga Public Health (GPH) – February 18, 2026
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 January 28, 2026. The meeting began at 5:01 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
Others Present: Four members of the public, Russell Township Trustee Kristina Port, Geauga Maple Leaf reporter Allison Wilson, and this LWVG Observer were present.
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 – Minutes of the Regular Meeting January 28,2026, were approved unanimously. The minutes are available here.
Health District Staff Reports
Observer Note: These reports are available with the Agenda on the Geauga Public Health (GPH) website. See February Agenda here. Scroll through the Agenda to see the written reports.
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Administrator’s Report - Mr. Litke said there was nothing additional to report. Dr. Jones asked a few questions to clarify terminology in the financial statements, saying that it seemed that revenue was overestimated, not underestimated as stated. It was explained that there are maintenance receipts from last month that are still coming in.
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Health Commissioner’s Report – Mr. Litke stated there was nothing to add other than their Nursing Director resigned and they have worked to replace the position. He explained it is a hard position to maintain because it is a frustrating role; however, they had someone else, Heather DiCioccio, who was in that role and has been willing to step into the position. Heather has 10 years management experience and pediatric experience, which will help with the clinics.
Old Business - No Old Business
New Business
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6.01.01 Financial Reports, Resolution 26-02-06-01-01 Agenda states: It is recommended that the Financial Reports to approve payment of bills, as listed in the recapitulation sheets attached to these minutes, be adopted. - Approved Unanimously
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6.01.02 Establish Revenue & Expense Line Items, Resolution 26-02-06-01-02 Agenda states: It is recommended that Resolution 26-02-06-01-02 to establish revenue and expense line items. This will be utilized to properly account for funds identified as prior year adjustments, be adopted. - Approved Unanimously
During this time, Russell Township Trustee Kristina Port, who was sitting in the audience, raised her hand with a question. Dr. Jones advised her that there was a portion of the agenda in which citizens could remark and the Board did not take comments or questions during this part of the agenda. Ms. Port stood up and stated that she had procedural questions about the way the Board was handling the resolution approvals. Ms. Jones advised that for this portion of the meeting they were handling the procedures correctly and Ms. Port was welcome to comment during the Citizen’s Remarks section of the agenda.
Ms. Taylor said that they were moving money into specific line items for contract services, materials/supplies and appropriate funds to purchase a few vehicles. Dr. Jones requested that, in the future, whenever money is transferred from one account to another, they be provided with the remaining balance in the originating account after the transfer. Ms. Taylor said that was no problem to do.
Reviewer Note: The Budget was not part of the attachments in the Agenda. The GPH Budget will be presented and approved by HDAC on March 11th, so it will become available to the public at the HDAC meeting.
- Approved Unanimously.
Ms. Taylor noted everything is consistent with the revenues. There was a question about what they do if revenue increases. Mr. Litke said that if revenues increase, they reduce fees because their goal is to cover costs, not generate dollars from the public. They are not planning any increases for 5 years, which requires them to plan ahead when budgeting. He prefers to have consistency, but knows they have to have a larger budget up front to cover the 5-10 year plans. He gave the example that if a grant decreases or disappears or if the property tax bill goes through and they lose money, GPH needs to have money to cover costs. If any of those things change, it impacts everything on the budget. Observer Note: A citizen’s committee is leading a petition drive to place on the November 2026 ballot an amendment to the Ohio Constitution to ban real property taxes. Such a ban could dramatically affect funding for public entities. For more information, see here.
There was a question about the impact on GPH’s budget if the bill on property tax passes. Mr. Litke affirmed that it would impact their budgets, if there were no more property tax revenue, GPH would lose approximately $650,000 from the state and county. That money supports mandated services that are not funded by fees, such as: nursing programs, mental health education programs, cars, etc. He acknowledged that the GPH department “plays” with other agencies like the Road Department and police that also need money to take care of roads or answer house break in calls. He noted that if property taxes change, all the agencies will have to adjust in order to provide services.
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6.03 Resolution-Permission to Submit Opioid Settlement Funds Grant, $20,000 Permission is hereby requested from the Board of Health to submit to the Geauga County Board of Mental Funding is available to support evidence-based and community-driven strategies that prevent opioid misuse, reduce overdose deaths, expand access to treatment and recovery supports, and address the broader impacts of the opioid epidemic in alignment with state settlement requirements and identified local needs. Health and Recovery Services for an Opioid Settlement Funds grant for $20,000 to support the drug overdose death reviews and social media prevention efforts.- Approved Unanimously. It was noted that the grant is probably a one-time grant that can’t be applied for again.
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6.04 Resolution Authorizing Dan Lark, Administrator, to Apply for, Accept, and Enter into a Water Pollution Control Loan Fund Agreement on Behalf of Geauga Public Health of Geauga County for the Repair and Replacement of Home Sewage Treatment Systems. - Approved Unanimously.
This is to accept a $150,000 grant GPH was just awarded from the EPA.
Observer Notes: Observer did not see this on the agenda.
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6.06 Resolution to authorize a warrant to payment of $216,089.82 to Lake County General Health. - Approved Unanimously. Observer Note: Follow up clarification email was sent to Ms. Taylor about this agenda item. Ms. Taylor’s response was as follows: “Resolution 2026-02, presented under section 6.05 of the Board agenda, as well as Resolution #2026-03 under section 6.06, authorized the opening of two (2) Then & Now encumbrances for payment of invoices to Lake County Health District. These encumbrances will cover the payment of invoices to Lake County for July through December 2025 payroll. Paperwork will be submitted to the County Auditor to formally request the Then & Now encumbrances be opened. Once opened, the invoices will be sent to the Auditor to be processed for payment. We have a few smaller invoices outstanding with Lake County for miscellaneous items such as office supplies and postage that will be paid in the near future. As far as the Cross Jurisdictional Agreement payments, this should get us caught up.”
Citizens’ Remarks
Before opening the floor to comments, Ms. Jones explained that this session is allotted 20 minutes, unless the Board moves to extend the time. She said speakers will have 2 minutes to comment and ask questions. The Board will not answer questions before having an opportunity to investigate responses following the meeting. She noted that this is not a press conference where answers should be expected on the spot.
A citizen confirmed that the new Board Member (to replace Dr. Jones) will be appointed at the next board meeting on March 18. Reviewer Note: Geauga Public Health Board members are appointed by HDAC, Health District Advisory Council. This group is composed of representatives from townships, cities and villages that receive services from the GPH. Their meeting is scheduled for March 11 at 7:00 pm at the County Office Building on Ravenwood Drive. See the March 12, 2025 LWVG Observer report for details here. She said she was informed that the date should be the 11th. The citizen then asked where the resumes for the board member candidates could be located for review. Mr. Litke said Ms. Sutter will have them and offered to give her his email address and the citizen said she may already have it. Reviewer Note: It is not clear if the HDAC screening committee is required to share the resumes with the public, although the public can attend this public meeting.
The second citizen, Russell Township Trustee Kristina Port, commented on meeting procedures. She noted that procedurally there should be an introduction, or roll call, as observers had no way of knowing who all the board members were. She said she was also confused on motion procedures versus resolutions that should resolve in a roll call. She commented that the resolutions were being signed off on by documents in individual folders and the public could not see who was signing for aye or nay. She said she is the new delegate for HDAC and she was unclear if she should have notified them as she received no supplemental materials to review prior to the meeting. She reiterated she was just making comments for streamlining the meetings. Mr. Litke advised that the Health District Advisory Council (HDAC) is not part of GPH and they create their own agenda which does not come from GPH and reiterated that GPH does not get notice of any changes. Ms. Port thanked him for his clarification. She went over her 2 minutes, but they allowed her to continue with another question about a $100 check regarding policy, but did not specify what the $100 was for. Mr. Litke offered to meet with her afterwards to clarify what she was asking.
Executive Session – None
Adjourned – The meeting adjourned at 5:48 pm.
Next Regular Meeting: March 18, 2026, at 5:00 pm. All meetings are held at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B 167-168, Chardon, OH.
Observer: Wendy Landry
Editor: Rooney Moy
Reviewer: Gail Roussey
Submission Date: February 19, 2026
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