Common Pleas Court Judges Question Current ADP Protocol
for Approval of Court IT Expenditures
ADP Board Meeting - June 11, 2026
Meeting Details: The Automatic Data Processing Board (ADP) held a Regular Meeting beginning at 1:00 pm on June 11, 2026 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. Members of the public may attend ADP meetings virtually via MS Teams by emailing an invitation request to Auditor’s Office Chief Operations Officer Pam McMahan at McMahan@geauga.oh.gov. 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:
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Auditor/Chief Administrator – Frank Antenucci for Charles Walder
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Clerk of Courts – Tammy McClintock for Sheila Bevington
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County Commissioner – Ralph Spidalieri
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County Engineer – Andy Haupt
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Board of Elections – Tyler Plants and Nora McGinnis
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County Prosecutor – Samanta Harris for Jim Flaiz
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Recorder – Celesta Mullins (absent)
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Sheriff – Scott Hildenbrand (absent)
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Treasurer – Chris Hitchcock (absent)
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Coroner – John Urbancic (absent)
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Common Pleas Court Judge - Vacant
ADP Staff Attendance:
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Zach McLeod - Director, DARC (virtual)
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Karen Murphy - Director, CARE (virtual)
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Andy Haines (virtual)
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Traci Rahimi (virtual)
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Ashley Serraglio - Senior Archives and Records Clerk (virtual)
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Madeline Simmons (virtual)
Reviewer Note: ADP restructured into three groups in 2025: Department of Advanced Technology and Applications (DATA), Department of Advanced Research & Cybersecurity (DARC) and Department of County Archives and Records Enterprise (CARE). More information on this restructuring is available in the March 4, 2025 ADP Observer Report.
Other Government Representatives:
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Amy Bevan - County Administrator
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Judge Matt Rambo - Court of Common Pleas
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Judge Carolyn Paschke - Court of Common Pleas
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Velta Moisio - IT Director, Court of Common Pleas (virtual)
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Pam McMahan - Chief Operations Officer, Auditor’s Office
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Rob Weigle - Maintenance Director
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Katie Taylor - Finance Director, Geauga County Public Health (virtual)
Others Present:
The meeting was called to order at 1:00 pm by Mr. Antenucci.
Minutes: Minutes from the January 26, 2026 special meeting; February 23, 2026 special meeting; March 2, 2026 emergency meeting; March 5, 2026 regular meeting and April 13, 2026 special meeting were all approved. Minutes, once approved and posted, are available here.
The Board took the following actions:
APPROVED - ADP equipment list from January to March 2026.
APPROVED - ADP purchases list from January to March 2026.
APPROVED - ADP CDW-G Crowdstrike 5 Year Renewal ($1,013,795) - The Board reviewed the proposed five-year renewal of the County's CrowdStrike Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and Extended Detection and Response (XDR) cybersecurity solution, which has been in use for the past four years. The renewal maintains the current level of service with no additional modules.
Mr. Antenucci reported that pricing for the product has increased approximately 11% over the past four years. Entering into a five-year agreement would lock in pricing at approximately $202,000 annually, for a total contract amount of $1,013,795, while generating an estimated $63,399 in savings over the contract term and avoiding future annual price increases.
Mr. Spidalieri asked: “Is there anything else that, that you've worked with or that other counties have worked with that… that is a little bit more economical… that has the same value…?” Mr. Antenucci explained that alternative products were evaluated and found to offer similar pricing, but CrowdStrike was selected because of its broader feature set, artificial intelligence capabilities, and strong integration with the County's environment. Mr. Antenucci emphasized that it remains the most important tool in the County's cybersecurity program.
The Board discussed the length of the proposed agreement, noting that technology evolves rapidly and questioning whether a shorter contract term would provide greater flexibility. Mr. Antenucci explained that cybersecurity software costs have continued to rise and are expected to increase further due to growing security threats. In addition to the immediate contract savings, the five-year agreement protects the County from future price increases.
He also noted that CrowdStrike is fully integrated into the County's network, making migration to another platform both costly and disruptive. Transitioning to a different solution would require significant implementation, labor, and potential downtime. CrowdStrike was described as one of the industry's leading cybersecurity platforms, widely used by Fortune 500 companies, and its advanced detection capabilities successfully protected the County during a recent multi-state phishing campaign by blocking threats before they reached the network.
He also confirmed that the annual cost is funded through the ADP budget. While participating townships and municipalities reimburse the County for user licensing, the core platform cost is not passed on to County departments.
Following discussion, Board members expressed confidence in the long-term value of the agreement, citing continued cost increases in the cybersecurity market, the stability of the existing platform and the risks associated with changing vendors.
APPROVED - ADP Knowbe4 Training Subscription ($55,010) - The Board reviewed the proposed three-year renewal of the KnowBe4 cybersecurity awareness and phishing protection platform. Mr. Antenucci explained that the County has used KnowBe4 for approximately 15 years and has historically renewed the service in two- or three-year terms.
KnowBe4 provides the County's required cybersecurity awareness training, helping maintain compliance with state requirements, and also includes phishing simulation and reporting capabilities. He noted that the platform integrates with Outlook through the phishing report button, allowing employees to report suspicious emails directly to the County's security team.
Mr. Antenucci described KnowBe4 as the County's third most important cybersecurity tool due to its role in employee training and phishing prevention. He also noted that the County is currently out of compliance with the state's 2025 cybersecurity training requirements because not all employees completed the required training during the previous year.
APPROVED - Common Pleas CivicPlus PDF Accessibility Service ($3,500) - Mr. Antenucci explained that this software will facilitate compliance by the Court’s website with ADA (American with Disabilities Act) requirements. It was conditionally approved at the April 13, 2026 special meeting subject to a security review by DARC. He confirmed that ADP has no security concerns with the product and said “I think it’s a good product.” Observer Note: See ‘Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA’ for more information.
APPROVED - Common Pleas CourtView Equivant Renewal ($40,477) - This action was approved and led to a discussion about the process to approve Common Pleas Court IT expenditures. See the summary of this below in Regular Business when the discussion continued.
APPROVED - Common Pleas Family Law Software Child Support Calculation ($2,977) - This was approved without discussion.
APPROVED - Water Resources Rockwell Automation Station Bundle ($5,600) - Mr. Antenucci explained that this technology was a replacement for the legacy Wonderware system, which has experienced ongoing reliability issues. He noted that Nick Gorris, Water Resources Director, has researched the replacement and determined that Rockwell is a better long-term solution despite known security concerns.
Mr. Antenucci advised the Board that Rockwell has had publicly disclosed cybersecurity vulnerabilities, including authentication and SQL (Structured Query Language) injection issues. Observer Note: SQL injection is a security vulnerability where attackers inject malicious SQL code into user inputs to manipulate a database. Because of these risks, approval was recommended only if the system remains ‘air-gapped’ or physically isolated from the County network. The product would operate independently, with no remote vendor access or direct connection to the County's network, limiting any potential cybersecurity incident to the Water Resources system itself.
Board members discussed whether the new software could interfere with existing cybersecurity protections, including CrowdStrike, and whether it posed risks similar to previous incidents involving Water Resources. Mr. Antenucci explained that the Rockwell product is a new implementation, not the software involved in past incidents, and that keeping it isolated would prevent it from impacting the broader County network.
The Board acknowledged that industrial control (SCADA - Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems have limited software options and expressed confidence in Water Resources' evaluation of the product. Mr. Antenucci emphasized that the department had performed appropriate due diligence and that the recommendation to approve the software was contingent upon maintaining the required air-gapped configuration and prohibiting remote vendor access.
Regular Business - In Regular Business the Board approved 3 additional items for the Common Pleas Court including Vista SG Imaging ($1,520), Mouse and Keyboard Combo X5 ($259) and Tyler Jury Manager SaaS Renewal ($25,533) that were submitted for approval the day before the meeting.
The conversation about the process to approve Common Pleas Court IT expenditures continued in Regular Business.
The Board discussed the approval process for technology purchases requested by the Court of Common Pleas, prompted by the renewal of the CourtView Justice Solutions software. Judges Rambo and Paschke questioned why court-related technology purchases, including routine renewals, require separate Board approval rather than being handled through the standard preliminary approval process used by other County departments.
Mr. Antenucci explained that the distinction is based on a perceived conflict between Ohio Revised Code provisions governing the ADP Board and judicial ethics rules concerning separation of powers. Because Common Pleas judges have a seat (currently unoccupied) on the ADP Board, there is concern that preliminary approval of court purchases could create a conflict of interest or become an issue during state audits. Observer Note: See the January 28, 2025 ADP Board Observer report for discussion of Court of Common Pleas Judge on Geauga County ADP Board. As a result, all Court of Common Pleas technology purchases are brought before the Board for formal approval, even when they are routine renewals or items that would otherwise qualify for preliminary approval.
Judges Rambo and Paschke questioned the consistency of the process, noting that similar purchases for the Clerk of Courts are handled differently despite using the same technology. They also expressed concern that requiring judges and court staff to attend meetings for routine renewals and small purchases creates unnecessary administrative burdens. Ms. Bevan commented that if purchases ultimately require Board ratification regardless, she did not understand why preliminary approval could not also apply to the courts.
The discussion concluded with a consensus that the current process lacks clarity and should be reviewed. Board members suggested requesting an opinion from the Prosecutor's Office or the Ohio Attorney General to clarify the legal requirements, and Ms. Bevan recommended developing a written policy outlining the approval process for court-related technology purchases. Mr. Antenucci emphasized that the current practice is intended to ensure clean state audits and avoid any appearance of conflicts until clearer legal guidance is available.
Public Comment - There was none.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:54 pm.
Next Meeting - The next scheduled meeting of the ADP Board is a Regular Meeting on September 10, 2026 at 1:00 pm.
Minutes when posted are available here: Meeting Minutes | Geauga County Automatic Data Processing
Virtual Meeting Information - Contact Pamela McMahan at PMcMahan@geauga.oh.gov.
Observer: Carol Benton
Editor & Reviewer: Sarah McGlone
Submitted: July 6, 2026
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