News / Articles

BOCC Discusses Preparations to Appear Before Budget Commission to Get 

Budget Commission Approval for 2027 County Budget

Board of County Commissioners Meeting - September 15, 2026 

Meeting Details: The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) met in Regular Session on Tuesday, September 15, 2026 at 9:30 am at Geauga County Office Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Room B303, Chardon, OH.  BOCC Meetings can be live streamed through the Geauga ADP Youtube channel and can be accessed here by scrolling down and clicking on the section for YouTube videos.  Recordings are available for the public. This meeting can be found here.  As of this report’s publication date, the video has been viewed 533 times. Notations in the report refer to the minute notation on the 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, revised on April 15, 2025, and again modified on September 30, 2025 and February 24, 2026.

Attendance: Present were Commissioners Carolyn Brakey, Ralph Spidalieri and James Dvorak. Also present were Commissioners’ Clerk Christine Blair, Finance Manager Adrian Gorton, Deputy County Administrator Mark Jimison, County Administrator Amy Bevan and Joseph Rice, Communications/Media Specialist.

County Representatives: Andy Haupt, Engineer; Shane Hajjar, Deputy Engineer; Traci A. Salkiewicz, Deputy Engineer; Linda Crombie, Director, Planning Department; Charles Tkatch, Project Manager, Maintenance; Nick Gorris, Director, Water Resources; Kathleen Hostutler, Human Resources Administrator; Megan Erickson, Benefits Specialist; Austin Rice, Director Emergency Management Agency (EMA); Brandon Reed, Deputy Director (EMA).

Others in Attendance: Geauga Maple Leaf reporter Allison Wilson; Chagrin Valley Times reporter Anastasia Nicholas; other members of the public and this LWVG Observer.

3:22 Min. Pledge of Allegiance and Prayer (Commissioner Dvorak) 

4:20 Min. Public Comment on Agenda Items - None

Minutes - There were no minutes submitted for approval.  Observer Note: Weekly LWVG Observer Reports for the BOCC are available online through September 15, 2026 for informational purposes but are not substitutes for approved minutes. Approved BOCC Minutes are posted online here through March 10, 2026. 

4:33 Min. Report of Financials - County Finance Manager Adrian Gorton received approval for the following:

• Appropriations transfer from the Commissioners’ Office to true up payroll accounts for the addition of a permanent part-time communications media specialist and a salary adjustment earlier this year for the Commissioner's clerk as well as an adjustment to the state sales tax expense account.

• Cash transfer from the General Fund to the Department of Emergency Services for their 2026 per capita subdivision receipts and the 2026 sales tax operational stipend including an additional request of $44,000 mentioned during their 2027 budget hearing.

• Formal contract Purchase Order from Maintenance to Warren Roofing for the safety center roof replacement project. 

• Vouchers 

  • $13,967.64 from ADP to Windstream Western Reserve for September phone services 

  • $125,612.25 cumulative total from Job and Family Services to multiple vendors for August residential services

The County Engineer’s Office received approval for the following: Observer Note: Mr. Hajjar noted after each resolution the estimated amount of the project and where the funds will come from - local (levy funds) or federal or state. In terms of State funding, two sources were mentioned including ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation) and “Public Works” which is from the Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) which come from voter approved bonds and the gas tax.  See more information here.

• to execute Resolution #26-139 to Improve Rapids Road (CH-0001, Sections D-F) in Burton and Troy Townships. $1.3 Million project - 5.6 miles; funded through $500,000 grant and loan of $150,000 from Ohio Public Works (OPWC)

• to execute Resolution #26-140 to Improve Aquilla Road (CH-0005, Section C) in Burton and Claridon Townships. $750,000 project; 2.6 miles; $250,000 grant from Ohio Public Works

• to execute Resolution #26-141 to Improve Burton-Windsor Road (CH-0014, Sections F-G) in Huntsburg Township. $750,000, 2.6 miles; local funding

• to execute Resolution #26-142 to Improve Woodin Road (CH-0025, Sections A-D) in Chardon and Hambden Townships. $1 Million Project, 3.5 miles, local funding

• to execute Resolution #26-143 to Improve Pettibone Road (CH-0607, Sections A-D) in Bainbridge Township.  Mr. Hajjar said they are wrapping up the Bridge project and that they had a $1 million federal grant supplemented by local funds.

• to execute Resolution #26-144 to Improve Various Sections of County Roads by Applying Pavement Markings for the Year 2027. Mr. Hajjar said they do these markings on a three-year rotation, except more frequently on roads traveled by Amish. 

Mr. Haupt confirmed that the Amish community contributes funds on a voluntary basis for road upkeep.  He said the fund has $100,000 in it now.  This is voluntary to make up for the fact that the Amish do not pay gas tax which funds a lot of projects.  Mr. Dvorak said that the Amish also contribute to Burton and some townships.

Mr. Hajjar also said that they do an assessment of “all 236 miles of roads every year and rank them based on condition, age, traffic, overall safety factors and have a five-year running program.“ 

Mr. Hajjar also mentioned “one other project on the map that is not in the resolutions is the Bainbridge Road Bridge project. It's a major grant-funded project through Ohio Public Works. That project has already received its funding as of July 1st of this year. It's a half a million dollar grant with a $150,000 loan on a $1.3 million bridge.  The resolution was already passed in January of this year….” 

• to approve the allocation of Municipal Road Funds in the amount of $120,000.00 for the Glen Valley Drive Concrete Road Repair project sponsored by the Village of Middlefield. This project is scheduled for construction in 2026 and will repair deteriorated concrete slabs at multiple locations on Glen Valley Drive. The Engineer’s APA (Assistant Prosecuting Attorney) reviewed the contract and Middlefield will submit it to the Commissioners.  

• to certify to the County Auditor the use of $120,000.00 from the Municipal Road Fund for the Glen Valley Drive Concrete Road Repair project in the Village of Middlefield, pursuant to O.R.C. 4504.04. Mrs. Brakey acknowledged that a lot of work went into coordinating this project.

18:45 Min. The Planning Commission received approval to execute the Final Plat for Lake Lucerne Subdivision No. 1 Block D, Replat of Sublot 11 and half of Sublot 10, in Bainbridge Township.  Ms. Crombie said that the Planning Commission approved the Final Plat at their September meeting.  

19:45 Min. The Maintenance Department received approval to Re-Advertise for Statements of Qualifications from design professionals to serve as Criteria Engineer for the Geauga County Safety Center Security Console Upgrade project. The deadline for submissions will be 4:00 p.m. on Friday, October 16, 2026. Notice of this Request for Statement of Qualifications will be advertised on September 18, 2026, September 25, 2026, and on the County website. Mr. Tkach explained this project and said that the original console was analog and they need to switch to digital so that all systems can communicate with each other.  They need a specialized design criteria firm to do the initial work.  He said that this firm would not be actually doing the work, but that a criteria engineer sets the criteria for how to select the design build firm.  Mr. Tkach said that he expects there will be someone to bid this time.

24:25 Min. The Department of Water Resources received approval to authorize Ralph Spidalieri, authorized representative to execute the Request for Partial Payment #15 for Shook Construction Company for the McFarland Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvements Project in the amount of $1,169,338.98 and the Ohio Water Development Authority (OWDA) Contractor’s Estimate, and the OWDA Fund Payment Request #15 (loan #11217) in the amount of $1,169,338.98.  Mr. Gorris said that there are only about eight months left on this project: “We’re almost done with all of our excavation work. We're beginning to prep the site for the area inside the security fence. We're hoping to have that actually paved before the end of this year, which will allow the interior trades to track or get to all of the facilities without mucking up the entire joint.” 

26:41 Min. The Commissioners’ Office received approval for the following:

• to designate Kathleen Hostutler, Human Resources Administrator, as the voting representative for Geauga County at the 2026 CORSA (County Risk Sharing Authority) Annual meeting on September 18, 2026.

• to appoint Richard Mlakar, Jr., to serve on the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board for a four-year term, effective September 15, 2026.

• to execute Resolution #26-145 Establishing the Location and Time to Reconvene the Regular Meeting of the Board of County Commissioners on September 29, 2026, at 2:30 p.m. for the unveiling of Levi Lane.

• to amend the motion from September 10, 2026 to include new plans, to read: accept and approve the 2027 Geauga County CEBCO/Anthem Healthcare 1F and 1C Plan (Elected Officials), Anthem RX Prescription and Delta Dental Renewal Plan and Rates, and to accept and approve the CEBCO/ Anthem Healthcare HSA Plan E1 and Vision Benefit Plan 8 Two Tier, to be effective January 1, 2027 and further execute the revised CEBCO Rate Acceptance Form to be effective January 1, 2027.  

It was clarified that this was a minor wording change.  Mrs. Brakey said that the new plans are more responsive to what employees wanted.  Mr. Dvorak commended Ms. Erickson.

• to rescind the motion from September 10, 2026, that read: accept and approve the 2027 Geauga County CEBCO / Anthem HSA Plan E1 and Vision Benefit Plan 8, Two-Tier to be effective January 1, 2027.

31:28 Min. Board Discussion – Budget Commission return / recap

Ms. Bevan referenced the recent Budget Commission decision to table the County Budget.  Observer Note: See the LWVG Observer Report for the September 14, 2026 Budget Commission meeting here.  Ms. Bevan said that the next Budget Commission would be September 21, 2026 and she recommended that all Commissioners attend that meeting.  Observer Note:  The Budget Commission has since cancelled that meeting and the BOCC cancelled their Special Meeting that they had scheduled to coincide with the Budget Commission meeting.  The next scheduled Budget Commission meeting is September 28, 2026 at 10 am.  

Ms. Bevan reviewed the Budget Commission’s discussion, including their statements regarding the Commissioners’ $750,000 award to the Geauga Fair (See LWVG report for September 3, 2026 here) and the approval of increased fees for the Dog Warden.  Ms. Bevan explained the approach of the staff to budget decisions.  She said they had developed a five-year facility plan and had presented to the BOCC several ways to give money back to the taxpayers, including implementing HB 96 (expansion of Homestead rebate), which she said was a no vote, and levy suppression, which the Board did approve. Observer Note:  The BOCC voted to suppress a $1.66 Million Children’s Service levy on August 25, 2026.  See LWVG Observer report here.

Mrs. Brakey commented on the Budget Commission's objection to raising the fees for the Dog Warden by saying that this was only a $40,000 increase and confirming that the County contributes to the Dog Warden through the General Fund.

Mr. Dvorak said that Mr. Flaiz was not present at the Budget Hearing on September 14 and that could have made the difference in the approval process. Reviewer Note: Mr. Flaiz was unable to attend the meeting at the last minute due to a family emergency.

Mrs. Brakey asked Mr. Gorton if the county was in a financial position to be able to partially suppress another levy, about $400,000, to make the total levy suppression equal to about $2 million.  

Mr. Gorton said, “So we obviously had a $2.2 million ending balance at the end of 2027 prior to the suppression of the $1.6 million Children’s Services Levy. That took that down to $600,000. Now we have additional requests that are probably going to take up a couple hundred thousand of that. Now we're down to $400,000. And my question is ‘what does the Budget Commission want?’ Do they want us to partially suppress a levy for that $400,000, or do they want to see some sort of ending balance instead of us fully appropriating everything? And that's where I'm confused because I don't know what they want exactly. We could do either one, right? . . . I do like to have some cushion there a little bit, because it's  illegal for us to overappropriate resources in a fund. We can't have a negative balance. It's against the law.”

Mr. Gorton reminded the Commissioners that the Budget Commission is looking at the 2027 budget and the $750,000 for the Fair will be appropriated in 2026.

Mrs. Brakey asked, “Okay. So realistically, even with that additional $750,000, we should have enough money at the end of the year to suppress an additional levy to give taxpayers more relief. But your concern is more of how that looks on paper. Would that be a correct assessment?”

Mr. Gorton said, yes.

Mrs. Brakey said that she would be in favor of additional suppression (of a levy) if the County could “afford it.”  She confirmed her recommendation of another $400,000 suppression.

Mr. Gorton said that in the past they had partially suppressed the other Children’s Services Levy.  They would need to “run the numbers” to get to that amount.  

Mr. Spidalieri confirmed that this was another reduction.  He objected to this as he felt that the money would be better spent on the Geauga Fair project.  He said they still would not be able to complete the project for that amount. He said, “let's look at the impact. I mean, my thought on the whole Fair project with that expo building is that that's a huge shot in the arm for Geauga County for economic development, bringing opportunities of additional revenue into the communities when they have events there. There's just so many good positive things that that does that. . . you (probably) can't go and get a cup of coffee with what you're going to see of savings on suppressing another levy….”

Mr. Gorton spoke again about where the $750,000 for the Fair would be coming from.  He said, “my initial look at these things in order to do the $750,000 technically what I'm going to have to do is I'm going to have to reduce the amount of building improvement money that I transfer from the general fund into the 800 megahertz project that the Sheriff has that's … probably going to be $7 million in a couple years and then there's the old courthouse and its renovation. So, those are two things that I'm probably gonna have to squirrel away $5 million each year just to maybe get those projects started. And then there's also the regular building maintenance that we do, which I had kind of committed that we could probably, prior to those two projects coming to light, set aside $2.5 million every year for. So really, if we're going to do the $750,000 it's going to be coming out of some of that building improvement or the future projects money that I was looking to transfer.”

Mrs. Brakey acknowledged that the tax suppression would not make much of a difference.  Mr. Gorton said that the average property owner might see a $50 reduction in their taxes from the levy suppression. Mrs. Brakey continued, “But my goal is to get us to yes on our budget getting approved by the Budget Commission. And I don't think that giving additional money to the Fair is going to get us to yes.”

Mr. Spidalieri said, “You know, so at the end of the day, I'm not going to the Budget Commission meeting on Monday. We did a good job presenting and let them disapprove it because it's going to affect everybody because nobody's getting paid. So if that's what they want to do, let them do that.”

Mrs. Brakey said that she thought the whole BOCC Board and staff should go together to the Budget Commission meeting.

Mr. Spidalieri said, “Good luck with that because I'm not going to be there and I would recommend these guys not be there either.” Observer Note: Mr. Spidalieri appeared to be referencing the staff (Mr. Gorton and Ms. Bevan).  See video at 55:26 Min and following for more information.

Mr. Gorton said, “I probably did say some things that I shouldn't have said in that meeting in particular regarding Auditor Walder and I apologize to the Budget Commission and their staff and I've already apologized to all of you.”

Mr. Gorton also said, “maximizing the return to the taxpayers would probably go a long way doing an additional calculation for $400,000 worth of suppression….”  He also thought that if Prosecutor Flaiz was there it would be helpful.

Mrs. Brakey said she thought they should have the additional levy suppression “teed up” and ready to go.

Resolution for Special Meeting: BOCC approved the resolution for a special meeting of the Board of County Commissioners to attend the Budget Commission regular meeting to be held on September 21, 2026 that will begin at 10:00 am. This will include continued discussions with the Budget Commission of the 2027 Geauga County tax budget and provide for any regular business decisions necessary by the board at that time. Observer Note:  As stated above, this special meeting was cancelled when the Budget Commission cancelled their September 21 meeting.

1:04:09 Min. Public Comment 

This LWVG Observer asked the source of the money in the OPW (Ohio Public Works) and ODOT funds.  Mrs. Brakey said that ODOT funds come from the gas tax and she surmised (but wasn’t entirely sure) that OPW funds came from taxpayer-approved measures. Observer Note:  This Observer verified that OPW funds are from two sources: “The State Capital Improvement Program (SCIP) was created in 1987 and renewed in 1995, 2005 and 2014 by (voter approved) amendments creating Sections 2k, 2m, 2p and 2s, Article VIII of the Ohio Constitution. These Constitutional provisions allow the State to use its general revenues as debt support to issue general obligation bonds up to $175 million in fiscal years 2017 to 2021 and $200 million in fiscal years 2022 to 2026. Eligible projects are for improvements to roads, bridges, culverts, water supply systems, wastewater systems, storm water collection systems, and solid waste disposal facilities. Eligible applicants are counties, cities, villages, townships, and water and sanitary districts (ORC 6119 or 6117) who competitively bid the work.”  The second source is from the Local Transportation Improvement Program. This “was created by the legislature in 1989. The OPWC currently receives less than one penny of the annual gasoline tax receipts (approximately $61 million).” See more information here.

An individual from South Russell asked about NOACA (Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency) and when the Executive Director of NOACA would be attending a BOCC meeting.  None of the Commissioners offered a response.

Another individual offered an opinion to Mr. Spidalieri that it would be beneficial if he attended the upcoming Budget Commission meeting.

1:10:08 Min. Executive Session - The Commissioners’ Office received approval at 10:36 am to move into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing the employment and compensation of public employees, pursuant to O.R.C. 121.22 (G)(1).  The Commissioners were joined by Ms. Bevan, Mr. Jimison, Mr. Austin Rice and Ms. Hostutler.

1:44:23 Min. Return from Executive Session at 11:11 am with the following action:

Mrs. Brakey amended Ms. Hostutler’s motion and said that the Board cannot take action in Executive Session. The Board then approved the requested action, which was to waive “the 200 hour maximum vacation for an employee in EMA for the period of August 2nd, 2026, payroll number 17 through November 7th, 2026, payroll number 23 due to leave conditions.”

1:45:20 Min. Executive Session - At 11:12 am The Commissioners’ Office received approval to move into Executive Session for the purpose of preparing for, conducting, or reviewing negotiations or bargaining sessions with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment, pursuant to O.R.C. 121.22 (G)(4).  They were joined by Mr. Jimison, Ms. Bevan, Nick Gorris and Mr. Gorton.

2:31:06 Min. Return from Executive Session at 11:27 am with the following action:

Commissioners approved a resolution to engage outside counsel for the pending labor relations to help advise the board.

Ms. Anastasia Nicholas, a reporter from the Chagrin Valley Times, asked if the discussion had been about ADP.

Mr. Dvorak responded that it was confidential.  He then added, “more to come in weeks to come.”

Adjournment at approximately noon

Next Meeting: The next Regular meeting will be on Thursday, September 24, 2026 at the Geauga County Office Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Room B303, Chardon, OH.  This meeting was postponed from the normal Tuesday meeting due to a scheduled Perry Nuclear Power Plant drill.

Observer: Gail Roussey

Editor: Rooney Moy

Reviewer: Carol Benton and Sarah McGlone

Date Submitted: September 20, 2026

The League of Women Voters Geauga is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. They do not support or oppose individual candidates or parties. Learn more about the LWVG at www.lwvgeauga.org.