GPH Has Only 100 Hours of Nursing Funding Left for 2026
Due to Healthcare Demands Required for Measles Outbreak
Geauga Public Health (GPH) Regular Meeting – September 16, 2026
Meeting Details: The GPH Board met in Regular Session at the Geauga County Administration Building,
12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B167-B168, Chardon, OH, on September 16, 2026. The meeting began at 5:00 pm. This meeting was 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 for this meeting 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:
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Dr. Mark Hendrickson, President
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Christine Sutter, President Pro Tempore
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Melissa DeBoth
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Lynn Roman (absent)
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Daniel Green, Jr. (absent)
Staff Attendance:
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Adam Litke, Health Commissioner (absent)
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Dan Lark, Administrator and Director of Environmental Health
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Katie Taylor, Finance Director
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Heather DiCioccio, Director of Nursing
Others Present: Geauga Maple Leaf Report Allison Wilson and two LWVG Observers 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. The hearing was open to the public.
Minutes - The Board approved the Minutes from the Regular Meeting August 13, 2026 and the Joint Special Meeting which followed the Regular meeting on August 13, 2026, without edits.
Health District Staff Reports
Observer Note: These reports are available with the agenda on the GPH website. See September agenda here. Scroll through the agenda to see the written reports
Population Health Report – Ms. DiCioccio, Nursing Director, reported that she has been actively working on the measles outbreak but has been informed by Mr. Litke that she is “required to scale back on my efforts because we don’t have enough funding to keep me working on it.” She asked for more information about what the request truly means and expressed uncertainty about “what questions to ask and actions to take.” She praised fellow nurse Melissa Kimbrough and the UH nurses for their hard work at the measles vaccination clinics.
Mr. Lark said his “educated guess” is the issue is with the amount of funding allocated for the Director of Nursing in the cross jurisdictional agreement. He didn’t know the budget’s status but said they would have to adjust the contract in order to make a change.
Ms. DiCioccio said she and Ms. Kimbrough have been putting in a lot of overtime trying to manage the measles outbreak, and she had only 100 hours of funding left for the rest of the year to support nursing efforts in Geauga County. Mr. Lark said he would contact Mr. Litke for clarification. Reviewer Note: In a Geauga Maple Leaf article published September 24, 2026, Mr. Litke indicated that the turnout for measles vaccination clinics was slowing. He was quoted as saying the following regarding the hours of nursing funding remaining: “It should be plenty of hours through the rest of the year.” Read the article here, though it may be behind a paywall for some readers.
Ms. DiCioccio talked about the clinic work they have done and plans for future clinics. She said she has been going out and swabbing people to prevent them from going into ambulatory offices and further exposing unvaccinated people. She said they are working closely with community health providers such as Angels to Amish and primary care physician Dr. Siniti.
Mrs. DeBoth asked what kind of timeframe the remaining 100 hours allows for, since Ms. DiCioccio is already doing overtime. Ms. DiCioccio responded, “it doesn’t give me much.” She said she hasn’t yet logged some of her hours for the last couple of weeks.
Dr. Hendrickson commended the nursing staff’s response to the outbreak, saying “you all’s response to the vaccines and administration has been absolutely incredible” and noted Geauga is near the top of the county list for measles cases. Ms. DiCioccio replied that they have given more vaccines since July 20 than they had all of last year, noting that 575 people received their initial MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine at the clinics they’ve held in the last 6 to 8 weeks and that didn’t count any of the hospital or ambulatory office numbers.
Ms. DiCioccio expressed concern about what would happen if she weren’t able to support Ms. Kimbrough at the clinics. Dr. Hendrickson volunteered to assist at the clinics and said he would get that organized.
Ms. DiCioccio acknowledged that using volunteers and nursing and EMT students to help had been suggested but noted that these helpers require a lot of oversight and can also be difficult to schedule.
Mrs. DeBoth agreed that that doesn’t fix the immediate problem and that 100 hours of funding left for the year will leave a gap in care.
Ms. DiCioccio pointed to a number of health challenges both Lake and Geauga County are facing, saying they just can’t keep up despite moving staff around. She noted that GPH does not have a community mental health (CMH) nurse, though there are people calling for CMH help. She stated they are “not allowed to touch Geauga County residents for CMH.” Observer Note: In a discussion about GPH’s computer databases later in the meeting, Ms. DiCioccio stated that GPH’s current database is too outdated to document CMH services they might provide for Geauga residents.
Mr. Lark proposed meeting with Ms. DiCioccio in the next few days to plan out the rest of the year, including target numbers for clinics.
Get Vaccinated Ohio Grant – Ms. DiCioccio said their Get Vaccinated Ohio grant is on hold because of measles outbreak needs, and they have multiple deliverables due at the end of September. She said the state is aware of their inability to look at the grant because of the lack of human resources.
There was discussion about the benefits of adopting eClinicalWorks, a software system used by many Ohio counties, including Lake. A consortium helps manage the system, providing centralized IT support in exchange for a percentage of billing. Ms. DiCioccio said the system allows participating agencies to share information when residents move between counties.
All agreed it would be very beneficial for Geauga County to use the same system and noted that it could facilitate cross-county staffing, including allowing Lake County’s part-time CMH nurse to work in Geauga and potentially develop a caseload that can make the case for Geauga hiring their own CMH nurse. GPH’s current software is too outdated to correctly document CMH staff work. Mr. Lark said they are almost ready to launch Healthspace which is more of an environmental health center program.
Ms. DiCioccio reported they have gotten flu and shingles shots in but have no updates on when COVID vaccines will be released for the current year. They received signed standing orders that morning that authorize them to give the vaccines. She said they are already getting calls from people who want flu shots.
Environmental Health Report – Mr. Lark reported they will hold their annual joint event with the Geauga Soil and Water Conservation District at the Geauga Public Library. The event is scheduled for September 22 from 6:00pm to 7:30pm. He said 60-70 people usually attend to hear a presentation and ask questions about septic systems.
Finance Report – Ms. Taylor said she had nothing to add to the report, which states, “The Geauga 2023 and 2024 audit remains in progress. All requested documentation has been submitted and awaiting completion of the State Auditor’s review.” The report further states, “We continue to work with the Geauga County Auditor’s Office to process outstanding payments to the Lake County General Health District.”
Dr. Hendrickson asked why the “percent of budget received” for “Other Revenue, Other Revenue” was 350.66%. Ms. Taylor explained there are several different Other Revenue line items and that earlier in the year, some Other Revenue was being placed in one or the other of those line items. She said going forward in 2027, those funds should be evened out. She was not sure of what the receipts, $66,625 YTD, were for and offered to provide a breakdown.
Health Commissioner’s Report – Mr. Lark reported in Mr. Litke’s absence and said he had nothing to add to his report. He said discussions about accreditation are ongoing but had no update from last meeting. Dr. Hendrickson noted that Mr. Litke was invited to present at the upcoming Ohio Association of Boards of Health meeting.
Old Business -
Discussion on Accreditation – Dr. Hendrickson said they are in the process of making a decision and waiting for a list of pros and cons from Mr. Litke. Reviewer Note: At the July 15, 2026 meeting, Mr. Litke said that a decision on Accreditation needed to be made in 2-3 months.
New Business -
Mrs. DeBoth asked if the multiple payments for lab billings to Geauga County Water Resources were related to the Operations & Maintenance (O&M) program. Mr. Lark said the payments were for a combination of well water samples and O&M samples.
In response to questions from Mrs. DeBoth, Ms. Taylor explained that Dex Imaging Equipment payment was for the office copier. The Geauga County ADP Board invoices GPH quarterly; the amount varies based on how much IT service is provided. Ms. Taylor said she reviewed ADP costs for the last few years and found they paid between $15,000-$20,000 annually for service.
Ms. Taylor reported that their recent hearing with the Budget Commission went extremely well, with the Commission passing GPH’s 2027 budget. She stated she has been in communication with the Auditor’s office and expects to meet with them soon to resolve the outstanding Cross-Jurisdictional Agreement invoices which presently total approximately $452,000. Observer Note: See the LWVG Observer Report on the June 17, 2026 GPH meeting and the LWVG Observer Report on the Budget Commission's 2027 Budget Hearings (pages 49-53) for more information.
Ms. Taylor asked the Board to consider getting Geauga County email addresses to facilitate email communication. She said with the Board not being on the network, sending documents to them can be challenging. She did not think the cost would be prohibitive.
Ms. Taylor alerted the Board that ADP staff recently voted to unionize. She said it is beneficial for GPH as she believed it will quiet talk about ADP being defunded, which had been proposed by County Commissioner Ralph Spidalieri last year. Observer Note: See the LWVG Observer Report on the December 9, 2025 Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting for more information. She pointed out that IT services with an outside contractor would undoubtedly be more than what they pay now and have a “pretty big impact” on their budget.
Ms. Taylor said she thought it would be beneficial for a representative from the Auditor’s Office or ADP to attend a meeting to discuss how the new union contract may impact GPH. She commented that they could also update the Board on the status of the cross-jurisdictional agreement invoices. The Board agreed. Ms. Taylor said she will reach out to the Auditor or ADP to come to the October meeting.
Mr. Lark explained that these are homeowners in the O&M program who have numerous systems that aren’t working and are creating a public health nuisance. He stated that GPH has gone through their notification process of letters, phone calls and visits to the home, without the problem being resolved. He said the Prosecutor’s Office will start the process with a letter, which usually prompts homeowner action.
He noted that most of the cases have been going on for at least 45 days. He and his staff have tried to reduce the case list to minimize the extra work the process requires. Mr. Lark said they will work with homeowners who can’t afford to make repairs. Observer Note: GPH offers income-based financial assistance through the Ohio EPA Water Pollution Control Loan Fund (WPCLF) to help cover septic repair or replacement costs. See more information here.
Mr. Lark explained that they are required to perform an annual cost analysis of the fees of the environmental health division to determine if they are based on actual expenses by evaluating employee time studies and other expenses. He said some of the current fees are higher than the division’s actual costs, and pointed to reductions in registration fees, which have been cut for a consecutive third year. He stated that proposed variance request fees have been reduced substantially, and noted they had felt the fees had been unnecessarily high. Proposed temporary tattoo event and tattoo pre-opening inspection fees were increased to reflect actual expenses.
Mr. Lark said they plan to have a separate public hearing on the fee changes to allow for public comment which is new this year. It will be held at the beginning of the next Board meeting. Next week, GPH will send out about 1,000 meeting notices to all those affected by the fees. He said this type of meeting does not usually have a large turnout. Observer Note: See meeting agenda for details on proposed fee changes.
Mr. Lark said that the fees they charge for Food Service and Food Establishment programs are based on a “very rigid spreadsheet” from the state and closely follow the state-mandated formulas. For bookkeeping purposes, they try to keep the fees divisible by four to make late fee payments—which by law must be 25% of the fee—an “easy round number.” He noted that the vending fee, which is increasing from $6.45 to $6.62, by law may only be increased by the increase of the consumer price index.
The mobile food truck category has been broken out into 2 classifications, high risk and low risk. Low risk includes “non-hazardous” foods, such as cotton candy. High risk includes trucks serving cooked food and/or foods that need to be refrigerated.
Mr. Lark said this is a long-standing nuisance property involving a condominium unit that is causing odors and unsanitary conditions affecting neighboring units. The Prosecutor’s Office explored whether Bainbridge Township could use ORC 505.86, that addresses removal, repair or securance of insecure, unsafe buildings, to clean up the property and place the costs as a lien, but Bainbridge is not willing to take action. He stated a permanent injunction is another option, but the Prosecutor said that process could take up to a year. Observer Note: See the LWVG Observer Report on the May 13, 2026 GPH meeting for more information on the property.
Mr. Lark said ORC 3707.01 may allow the Board of Health to arrange for the property to be cleaned and place a lien on the property (potentially $10,000 to $15,000) to be recovered through taxes. ORC 3707.01 gives local boards of health the power to abate nuisances and inspect, regulate, or condemn properties that threaten public health and safety. He presented this approach as a possible “last effort” for addressing this health nuisance and asked whether the Board would consider using it. Mr. Lark said he recognized taking this action was a big step and would set a precedent. He stated he wasn’t aware of any other health department taking this action.
Board members raised questions about the logistics, including where the occupant would stay during the cleanup, whether the Health Department would be responsible for relocation costs, and what would happen if the occupant returned and the conditions recurred. Mr. Lark said they are still waiting for a legal response to these issues. The Board also noted that the situation appears to involve mental health issues rather than contamination or pollution.
The discussion also noted that the condominium’s homeowner’s association (HOA) has been involved and has successfully sued the property owner, raising the question of what additional responsibility the HOA should have in addressing the problem.
Mr. Lark suggested the issue be tabled until next month’s meeting when they expect to have more information from the Prosecutor’s Office and from a mental evaluation of the homeowner.
Citizen’s Remarks -
One member of the public asked how many properties GPH planned to take legal action against for septic system permit non-compliance. Mr. Lark said 12 properties were on their list.
Adjournment – 5:42 pm
More Information and Board minutes can be found here: Geauga Public Health The next Board meeting is scheduled for October 21 at 5 pm.
Observers: Rooney Moy and Tricia Hester
Editor: Gail Roussey
Reviewer: Sarah McGlone
Submission Date: September 23, 2026
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