Geauga County Board of Health – September 26, 2022
Meeting held on September 26, 2022 at 5 pm. Geauga County Automated Data Processing (ADP) did not provide a recording. Agenda can be found here 2022 September 26 Agenda Public.pdf.
Board members:
Staff in attendance included
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Dr. Jeffrey Cameron - Medical Director/Health Commissioner
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Adam Litke - Administrator
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Alta Wendell - Administration Director, Absent
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Carol Straniero - Population Health Director, Absent
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Daniel Lark, Interim Environmental Health Director
County Commissioner in attendance: N/A
OPENING SESSION
INFORMATION SESSION
Environmental Health Update (presented by Ashley Winters for D. Lark)
Population Health Update
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In the absence of Carol Straneiro, who was on vacation, Adam Litke spoke. He said that the only other nurse besides Ms. Straneiro has resigned. He expects it will be difficult to hire a replacement because the pay for nurses in the public sector is low (a traveling nurse can make 3 times as much), and the OPERS benefits (which used to make up for the low pay) have been reduced in recent years.
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Board member Brakey asked if the nurse was required to be vaccinated and Mr. Litke said that is not required and they do not ask about it when hiring. Ms. Brakey said this is an advantage and it would be a good idea to mention in the job posting/advertisement that there is no vaccine requirement. She said there are many nurses who left the Cleveland Clinic and UH because of their vaccine requirements and they would be interested in the GPH job.
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Board members asked if Carol Straneiro, the remaining nurse, would be able to handle all of the responsibilities of both nurses. Mr. Litke said he plans to meet with Ms. Straneiro this week to see what she can handle on her own. Board member Roman said there is a need for a broader discussion of staffing and programming and priorities, and how to deal with salary issues. Other members agreed.
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Since the vacant position is no longer a supervisory position it might be possible to hire two part-time nurses. They will advertise both full and part-time positions.
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Ms. Roman asked questions about the update report for population health (this observer did not have access to the report). Why had there been so many Narcan kits distributed during the recent time period covered by the report? Mr. Litke stated that there have been many more outreach events and efforts recently. A board member asked if it is possible to know how many kits are actually used, and Mr. Litke said no.
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Sixty-five percent of the eligible population have received Covid vaccines (at least one dose).
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And Monkeypox was not included in the report because it is not on anyone’s radar at this time.
Administration Division Update (Given by Adam Litke for Alta Wendell)
Finance (Adam Litke)
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$22,000 was spent on public records requests during the month of August. A board member asked if the requestor could be asked to help pay some of these costs. Mr. Litke stated that GPH can only charge the requestor for the cost of the paper or flash drive used to transmit the information. Approximately $70,000 to $90,000 has been spent so far this year on legal fees for public records requests.
Other items in the financial report that were mentioned included:
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Bamboo HR ($4600/year) is software for human resources.
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A grant for $150,000 can be used to help low income people with their septic system costs.
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GPH still pays the same amount for OPERS (employee benefits) although the amount of the benefits has been decreasing.
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Unemployment payments for the previous commissioner (or for any GPH employee) is paid directly by GPH since it is a public entity and does not pay into unemployment insurance.
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Income and expenditures in several categories (permits, federal grants, contact tracing) was lower than originally estimated. It is difficult to estimate many of the budget items because of fluctuations in the housing market (affecting septic inspections, for example), changes in Covid needs, etc. Overall the original estimates for income and expenditures were both about $4 million for 2022, but Mr. Litke said both will be closer to $2 million.
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Mr. Litke said the ending cash balance this year will be over $4 million. This will increase by around $100,000 this year. He said the Budget Commission will probably cut the levy for the health department next year, postponing some of the levy income until the $4 million is spent down. The board discussed whether money could be put into reserve funds. Mr. Litke said it wouldn’t be responsible to use this money to hire additional employees, since it is not a steady source of income.
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Ms. Roman discussed the need to educate the public about the unpredictable nature of GPH income and expenses.
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The finance report was approved.
Administrator Update (Adam Litke)
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Environmental Health needs to hire two new Sanitarians and EH Technician(s) to help roll out the first set of O&M (Operation and Maintenance) inspections for septic systems. They will start with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems (NPDES), which are permitted by the EPA to discharge into streams, etc. There are about 2,000 such systems in Geauga County. When homeowners have this type of system installed, they sign a contract for servicing and sampling. GPH has not been strongly enforcing these requirements, so they will help the homeowners get up to speed with the requirement of yearly samples. Rather than referring homeowners for prosecution for non-compliance, GPH may hire interns to do the sampling. Once the O&M plan is finalized Mr. Litke will make presentations to the public and to elected officials.
OLD BUSINESS
NEW BUSINESS
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They discussed the new proposed Environmental health fees that are changing. This was the first reading of these fees. There will be a public hearing on October 28. Some of the fees that may change include: food service fees (up 10%), vending fees (will now be charged per location rather than per machine), swimming pools (up $25), FSOP (decrease from $480 to $350), camps (increase), O&M (new, will be $250/10 years or $100/5 years).
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Mr. Piraino read a resolution to set the new fees. Board member Ashley Jones abstained. The resolution passed.
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Food Service – two food service operations (New Dutch Country restaurant, and a Subway with offices in Aurora) will be referred to the prosecutor for not paying their fees that were due March 1, 2022. Since that time they have been operating without a license.
Not on the Agenda: Two Board members, Ms. Roman and Ms. Brakey, had formed a committee to review the Board’s by-laws. They presented highlights of their proposed changes and the Board members were provided with the marked up document showing what had been changed. The by-laws were last updated on 4/4/2020. They proposed that the changes should be approved in the October Board meeting. Some of the proposed changes included:
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Discuss emergency vs. special meetings and how much notice is required for each
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More flexibility around forming and disbanding committees
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Is the Health Commissioner required to be the secretary and take minutes at Board meetings. A. Litke said this is required by the ORC
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Advisory committees – does the Board have any of these and how do they differ from regular committees
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Why is the Authority section under the Education section?
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Why are Field Visits in the By-Laws? Mr. Litke stated that it has been helpful to have this as it has been useful in a lawsuit.
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Add a section about Sunshine Laws
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Add more detail about Executive Sessions
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Members receive $80/meeting. How often do they get paid? It has been up to each board member.
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A. Jones requested that something be added about conflict of interest.
PUBLIC COMMENT SECTION
EXECUTIVE SESSION
There was no Executive Session
The meeting was adjourned at 7:11 pm.
Next meeting: Wednesday October 26, 2022 at 5 PM at Geauga County Administration Building, 12811 Ravenwood Drive, Claridon, OH
More Information: http://gphohio.org/
Minutes available when posted: http://gphohio.org/Board-of-Health/Board-of-Health-Minutes
Postings available here: https://www.facebook.com/GPHOHIO
Name of Observer : Nina Lalich, submitted 9/30/2022
Edited by: Betsy Kubbins
Reviewed by: Gail Roussey
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