The GPH Board met in Special Session at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite 300, Chardon, OH, on December 5, 2022 at 5 pm. Geauga County Automated Data Processing (ADP) provided a livestream of the meeting.
Board Attendance: (as seated, from L to R)
Staff Attendance:
Government Officials:
The meeting was called to order and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Mrs. Jones joined at this point.
Lake County General Health District Contracts - Mr. Piraino announced that the Board received a November 23, 2022 letter from the Lake County General Health District (LGH) terminating their staffing contract with GPH, effective January 31, 2023. Under the agreement, LGH employees Adam Litke and Dan Lark have filled Administrator and Environmental Health Director roles for GPH in exchange for a monthly fee.
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Mr. Piraino discussed the long-standing issues with septic inspections and commended Adam Litke, Dan Lark and LPH for helping GPH create the Operations and Maintenance Program, which is expected to be implemented on Jan 1, 2023.
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Mr. Piraino explained that following termination of the previous Health Commissioner, the Board was unable to identify a qualified replacement and opted to revamp the organization to an Administrator/Medical Director model. Mr. Litke was appointed as Administrator during the Feb 23, 2022 GPH meeting. Facing similar difficulties hiring an Environmental Health Director, the Board agreed to contract with LGH for support services, as referenced in the March 21, 2022 GPH meeting.
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Mr. Piraino commented that the cost of fulfilling public records requests presents a significant financial challenge, with expenses “approaching six figures.”
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Mr. Piraino noted that Adam Litke often worked 60 hours weekly at GPH even though his contract called for only 32 hours - a concern echoed by Commissioner Graham.
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Mr. Piraino provided assurances that the Board is working diligently to address the situation and suggested weekly meetings may be necessary.
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Dr. Rood inquired about potential economies of scale to be achieved through collaboration between the two Health Districts. Commissioner Graham discussed partnering opportunities in the areas of community health assessments, accreditation, and shared staffing resources. He emphasized that there is no intention to merge the districts into a regional health district.
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Adam Litke also noted that the differences in demographics, environmental systems and funding streams would make merging very difficult. All board members expressed support for maintaining local decision making.
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Lynn Roman expressed support for weekly meetings so that the Board can have in-depth discussions about all of the variables.
Position Posting for Administrator and Environmental Health Director - after some discussion about the descriptions, salary ranges and timelines, Mr. Litke was instructed to post the two positions immediately.
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Lynn Roman noted that during the previous attempt to hire for these positions the Board received very few applicants and those who applied were unqualified. She wants the Board to discuss their options if unable to fill the positions.
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Commissioner Graham indicated LGH is willing to consider a mutually beneficial “transitional contract” to assist GPH in the short term.
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Adam Litke noted immediate concerns include transfer of case files, 2024 budget preparation, HDAC meeting and presentation of the budget to the Budget Commission.
Meeting Schedule - meeting dates for December/January were set, with locations for the additional meetings to be determined:
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Monday, December 12th
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Monday, December 19th
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Wednesday, December 28th
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Wednesday, January 4th
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Wednesday, January 11th
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Wednesday, January 18th
Interview Teams
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For Environmental Health Director - Richard Piraino, Carolyn Brakey and possibly Dan Lark or someone with comparable knowledge/experience
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For Administrator - Ashley Jones, Lynn Roman and Dr. Cameron
Public Comment
Chris Alusheff inquired whether the $110,000 to $135,000 Administrator salary range included benefits. Adam Litke clarified that with benefits, the total cost to hire an Administrator will approach $200,000. Similar expenses can be expected to hire an Environmental Health Director.
Adjournment - meeting adjourned around 5:42pm
Next meetings:
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Special Meeting on Monday Dec 12, 2022 at 5pm (location to be determined)
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Regular Meeting on Monday, Dec 19, 2022, at 5pm at Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite 300, Chardon, 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 : Shelly Lewis
Reviewed by: Gail Roussey
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