The GPH Board met in Special Session at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite 300, Chardon, OH, on December 12, 2022 at 5 pm. Geauga County Automated Data Processing (ADP) live streamed this meeting and a recording is available on the ADP Youtube channel.
Board Attendance: (as seated, from L to R)
Staff Attendance:
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Dr. Jeffrey Cameron - Medical Director/Health Commissioner
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Adam Litke – Administrator
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Carol Straniero - Population Health Director
The meeting was called to order and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
The Agenda for this Special Meeting was available ahead of the meeting on the GPH website.
Public discussion on options for Administrator and Public Health Director positions.
Background: Lake County General Health District Contracts - Mr. Piraino announced at the December 5th meeting 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.
Ms. Roman asked that the Board have a discussion of options
Adam Litke started the discussion by listing those areas of concern should a new Administrator not be hired and in place before the end of January. These items included:
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Implementation of the new Operations and Management Program (which will provide periodic testing of septic systems). As reported, the first phase is scheduled to go into effect in 2023, which will involve about 2,000 households in the NPDES category (discharge into streams) and will provide a roadmap for future full implementation.
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HDAC (Health District Advisory Commission) – The yearly meeting is in March and preparations for the meeting should begin now.
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Finances – Mr. Litke has been doing the financial reports for the past six years.
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Grants – An applicant would need excel and grant knowledge. Mr. Litke has done these.
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Accreditation – This is Mr. Litke’s biggest worry. Usually, a full time employee works on this and the necessary educational components. In response to Dr. Rood’s inquiry, Mr. Litke stated he has not yet communicated with the accreditation body but likely will need to do so soon.
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Budget Commission meeting in May – need to prepare for this. Also the 2020-21 Audit will start soon.
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Levy – Mr. Litke reported that the levy has 25 year old values and any new levy will result in an increase. Preparation for this is necessary.
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Budget – To hire for the two positions under discussion would increase the budget by $80,000
Mrs. Brakey - inquired what the advantage of accreditation is. Per Adam Litke, would not be able to provide many of the current services, notably Environmental Health services; lose state subsidy. Mrs. Roman stated, and Adam Litke agreed that “the choice of accreditation is not really an option anymore.”
Mr. Rood – it doesn’t appear that anyone who applied has experience in environmental health as required by the position description.
Ms. Roman – Not impressed with the candidate pool. Potentially only one person has the minimum qualifications for Administrator, but there are three who could be interviewed. Believes hiring an Administrator should be the priority.
Mr. Rood – If our strategy is to hire, it doesn’t look good
Ms. Roman – four options as she sees it:
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Full time Administrator and part time Commissioner (current model)
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Full time Health Commissioner, eliminate Director (would require re-structuring)
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Contract with Lake until the positions are filled
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Move all functions to Lake.
Mr. Rood – Of the two services, Environmental Health and General Health, the bulk of the work (and the fees) comes from Environmental Health. That position is also the hardest to fill. Need a serious discussion of consequences if Lake took over this part of services. Noted that of the options listed only Lake is equipped to provide services at February 1.
Mrs. Jones - expressed concerns about hiring someone and completing training and onboarding before February 1.
Ms. Brakey – expressed concern for how this would be paid for and requested a list of services that are required to be provided as opposed to those that “may” be provided. She commented that vaccinations are one of the “may” options. Mr. Litke noted that the required list is fairly small. He will provide the ORC language prior to the next meeting.
Observer Note: The minimum requirements are listed at ORC 3709.22 as follows:
Each board of health of a city or general health district shall study and record the prevalence of disease within its district and provide for the prompt diagnosis and control of communicable diseases. The board may also provide for the medical and dental supervision of school children, for the free treatment of cases of venereal diseases, for the inspection of schools, public institutions, jails, workhouses, children's homes, infirmaries, and county homes, and other charitable, benevolent, and correctional institutions. The board may also provide for the inspection of dairies, stores, restaurants, hotels, and other places where food is manufactured, handled, stored, sold, or offered for sale, and for the medical inspection of persons employed therein. The board may also provide for the inspection and abatement of nuisances dangerous to public health or comfort, and may take such steps as are necessary to protect the public health and to prevent disease.
Mr. Litke discussed the vaccination program (which does not appear to be required) and the fact that if it were eliminated the Amish population would have no alternatives that are cost effective for them to get vaccinations. Per Mrs. Straniero, 95% of vaccinations GPH provides are for the Amish population and GPH’s vaccination clinics are full.
All agreed that the candidate pool was not great and that they will leave the positions open for now.
Ms. Brakey asked if the work could be subbed out to a private contractor. No one had a definitive answer but the likelihood of this being envisioned by ORC and/or approved by an Accreditation Board seemed remote.
Public Comment – Ms. Mary Briggs stated “don’t sewer Geauga,” and pointed out that Lake county uses primarily sewer systems while a large portion of Geauga relies on septic systems. She also commented that the budget was formerly prepared by the Health Commissioner. Mr. Litke disputed this assertion noting that he has prepared the GPH financials and budget for the last six years.
Executive Session – Mr. Litke announced that there would be no action after the Executive Session.
Observer Note: This Observer did not hear any clear direction other than to leave open the job posting. There was no direction to anyone to open negotiations with the Lake County Health Board regarding any of the Lake County options (transition help, Environmental Health moving to Lake or all functions moving to Lake). Mr Litke has previously stated and again stated at this meeting that he could not be involved in such negotiations.
Next regular meeting: Monday, December 19, 2022 at 5 PM at Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite 300, 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 : Gail Roussey
Reviewed by: Shelly Lewis
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