Geauga Public Health District (GPH) – December 28, 2022 - Special
The GPH Board met in Special Session at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Room B303, Chardon, OH, on December 28, 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:
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.
Operations Planning.
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 announced at the December 19 meeting that she and Ms. Brakey met with Lake County Health Commissioner Ron Graham and reached a verbal agreement to extend the end date of the termination agreement by six months. Ms. Roman is hoping that this will result in a contractual agreement changing the termination date of Mr. Litke and Mr. Lake at GPH from the end of January to the end of June.
Ms. Brakey noted that weekly meetings with Ron Graham will continue through the end of April. Ms. Roman said the Board is thinking of looking at collaborating with other counties including Lake County. Ms. Brakey said at the last meeting with Mr. Graham, he showed them a website that she said was really helpful, based on the ORC requirements for health districts. Many requirements are worded as the Board “may” rather than “shall”. The information on this website ties functions to the ORC code. Some functions in Lake County are required by county commissioners rather than the ORC, for example the Child Mortality Review Board. Ms. Brakey stated that if the Board wants to find areas to cut back they could use this information to “scale down to meet our budget”. Mr. Litke stated that he thought it was ORC Section 3709.08 that shows the requirements for Health Districts.
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.
Administrator and Environmental Health Director positions
Ms. Jones discussed the applicants for the administrator position. So far 20 people have applied. Ms. Roman and Ms. Jones will select 3 to 4 candidates to interview. The first interview will be via Zoom, to be scheduled in the next few weeks. The next round of interviews will be in person, by January 18. Ms. Jones handed out to the Board a draft letter to be sent to the potential interviewees. The goal is to select someone for the position by January 31. The Board is currently planning to first hire an administrator, and then involve that new person in selecting the new Environmental Health Director. This was suggested by Ms. Roman at the last board meeting.
Ms. Brakey asked whether all people being interviewed met the background criteria, which was stated in the draft letter. After discussion, it was decided to remove that statement from the letter since not all candidates actually met all of the background criteria.
Ms. Brakey suggested they keep the position open until someone is hired. She said that a pool of 20 applicants isn’t a lot, and three to four interviews aren’t a lot. Mr. Litke said that 20 applicants is pretty normal in this area, but he thinks it’s OK to keep the position open. So the position will be taken off of hold and will remain open. But the Board will proceed with their plan for the initial group of 20 applications that have been received to date.
The Board discussed whether travel expenses can be paid for candidates who do not live locally or within driving range. Mr. Litke is checking with the attorneys in the Prosecutor’s office to see whether that is allowed.
Mr. Piraino stated that the Board is still considering other options such as collaborating with other health departments. Ms. Roman mentioned that the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) wants a plan for how the Board intends to proceed, but it is up to the Board to determine locally how they want to handle the current situation. The Board has only received written communications from ODH, there have been no in-person meetings or conversations. Mr. Piraino said that the Board has the best interests of the County in mind and they also want to be fiscally responsible. Mr. Litke said that the Health District has cash reserves and as a public institution, they are unlike the private sector and do not necessarily think of profit vs. loss. He said that the cash reserves can cover the deficit for many years. He said it’s up to the Board how they want to handle deficits, how comfortable they are with it. The last levy was in 2009. Today a new levy would bring in more money.
Ms. Roman stated that according to the literature, Health Districts cannot survive when they serve a population under 100,000. Mr. Piraino reiterated that that’s why it’s important to consider collaborating with other counties. Combining some initiatives with other counties would reduce costs.
Ms. Roman asked for a list of all services provided by the Health District. Ms. Brakey wants to compare this list with the requirements of the ORC.
Executive Session – The Board entered into executive session to discuss appointment, employment, and compensation of employees at approximately 5:30. The ADP recording ended at this point.
Next meeting: Special meetings are scheduled for January 4, 11 & 18, and the next Regular meeting is scheduled for January 25. All meetings are scheduled for 5 PM at Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Room B303, 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 : Nina Lalich
Reviewed by: Shelly Lewis
The League of Women Voters of 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.