ADP Board Emergency Meeting - May 11, 2023
Meeting Details: The Automatic Data Processing Board (ADP) met in an emergency session at 3:30 pm on May 11, 2023 in the Geauga County Auditor’s Office Appraisal Conference Room at 231 Main St. Chardon, OH 44024. Virtual access was available via MS Teams and the agenda was provided in advance. This observer attended via MS Teams.
Public Comment: ADP does not have a written policy. In practice, public comment is solicited at the end of the meeting.
Board Attendance:
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Auditor/Chief Admin - Charles E. Walder
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Board of Elections - Scott Daisher for Michelle Lane
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Board of Elections - Nora McGinnis
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Clerk of Courts - Sheila Bevington
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County Commissioner – Jim Dvorak for Tim Lennon
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Engineer – Katie Taylor for Joe Cattell
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Prosecutor - Jim Flaiz
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Recorder - Celesta Mullins
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Sheriff - Scott Hildenbrand
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Treasurer - Christopher Hitchcock absent
ADP Staff Attendance:
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Frank Antenucci - Chief Deputy Admin ADP
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Allen Keener - Chief Technology Officer ADP
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Andy Haines (virtual)
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Zach McLeod
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Corey Thompson
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Josh Widdifield (virtual)
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Rob Bushman
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Mike Dorka (virtual)
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Michael Tomc (virtual)
Other Government Representatives:
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Ron Leyde – Chief Deputy Auditor
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Pam McMahan - Fiscal Office Manager, Auditor’s Office
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Kate Jacob - Chief Compliance Officer, Auditor’s Office (virtual)
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Thomas Rowan – Chief Deputy, Sheriff’s Office
Others Present:
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Amy Patterson - Geauga County Maple Leaf (virtual)
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Elise Von Gunten - Chagrin Valley Times (virtual)
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Adam Ferrise - Cleveland.com
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Reporter – Chagrin Valley Times.com
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Nina Lalich - LWV Geauga (virtual)
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Shelly Lewis - LWV Geauga (virtual)
The meeting was called to order at 3:30 pm.
Minutes: No minutes were presented
Agenda Items
1. Status of Mike Kurzinger network credentials
Corey Thompson summarized what happened that led to this meeting: On Wednesday, May 10 Mike Kurzinger, IT administrator at Water Resources (WR) who is on administrative leave following the raid by law enforcement officials, logged into the server at WR several times. This was discovered following multiple calls to the help desk from WR employees who couldn’t access their shared files. The ADP Crowdstrike network monitoring system showed that Mr. Kurzinger had logged into a conference room computer (his computer had previously been seized by law enforcement).
Mr. Walder asked whether ADP had been asked to help with whatever it was that Mr. Kurzinger had been trying to help with, and his staff said they had not been asked for help. They were told that Mr. Kurzinger had been called in to help adjust file permissions so that payroll could be done. Mr. Walder felt that ADP staff could have provided this assistance.
Mr. Flaiz referred to a letter (later detailed by Mr. Dvorak) which stated Mr. Kurzinger could not enter WR offices unless he was requested or invited by one of three people, including the WR Director.
A video was shared from the building security camera, which showed Mr. Kurzinger entering the Department of Water Resources offices at the Geauga County Office Building.
Mr. Flaiz stated he received an email on the previous Friday from Mr. Dvorak in which Mr. Dvorak requested that Mr. Kurzinger’s network credentials be revoked. Mr. Walder received the original request which he replied to and copied Mr. Flaiz. Mr. Walder said that the ADP department does not have authority to revoke network credentials for individuals who are not under their hiring authority. Mr. Flaiz said that only the ADP Board, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), or County Administrator Gerry Morgan could authorize such an action. Reviewer Comment: According to Amy Patterson’s May 12, 2023 news report for the Geauga Maple Leaf, Mr. Morgan asserted that Kurzinger’s IT credentials were under the authority of ADP.
Mr. Dvorak described what had occurred two days previously at the Tuesday BOCC meeting. He had requested at that meeting that Mr. Morgan request that Mr. Kurzinger’s network credentials and those of Joe Camino, the contractor who was involved in the law enforcement raid, be revoked. Mr. Morgan said he would look into it and take care of it. Then the next day, Wednesday, May 10th, someone invited Mr. Kurzinger into WR and his credentials had not yet been revoked.
ADP staff then shared the log from the Crowdstrike monitoring system. The log showed that Mr. Kurzinger used the WR conference room computer to gain remote access to or “remote in” to one or more other computers to gain administrative access to the server, allowing him to access file permissions, etc.
After Mr. Kurzinger accessed the server, the ADP help desk began receiving requests to help with problems at WR with people not being able to access their shared files. Mr. Walder asked if ADP staff could fix this going forward and his staff said they could.
There was a short discussion about ADP having to schedule this emergency meeting. Mr. Dvorak explained that he had tried earlier in the day to schedule an emergency meeting of the BOCC but was unable to do so because of scheduling conflicts and the feeling from the Clerk and Administrator that there was not sufficient time to give proper notice to the public and to the media. Reviewer Comment: Email notice of the 3:30 PM ADP Emergency Meeting was sent at 1:33 PM. Reporters from Cleveland.com, the Geauga Maple Leaf and Chagrin Valley Times were all present at the meeting, as were two members of the LWV Observer Corps and nine of ten ADP Board members.
Mr. Walder asked what the ADP Board could do about this situation, as he is really concerned. Mr. Flaiz said he believes the ADP Board can revoke credentials when someone poses a security risk. (It had been stated earlier in the meeting that it was unclear whether the WR file access problems that resulted from the actions taken by Mr. Kurzinger on May 10 were intentional or not). Another option suggested by Mr. Flaiz was that the Board could make a new policy stating that someone placed on administrative leave would automatically have their network credentials revoked. Commissioner Dvorak stated that he had spoken with peers in other counties who told him they had encountered similar situations and they all advised to take action immediately.
Mr. Walder stated that he is having trouble with the decisions coming from County Administrator Gerry Morgan as he is too involved with the current situation at WR, and he also worked at WR in the past.
There was a brief discussion about whether there was any reason to think that other employees’ passwords could be used by Mr. Kurzinger to access the network.
Mr. Walder then made a motion to revoke the network credentials of Mr. Kurzinger and Joe Camino, and to do a forced password reset at all WR stations (in case people had shared their passwords). Mr. Walder said they would probably get complaints, but he would rather deal with complaints than allow unauthorized access to the server. The motion passed unanimously by roll call vote.
Mr. Flaiz and one other board member asked if they could find out why Mr. Kurzinger was asked to come to WR on May 10, and what he did while there. Commissioner Dvorak restated that he was called in to help with payroll problems. But Mr. Walder said his staff had assisted Kathleen Miller, the WR payroll person, with payroll the previous week. Pam McMahon said that payroll is submitted every two weeks, and that it had already been submitted the day Mr. Kurzinger went to WR.
Sheriff Hildenbrand asked whether the Board could send a letter demanding to know why Mr. Kurzinger was called in (letter to be sent to WR Director Oluic, County Administrator Gerry Morgan, and the County Commissioners). A motion was made and passed by unanimous roll call.
2. Removing Employee Network Access
This was put on hold until the letter was sent asking for more information, and a response was received.
(Somewhere, either here or maybe under #3, there was a discussion about having a policy allowing for temporary removal of network access in an emergency, pending approval by the appropriate authority to make it permanent)
3. Networks Credentials Policy for Employees on Administrative Leave
Following a brief discussion, Mr. Flaiz suggested working on something for the next meeting.
Public Comment: Mr. Walder then asked for public comments/questions.
Elise von Gunten (Chagrin Valley Times) asked for clarification on items that had been discussed.
Amy Patterson asked if the ADP Board could provide a bullet point summary of the timeline, and Mr. Walder said he would provide this.
Someone asked where the computer was located that Mr. Kurzinger was accessing remotely; it was “in the shop”.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:16 pm.
Minutes when posted are available here: Meeting Minutes | Geauga County Automatic Data Processing
Virtual Meeting Information: Contact Pamela McMahan at pmcmahan@gcauditor.com
Observer: Nina Lalich
Reviewer: Shelly Lewis
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