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Geauga Public Health District (GPHD) – Regular Meeting May 24, 2023

Meeting Details: The GPHD Board met in Regular Session at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B303, Chardon, OH, on May 24, 2023 at 5 pm.  The agenda was available on the GPHD facebook page.  Geauga County Automated Data Processing (ADP) live streamed this meeting and the recording is available here. At publication, the recording has been viewed 79 times.

Public Comment Policy: no separate written policy, but in practice, “Citizens’ Remarks” are included on the agenda and permitted as detailed there.

Board Attendance: (as seated, from L to R).

• Carolyn Brakey, President

• Dr. Ashley Jones, Pro Tem

• Lynn Roman

• Dr. Mark Rood  

• Dr. Mark Hendrickson

Staff Attendance:

• Ron Graham - Lake County General Health District Commissioner

• Adam Litke - Administrator

• Daniel Lark - Environmental Health Director (not present)

Legal Counsel: 

• Not present

Call to Order: called to order at 5:02 pm. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. A quorum was declared and a certification of delivery of official notices of meeting.

Minutes:

March 15 Special meeting and April 26, 2023 Regular meeting. The original minutes for March 15 that were tabled at the April meeting had been revised. There was a discussion about the written minutes following the order of the agenda, while in the actual meeting some of the discussion was done out of order. Mr. Graham suggested there could be a disclaimer at the beginning of the minutes if the discussion did not follow the order in the minutes. Some board members also thought it was confusing when the packets with staff reports included the full minutes that were to be voted on. Some thought these should be kept separate. Mr. Litke said if the minutes were separate from the reports, then it would make storage and access on the website more complicated. Having them together also streamlines records requests.  Minutes for both meetings were approved by voice vote. 

As of May 30, 2023, approved minutes are posted online through March 2nd here.

Information Session

Population Health Update - Mr. Litke mentioned that the Geauga staff nurse has been attending the DDC clinic (see the April 26 report) and that has been going well. He said that other items were on the written population health report, which was not available to the public at the time of the meeting. 

Environmental Health Update - The Board received a report which was not available to the public at the time of the meeting. Mr. Litke discussed the following:

• A resident had money kept in escrow for over 6 years for a FSOP inspection - this is being taken care of and other similar irregularities are being reviewed.

• HB110 - Environmental Health will be caught up with their inspections of systems that are on a 3 year cycle by August, and then the inspections will be cyclical, for example some will be every year, some every 3 years. The Board was provided with a copy of a document (not provided to the public) that provides guidelines for staff in Inspection procedures, including entering appropriate data into the HDIS system.

• Some homeowners have had septic systems installed that were a type of system approved by the state but which cannot pass Geauga County inspections. Two people were refunded their inspection fees. Mr. Litke is working with Mr. Lark to make a list from the HDIS database to get an estimate of how many other systems are affected by this. Mr. Litke thinks it is somewhere less than 300. Mr. Litke is asking whether GPH could waive the $435 inspection fee. It wasn’t clear to this observer whether this would be waived when the homeowner got a replacement system or if it was for the original system that couldn’t pass. Ms. Brakey asked what can be done to prevent more of these systems from being purchased. Mr. Litke said Environmental Health is getting the word out to the service providers. Mr. Litke will have the estimate in time for the June Board meeting and they can make a decision at that time.

Administration Division Update -  The Board received a report which was not available to the public at the time of the meeting. Mr. Litke discussed a few items from the report. 

• Special Needs Fishing Event: GPH assisted Commissioner Dvorak in hosting the event, which was attended by 60-70 children. Mr. Litke and Ms. Brakey both attended.

• Parkman Wells: There was a press conference on May 19 to discuss the project. Many local and state public officials and members of the press attended the conference. There will be a new $600,000 contract to replace more wells. GPH is also getting quotes for minor landscaping to be done in conjunction with the well work. Ms. Brakey asked about the timeline for moving the salt dome. Mr. Litke said it is no longer in use, and that a new salt dome in another location will have a more modern design that is meant to prevent salt from leaking into groundwater.

• Budget: Mr. Litke said this would be discussed later in the meeting.

• HB110 Refunds: Mr. Litke said this would also be discussed later in the meeting and possibly voted on. He said Ron Leyde from the county Auditor’s office was checking with the State Auditor to find out the correct way to allocate the funds to pay for these refunds. Currently the funds are in the GPH reserves.

• Nuisance Complaints: There are still many nuisance complaints to be addressed.

• DDC Clinic: GPH staff has started the process to work with DDC and the collaboration has been going really well. ODH is excited about this project and is helping to look for grant money. They will be visiting GPH on June 14.

• Finance Report: The April report was available to Board members, but not to the public at the time of the meeting. Mr. Litke mentioned the “Then and Now” expense that would be discussed later under New Business. The purchase order for the contract with a legal firm was not open when the contract was signed. 

  • Ms. Roman asked for clarification regarding Gilmore Security Systems, which monitors the vaccine refrigeration. 

  • Ms. Roman asked about Ferris Excavating and Mr. Litke explained that it was for the Water Pollution Control Loan fund. 

  • Dr. Rood asked when a decision needed to be made about a levy and Mr. Litke said by the next Board meeting. Comments were made about Mr. Piraino heading up the campaign for the levy, since the Board is not allowed to campaign for their own levy. 

The April financial report was approved by voice vote.

Mr. Litke discussed the fact that GPH shares the same bank account as the rest of the County departments. He said that according to the ORC, all checks have to go through the County Auditor’s office (ie, GPH cannot write their own checks), and all receipts have to go through the County Treasurer’s office.

Health Commissioner Report - This report was available to Board members, but not to the public at the time of the meeting. Mr. Graham discussed several items from this report but the discussion was difficult to follow without having the report. There will be an all staff meeting on September 25 including both Lake and Geauga county employees. There has been a Pertussis outbreak with 60 cases in 3 counties (Geauga, Ashtabula, and Lake) and the counties are coordinating their response with the state and CDC. All staff positions have been filled except for the Deputy Registrar position. 

Morbidity and Mortality reports from CDC were shared with the Board for their knowledge. Ms. Brakey commented that she found some of the statistics really interesting and she was shocked by some of the information. These are state/local/national reports, nothing specific to Geauga.

Mr. Graham discussed an issue with a prevention grant that is still in the hands of Geauga. The money needs to be transferred to Lake County through a contract. 

Ms. Brakey asked if someone could help Mr. Litke who has been handling social media and the website for GPH. Mr. Litke said the Health Educator is being trained to work on this.

There was a brief mention of the change to the Geauga County home sewage treatment rules and whether a second reading was needed. A second reading was not done. Observer Note: See the Observer Report from April 26 for more information about the rule change.

 

Old Business

• HB 110 Review: Observer Note: Following an audit of the documentation of the inspections performed under the HB 110 program, it was determined that GPH had received payments of $757,912 in fees with no documentation of an inspection. See the Observer Report from April 26, 2023 for more information about the audit. If the Board decides to refund the fees and to include interest, the amount to be repaid will be approximately $990,000. In addition GPH would need to hire a claims administrator. They have two quotes, for $10,000 and $29,000. 

  • There was a discussion about whether to include interest. Ms. Brakey said if the Board does not pay the interest they are exposing themselves to increased liability. Dr. Rood commented that it’s been a tough year with the Board making unpopular decisions. It would be an expression of good faith to pay the interest. Ms. Roman asked if everyone could be paid a flat rate, and Mr. Litke thought it would be more equitable and more of a known quantity if they stick with the calculated interest based on a state formula.

  • There was a motion to refund the HB110 payments by businesses and to include interest (total not to exceed $991,000). The motion was approved by roll call vote. Dr. Jones abstained.

  • There was a motion to execute a contract with the lowest bidder to administer the claims for the HB110 refunds, not to exceed $16,000. American Legal Claims Services has the lowest bid. The motion was approved by roll call vote with Dr. Jones abstaining.

New Business

• April 2023 Financial Report: This was approved earlier in the meeting (earlier it was mentioned that they should start referring to the financial discussed at the monthly meetings as the report for the previous month. So the report approved in May was the April Financial Report).

• Permission to approve appropriations for Increase/Decrease: The purpose of this is to decrease all of the line items in the budget that are for salary, OPERS, and Health Insurance and then to increase the line item for contract services, since these items are now going to be paid by Lake County through the contract. The amount was $1.148 million. The motion was approved by roll call vote. Reviewer Comment - in a follow up conversation, Mr. Litke explained that instead of making separate adjustments to appropriations, he combined 1) the savings realized through the elimination of positions, 2) the transfer of Geauga salaries to Lake County and 3) the McDonald Hopkins legal fees into a single entry. We expected to see a positive impact on the bottom line, as a reflection of the cost savings realized through the service agreement.  Instead, there is zero impact on the bottom line, with a $1.148 million reduction in Salaries and Benefits offset by a $1.148 increase in Contract Services. Per Mr. Litke, the $1.148 increase in Contract Services includes $132,713.70 in legal fees.

• Then and Now - Legal Expenses: Mr. Litke requested permission to adopt resolution 2023-6 to authorize the payment of a Then & Now Purchase order to McDonald Hopkins for legal services. The  total is not to exceed $132,713.70. Mr. Litke commented, “this is the audit and everything else.” The resolution was approved by roll call vote.

Not on the Agenda - Levy Discussion

Background: See January 4, 2023 GPH Observer Report for detailed notes about a presentation given by Charles E. Walder, Geauga County Auditor. Mr. Walder explained the current GPH levy and went over various levy options.

Mr. Piraino, who was in the audience, stated that he is Treasurer for the levy for GPH and for the Department on Aging. He asked if there is a revised budget. 

 

Mr. Litke said that what the Board is signing is adjusted, and he thinks a renewal levy will be enough. Mr. Litke will come up with an estimate of when the cash reserves will be used up and present this at the next meeting. He believes the cash reserves should be enough for the next 5 years, given the cost savings from contracting with Lake County. Reviewer Comment: During the March 15, 2023 GPH and HDAC meetings, the GPH Board asserted the cross jurisdictional agreement would immediately produce annual cost savings of $350,000 to $600,000.  As the cost savings are not separately stated in the adjustment to appropriations approved above, the amount of any cost savings is unknown.

Ms. Roman is concerned that a renewal might not be enough. She thinks the Levy should be discussed by the Board every year. She said that the GPH levy is the lowest health department levy in the state. 

Mr. Piraino said it will be important to tell the public the value of the levy. In a previous meeting, Mr. Walder had said GPH has 3 more elections to try to renew the levy. Ms. Brakey asked how to fund publicity for the levy. Mr. Piraino said he still has 500 signs from the last renewal, and it was mentioned that he could do fundraising for donations. If the Board votes to have a renewal levy at their June meeting, it could be placed on the November ballot this year.

Citizen’s Remarks

Jonathan Tiber, Claridon Township Trustee: Mr. Tiber said he was willing to help with the levy. He also stated that Health Dept. funds can be used to present facts. He also mentioned a good interaction he had with Katie Strom, a Lake County health department employee. Ms. Strom needed help with setting up inspections of Amish schools in Geauga county, so she contacted Mr. Tiber to provide introductions between Ms. Strom and Amish schools.

Nina Lalich, LWV Geauga: This observer asked if reports that are made available to the Board prior to being discussed at the meeting could also be provided to the public in advance of the meeting. Ms. Brakey thought this would be a good idea, and Mr. Litke said he is working on it. He said he’ll post the reports on Facebook for the June meeting. The one item that will not be provided in advance is minutes from prior meetings that have not yet been approved by the Board. Mr. Litke also said he cannot show the reports on the video display screens in the meeting room because those screens have not been working for some time. According to Mr. Litke this is the responsibility of the contractor who installed the equipment when the new building was constructed.

Chris Alusheff, President of HDAC and Councilman for Aquilla Village: Gave a shout out to Mr. Lark for his assistance with a problem that has been plaguing Claridon Township for some time.  Mr. Alusheff mentioned the HDAC meeting that is scheduled for June 14 at 6 pm. Ms. Brakey said that since it is Flag Day many officials have other events planned, including herself, so would not be able to attend. Mr. Alusheff stated that he wants to have more of a dialogue among the members of HDAC so there isn’t a repeat of the last meeting. Ms. Brakey said she thinks they should only have one meeting per year, in the fall. Mr. Alusheff said it’s not a problem if people miss the June meeting, it is intended to be informational only, with nothing major to be voted on.

A private citizen who didn’t state her name or where she lived asked questions about the HB110 audit, including whether GPH knows who it was that didn’t do their job, were the stolen records found, and will there be charges. Mr. Litke responded that the money that was received in fees was used to pay salaries over the years. The Prosecutor has been notified about the audit results and it is up to him if he wants to do an investigation and press charges. Mr. Litke stated that regarding the stolen records, camera footage may be limited because of HIPAA. Observer Note: When the results of the Audit were reported in the April 26, 2023 GPH Board meeting, Mr. Kostura, the head of the audit team, said that records had gone missing during the audit period; records his team had reviewed could not be found at a later date while they were still conducting the audit. This could be what the private citizen and Mr. Litke are referring to. See the LWVG Observer report for the April 26 meeting.

Rich Piraino, former GPH Board President: Mr. Piraino stated that the HB110 program started in the 1980’s, and the problem with fees collected for inspections that weren’t completed happened over many health commissioners and environmental health directors.

A private citizen who didn’t state her name or where she lived asked whether the board could put another levy on the ballot in 2 or 3 years if needed? She said anything more than a renewal would probably not be accepted by the voters since the Board’s decision to contract with Lake County was supposed to save money. Several Board members indicated agreement with this. Mr. Litke said that County Auditor Chuck Walder will attend the next Board meeting and can help them understand and decide on the best course of action regarding a levy. 

Executive Session - It was stated that no Executive Session was needed.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:45 PM.

Next regular  meeting: June 28, 2023 at 5 pm. All meetings at Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B303, Chardon, OH.

More Information: http://gphohio.org/

Observer: Nina Lalich

Reviewer: 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.