Geauga Public Health (GPH) - Regular Meeting - October 25, 2023
Meeting Details: The GPH Board met in Regular Session at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B303, Chardon, OH, on October 25, 2023 at 5 pm. Geauga County Automated Data Processing (ADP) live streamed this meeting and the recording is available here. At publication, the recording has been viewed 42 times. Due to the fact that a video is available, this report will only contain highlights of the meeting. Topics discussed will be noted by the time that they appear in the video for easy reference.
Public Comment Policy: There is no separate written policy, but in practice, “Citizens’ Remarks” are included on the agenda and are permitted as detailed there.
Board Attendance: (as seated, from L to R).
Staff Attendance:
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Adam Litke - Administrator (end of table left)
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Daniel Lark - Environmental Health Director (end of table right)
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Ron Graham, Heath Commissioner for both Geauga and Lake County (seated at the end of the table right)
Legal Counsel: Not present
Others Present: Brandon Mantel, President, Donamarc Water Systems, two members of the public (unidentified), and this observer.
Call to Order: Called to order at 5:00 pm. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. A quorum was declared and delivery of official notices of meeting was certified.
Minutes: The Board approved Minutes of the Regular Meeting on 9/27 and the Special Meeting on 10/4. Observer Note: At publication, the most recent published Minutes are for the May 24, 2023 Regular Meeting.
The Agenda is listed below: Please refer to the video for additional information. Key discussions are included in this report at the time they were discussed. Note that the minutes on the recording do not correspond to the actual time as the recording started prior to 5 pm.
Health District Staff Reports
13.50 Min - Population Health Report - Mr. Litke said that the Health Department is restarting the well-child clinic and that there will be no funding for this from the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). The clinic will be restarted with help from Dr. Reed, a former Health Commissioner, and from University Hospitals. The clinic will be held at the DDC clinic which currently serves the Amish population. Services will be available to anyone; there is no income requirement.
19.00 Min - Not on Agenda, brief remarks by Brandon Mantel, President of Donamarc Water Systems - Donamarc has a contract with GPH to install the wells in Parkman. Mr. Mantel gave a status update, said that the project is going well. He answered questions from the Board about where the edge of the contamination zone is, and whether the new wells might have the same problems in the future. The deadline to use all of the state funding is October 31, after that no new, additional wells can be replaced. Reviewer Comment: Earlier this year, it was discovered that some wells in Parkman Township were contaminated by salt that had been stored at an Ohio Department of Transportation facility. Donamarc is installing new wells to replace contaminated ones.
34.50 Min - Environmental Health Report - Mr. Lark said they have sent the first 800 letters to residents in Chardon and Chesterland who will have inspections of their septic systems under the new Operations and Maintenance (O&M) program. An open meeting will be held November 2 at the Health Department to discuss the new program with residents, and Mr. Lark is hoping for better attendance than at past meetings of this type. On 12/19 there will be a meeting for septic installers that will fulfill CEU requirements. There was also a discussion of continued requests by a resident for a refund related to a type of septic system that was installed that cannot pass inspections and is no longer in use.
42.58 Min - Administrator’s Report - Mr. Litke discussed a loan fund; however, it was difficult to understand him, in person or on the recording. He mentioned the audit had started for FY 2021 and FY 2022. The first round of billing was received for services from Lake County; this was for six months, and Mr. Litke stated that the bill was about $35,000 under budget. There was a discussion regarding the best way to handle hiring new staff when needed, for example with the O&M program. The problem is that new staff will be needed to handle increased workloads, but the funds from the fees will be received after the work is done. Also, when new staff are hired, it can take two months to go through the hiring process. It will be difficult to estimate the number of inspections required, because this includes estimating how quickly people will enroll in the program.
Commissioner Graham asked for two volunteers from the Board to serve as a workgroup to start putting together several plans, including a public health accreditation plan, operations plan, workforce plan, and others. Dr. Rood and Dr. Hendrickson volunteered to serve on the workgroup. There was a discussion of the public health levy that is on the ballot in the November general election, and what might follow if the levy fails. Mr. Litke said that they can put the levy on the ballot 2 more times. If it still doesn’t pass after these additional placements on the ballot, GPH can ask villages and townships for funding. Geauga County Auditor Chuck Walder had suggested to the Board in prior discussions that they might wish to draw down their reserves before making that request.
1:00.17 - Financials - Mr. Litke said the bill from Lake County for 6 months is $650,000. In the future, the bills will be monthly. There were other discussions about minor items in the financial report and about getting a credit card that could be used to purchase some items that cannot be purchased by check or by reimbursing staff after they use their own credit cards.
1:07.55 - Health Commissioner’s Report - Mr. Graham mentioned the need for a Board workgroup (see discussion above under Administrator’s Report). He said that they have hired a health communicator who will work on social media, the website, safe communities, naloxone, the health improvement plan, and other areas. He mentioned the need for a full-time accreditation coordinator that will be shared by Geauga and Lake counties. Mr. Graham is working on a draft newsletter.
Old Business
1:11.58 Geauga Public Health Rent Discussion - Mr. Litke said he is still sifting through information and he has no updates. There are some GPH spaces that could be given over to ADP to reduce costs. Certain records have been requested from the County regarding contracts and negotiations involving other departments.
1:13.54 New Business
The following motions were approved unanimously:
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Motion to approve Resolution to approve the Financial Report
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Permission to approve appropriations for Increase/Decrease - $55,000, mostly for O&M
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Resolution to Allocate $5,000 for O&M Mailing Costs
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Resolution to Increase Certain Fees, Food Service Program, First Reading - There was a public hearing last week with only six attendees, but those who did attend expressed that they thought the increases seemed large. It was stated that increases are needed to cover the costs of doing the inspections, and catching up from lower fees during the Covid years when some of the costs were subsidized by the State. Certain fees are being kept low and will mean a loss to the department. These are the temporary licenses for things like football concessions, where GPH feels it is important to support the community and not put these types of services out of business because of fees. The same applies to Food Trucks.
1:28.40 Min: Public Comments
There were no public comments
1:29.17 Min: Executive Session - none
1:29.27 Min: Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 6:18 pm actual time.
Next Regular Meeting: November 15 at 5 pm. All meetings are held at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B303, Chardon, OH.
More Information: Geauga Public Health
Observer: Nina Lalich
Editor: Anne Ondrey
Reviewer: Sarah McGlone
Submission Date: 11/4/23
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