Geauga Public Health (GPH) - Regular Meeting - November 15, 2023
Meeting Details: The GPH Board met in Regular Session at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B303, Chardon, OH, on November 15, 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 68 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. Typically the Agenda is posted on their Facebook page a few days prior to the meeting.
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)
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Kristi Pinkley (staff member, in the audience, later gave a presentation)
Legal Counsel: Not present
Others Present: Ralph Piraino, former GPH Board President. This observer attended virtually and it wasn’t possible to see who was in the audience on the YouTube video.
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 10/25. Observer Note: Published minutes are up-to-date; the most recent minutes published are for the October 4, 2023 Special Meeting. Board of Health Minutes
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 (Observer Note: These reports are available with the agenda on the GPH Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/GPHOHIO)
13.04 Min - Population Health Report - Ms. Brakey, Dr. Jones and Mr. Litke attended the GPH Trunk or Treat display at the Halloween event occurring at the Sheriff’s Office on October 26. They said it was a successful event with 1,900 children attending. Ms. Roman asked about the high volume of cases of Pertussis in the Amish population (largely unvaccinated). Mr. Litke responded that a person (unnamed) in the Amish community said that they view it as a nuisance and they got through it.
15.10 Min - Environmental Health Report - Mr. Lark said they did school inspections at all the Amish schools for the first time in three years. GPH is supposed to do school inspections twice a year. Observer note: an email from Adam Litke stated that the delay was mostly due to Covid. Mr. Lark said there are over 60 Amish schools. GPH consulted with the Amish Superintendent to assure mutual cooperation.
At 16.55 Min, staff member Kristi Pinkley (who also works for Lake County on the same program) gave a presentation about the Operation & Maintenance (O&M) Program for Household Sewage. Reviewer Note: This is a state mandated program and Geauga County is just starting to schedule inspections. She talked about the public meetings and communication efforts, and the progress with notices sent out, payments received, unpaid bills that will be assessed on 2024 tax bills, and sampling and inspections that will begin soon. They are setting up systems for tracking the sampling/inspection process, mailing results, online payment portal, and a schedule for remaining systems. Dr. Jones asked about the private service contracts that are required being a duplication with the GPH inspections/sampling. Ms. Pinkley said that the service contracts are primarily to provide maintenance services and they do not normally do sampling, so there isn’t any duplication. She also gave examples from her experience with Lake County where she said they have about a 70% compliance rate.
Dr. Rood asked about the next phase of implementation when the vast majority of septic systems will be inspected, and inquired about plans for additional staff. Mr. Litke discussed the timeline considerations for this. Mr. Lark discussed the program of stream sampling around the county that might be able to show improvement in water quality as the septic systems are better inspected and maintained as this will show the benefits of the program. Ms. Pinkley said they are matching up lists from the Auditor’s website of all properties to lists of all properties connected to sewers. This would allow them to find all properties that do not have sewers and probably have septic systems.
Ms. Pinkley also discussed inspections of the HB110 systems for businesses.
Mr. Litke showed the new website for the O&M program.
Ms. Brakey asked about doing a presentation about the O&M program at the Health District Advisory Committee (HDAC) meeting in March.
53.28 Min - Administrator’s Report - Mr. Litke discussed the final well that will be drilled in Parkman. The Board thanked Mr. Ralph Piraino (former Board President) for his work in support of the levy which passed. ServSafe classes are being held at the GPH office (there was no description of this program).
56.43 Min - Financials - Mr. Litke responded to questions about various line items in the financial report.
59.00 - Health Commissioner’s Report - Mr. Graham met with the Board workgroup (Drs. Rood and Hendricks) regarding the 5-year cycle for reviewing fees. He discussed the process of accreditation and various items that have to be reported (also a 5-year cycle). There are 5 standards that are only minimally being met by GPH. These are (1) health promotion strategies to mitigate preventable health conditions; (2) laws reviewed in order to determine the need for revisions; (3) Process to assess the availability of health services; (Mr. Graham’s discussion was unclear as to the remaining standards. Observer note: In a separate email Adam Litke provided a draft report that included the remaining standards, and there were actually 6 of them: (4) Implemented strategies to increase access to health care services; (5) Communicated research findings, including public health implications; and (6) Actions taken by the governing entity tracked and reviewed. Mr. Graham will have a draft report ready for the Board to review next month. Mr. Graham listed some of the areas where there have been savings as a result of the cooperative agreement with Lake County. These include staff and management, food fees (as a result of Mr. Lark doing work for both counties), efficiency and volume discounts such as with Stamps.com and the payment portal; they will do some comparisons of the first year with the cooperative agreement vs. the previous year. He also mentioned there will be a newsletter ready to go out by the end of the year. It is being reviewed by Ms. Brakey.
Old Business
1:04.10 Geauga Public Health Rent Discussion - Mr. Litke gave background on the rent issue. Originally the County was going to charge $58,000 in rent. That was decreased to $48,000, and could go down to $42,000 by adjusting/decreasing the space. ORC says the County MAY provide free space to the Health Department, but the County declined to do this. Ms. Brakey then talked about some Ohio Attorney General opinions from the 1980s that say the County Commissioners (BOCC) are required to provide rent-free space and to pay for utilities and janitorial services. She sent a letter to the BOCC saying she would present this to the GPH Board at this meeting tonight, and she would recommend discontinuing any further discussions about rent. The BOCC replied that they were aware of these opinions, but they said GPH is not a General Health District but rather a Combined District since they serve not only townships and villages but also the city of Chardon. However, even though the BOCC disagreed with the Attorney General opinions, they agreed not to charge rent to GPH. There was a discussion of what space was needed vs. what could be given over to other groups. Dr. Hendricks asked whether a legal agreement could be prepared outlining current and future needs. The Board expects an expansion as the O&M program gets up and running. Mr. Litke mentioned the current contract with Lake County doesn’t include the O&M program or staffing needs for that program. Currently they need 2 additional staff to help with this program. Ms. Brakey and others voiced their concern over why the BOCC withheld information about the Attorney General opinions and stood by while the GPH Board spent time and effort dealing with the rent issue.
1:20.20 Resolution to Increase Certain Fees, Food Service Program, Second Reading - This was unanimously approved.
1:21.41 New Business
The following motions were approved unanimously:
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7.01.01 Financial Reports, Resolution 23-11-07-01-01
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7.01.02 Permission to Approve Appropriations for Increase/Decrease - transfers money out of funds that would normally pay for items in the Lake county agreement and put them in the general fund which will make the payment to Lake county.
Permission to Approve 2024 Geauga Public Health Budget - The budget was provided to Board members in advance of the meeting. Mr. Litke said the best case scenario is that expenses in the general fund will be under the revenue by about $128,000. This will probably be closer to zero, because not all of the NPDES inspection permits will be paid for right away. Mr. Litke said the beginning cash balance is an estimate, based on today’s cash balance minus 25%, to be conservative. Primary changes in the 2024 budget compared to 2023 include a possible increase to the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), and additional staff and income related to the O&M program. Mr. Litke noted that this is an initial budget, and the final budget will be available sometime in March of 2024.Reviewer Note: The financial report is available on Facebook through the Agenda by scrolling past the draft Agenda. The Budget was not posted. There was a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of being a public vs. private sector employee. A draft of the 2025 budget will be presented to the Health District Advisory Council for their input on March 13. The motion to approve was passed unanimously by roll call vote.
1:39.50 Min: Public Comments
Former Board president Rich Piraino asked about certain septic systems that were known to have premature failure rates, prompting homeowners to have to install new systems that worked better. Some homeowners had the permit fees waived, and Mr. Piraino wanted to know if the other 6-8 homeowners would also get the permit fees waived? The Board wants staff (Mr. Lark and Mr. Litke) to gather more information and bring the issue to the Board at the next meeting. Dr. Rood said he recalled that they were told previously there might be a few hundred of these systems. Mr. Piraino also said the Ohio Association of Realtors and the Lake/Geauga realtors are offering their assistance with the O&M program, including funding they have available.
Another member of the public thanked the Board for digging into issues like the rent and not just rubber stamping everything “...like other boards do.”
1:46.30 Min: Executive Session - none
1:46.38 Min: Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 6:35 pm actual time.
Next Regular Meeting: December 20 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: 11/20/23
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