Geauga Public Health Board Notes Two Measles Cases in Ohio
At the Time of the Meeting
Geauga Public Health (GPH) - March 26, 2025
Meeting Details: The GPH Board met in Regular Session at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B334, Chardon, OH, on March 26, 2025 at 5 pm. This meeting is in person with no virtual viewing or video. The Agenda is posted on the GPH Facebook page a few days prior to the meeting and then typically is posted on the GPH website. The Agenda can be found here. Observer Note: Prior to the January meeting, GPH meetings were live streamed with a video posted later. This was done by Geauga ADP (Automatic Data Processing) for no charge, but Geauga Public Health was informed in December 2024 that going forward there would be an annual charge of $15,000 for this service. The GPH Board elected to discontinue this practice due to the cost involved. See December 18, 2024 GPH Observer Report for details.
Public Comment Policy: There is no separate written policy, but in practice “Citizens’ Remarks” are listed on the agenda and are permitted as detailed there.
Board Attendance:
Dr. Mark Hendrickson, President
Dr. Ashley Jones
Christine Sutter
Lynn Roman
Melissa DeBoth was absent.
Observer Note: Dr. Mark Rood’s term on the Board expired at the end of March, 2025. Mrs. Roman and Mrs. Sutter were appointed to GPH at the March 12, 2025 Health District Advisory Council (HDAC) meeting.
Staff Attendance:
Dan Lark, Director of Environmental Health
Ron Graham, Lake and Geauga Health Commissioner
Adam Litke, Administrator
Others Present: Five members of the public, a reporter from the Geauga Maple Leaf, and this LWVG Observer were present.
Call to Order: Called to order at 5:00 pm.
Opening of Meeting
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
New Board members Christine Sutter and Lynn Roman were asked to briefly introduce themselves.
Christina Sutter said she is a registered nurse and worked in health care for 9 years, grew up in Geauga County and attended Kenston schools and Kent State University, receiving her Masters in Nursing Administration in 2024. She noted she worked for an excavating company pulling permits.
Having left the Board in March 2024, Lynn Roman said she is rejoining for a two-year term. She stated that her background is primarily in healthcare, working in state organizations, starting right after college in public health education with ODH (Ohio Department of Health) in a temporary swine flu program. She continued that she was administrator for three different divisions at the Cleveland Clinic over her 14 years there. She ended her career at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, putting up a “life help online” and telehealth program back in 2010-13, when it was launched. She noted that telehealth didn’t become popular until Covid and is now used extensively.
Certification of the Delivery of Official Notices of Meeting was declared.
Minutes - Approval of the February 26, 2025, minutes was tabled until next month’s meeting to give new board members, Mrs. Sutter and Mrs. Roman, the opportunity to review them. Ms. Deboth’s return next month will give them a quorum for the vote. The minutes are available here when posted.
Health District Staff Reports
Observer Note: These reports are available with the Agenda on the Geauga Public Health (GPH) website. See Agenda here.
Population Health Report – Mr. Litke said there is no update. He noted that Dr. Hendrickson had reached out about measles and that GPH does monitor it. He reminded the Board that Ohio defines an outbreak as two or more cases in the same setting. He noted that schools get frustrated with this definition because they don't want the word “outbreak” in any school language.
There was a brief discussion about the measles outbreak in Texas. Dr. Hendrickson noted that one element in the US that leads to outbreaks is the lack of childhood vaccination. Later in the discussion Mrs. Roman asked if the number of vaccinations had increased. Mr. Litke said the increase was minimal. He did note that they are seeing a drop in the number of child vaccinations, saying “a lot of people don’t want to do those anymore, I’m assuming because of the liability.” He said GPH offers the vaccine and tries to be mindful not to waste doses due to low demand and no-shows. He noted vaccine vials, which contain 10 doses, must be opened for a single patient, sometimes leading to the waste of 9 doses.
Dr. Jones asked for an update on the free car seat and crib grant, saying that the issue of a supplier change had come up at a recent Child Fatality Review Board meeting.
Mr. Litke said that while the car seats and cribs are provided to GPH free of charge, the GPH personnel for the program are not. Mr. Litke said their department runs on a tight budget, and they can’t afford the time or expense of moving staff away from other programs to administer this unfunded program. As an example of costs, he noted that the program requires staff to attend a 2-day training in Columbus, taking them away from their usual duties. He said he would like to do the program but cannot without more funding.
Dr. Jones asked if there will still be a resource for car seats and cribs in the county. Mr. Litke did not know, but said they are looking for community partners to help them.
Environmental Health Report - Mr. Lark said GPH is holding five public meetings, including one held last Monday morning, for septic system providers to review recently distributed information on the Operations & Maintenance (O & M)program. Last week they had two evening meetings and will have two more evening meetings next week, all in the northeast Munson area.
Mr. Litke said he and Mr. Lark are working on a training for Board members on the O & M program (the biggest program in the department) in April. They hope to provide brief updates to the Board on O & M once or twice a year going forward to keep them abreast of developments. Observer Note: For more information on the health department’s O & M program, click here.
Administrator’s Report – Mr. Litke reported that he and Mr. Graham are closely monitoring their workforce development grant for $100,000 coming from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) for staff funding. He said it is unclear whether COVID is in the grant title, which could jeopardize the funds as the federal government has been clawing back COVID monies. Mr. Litke stressed the importance of the $100,000 to their budget, which has been significantly affected by inflation. He said they are looking at ways to cut expenses, such as cutting staffing at their Geauga County Fair booth.
He also noted they are also concerned about the budgetary effect of a possible employer payment increase of up to 4% to the employee retirement plan. He stated that a 4% increase would “be catastrophic.”
Health Commissioner’s Report - Mr. Graham said there are two cases of measles in Ohio. He stated they will pay special attention to the Amish population regarding measles and will partner with University Hospitals to prepare in case of an outbreak.
Mr. Graham stated that the only other update was about their 2025 accreditation. He said it was a self-assessment of their ability to remain accredited in the face of all their reductions in services and staff. He said there are 12 domains to complete and that each month he will bring his assessments of two domains to the Board so they can track the report’s progress.
Mr. Litke said they have been frustrated with accreditation reviewers who challenge the benefit of programs because GPH can’t demonstrate their value on paper. Mr. Litke cited visits to Amish families in Claridon to discuss community issues as an example.
Dr. Jones noted that many public health programs can take years to show results.
Old Business – None
New Business
6.01 Election of Board of Health President and President Pro Tempore
Dr. Jones was nominated to be Board of Public Health President and Dr. Hendrickson was nominated as President Pro Tempore. Both were elected unanimously.
Dr. Jones and Dr. Hendrickson jointly ran the meeting after the vote.
6.02 Resolutions
Board members reviewed and signed bills ready for payment.
Mrs. Roman asked for clarification of “Then and Now.” Mr. Litke explained that the phrase refers to items purchased before a purchase order is opened.
The following were taken together and approved unanimously:
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6.01.01 Financial Reports, Resolution 25-03-06-01-01
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6.01.02 Permission to Approve Appropriations for Increase/Decrease
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6.01.03 Resolution 2025-18: Then and Now Purchase Order to Expert IT, Not to Exceed $15,552.00
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6.01.04 Resolution 2025-19: Then and Now The Baldwin Group, Not to Exceed $4,214.00
Mr. Litke explained that the additional payment to The Baldwin Group was for a contract extension for the remainder of the year. He said GPH had hoped to finish using this expensive, “antiquated” computer system this year but kept it for one more since the new state program hasn’t been rolled out yet.
After extensive discussion (below) the Resolution was approved by Dr. Hendrickson, Mrs. Roman and Mrs. Sutter. Dr. Jones abstained due to a conflict of interest.
Resolution’s First Reading was as follows:
“As part of the Operation and Maintenance Program, the Health District is obligated to perform compliance inspections if a homeowner does not perform the required maintenance for the system at the house during the permit term. State law allows the Health District to recoup the cost of the compliance inspection. The purpose of this inspection is to confirm that a public health nuisance does not exist at the property.”
The resolution proposes an Operation and Maintenance fee of $300.00.
Mr. Lark explained that the fee is needed to recoup O & M program costs related to septic inspection visits required by state law intended to ensure required system maintenance is being performed. He said he hopes they will never have to charge the fee, stating their goal is for the homeowner to work with a service provider to perform the appropriate service for their septic system.
Mr. Lark said if the homeowner doesn’t comply, the law requires GPH to perform a home visit to make sure the septic system isn’t creating a public health nuisance. The fee would cover inspector time, mileage and some administrative time for certified letters and similar paperwork.
Mr. Litke noted that the septic failure rate in Geauga County over the past 20 years was 41%, as compared to the statewide rate of 36-39%.
Mr. Lark added it is disturbing to find that for Non-Traditional Septic Systems (NTPS), they saw that at least 10% were turned off and discharging raw sewage out to a ditch or waterway while still others were broken in some way. Observer Note: NTPS are alternative wastewater treatment and disposal systems that are different from the conventional septic tank and drainfield setup. Most systems have a tank that drains into a ditch or waterway after treating the wastewater.
There was discussion about how to handle non-compliance. Mr. Litke noted that the Prosecutor’s Office has said they do not have the capacity to handle the large number of projected non-compliance cases. He said that is why they chose to have compliance inspections. If a system is causing a public health nuisance, they would issue the homeowner a legal order and then if they didn't comply, the matter would go to the Prosecutor's Office.
Mr. Litke expressed understanding for residents with non-compliant NTPS and other systems,
noting that GPH had not been enforcing EPA requirements for 17 years. He says they work with residents to find reasonable solutions.
Mrs. Roman pointed out that this situation occurred under a wholly different set of people in the department. Dr. Hendrickson added that “it is our current leadership team that has saved Geauga County and is turning it around, and it is a very difficult process as it has demonstrated, and we need to continue to support them.”
Mr. Litke discussed their Water Pollution Control Loan Fund (WPCLF) which provides monies to
low-income Geauga residents for septic repair and maintenance. He noted that any surplus funds generated by the O & M program will go into the WPCLF.
Mrs. Roman asked how much state grant money GPH received for the WPCLF program. Mr. Litke
said it was originally $300,000, reduced to $150,000 and then reduced further to $75,000 because the funds weren’t used for several years. He noted funding “has been a roller coaster” with dollars briefly cut to zero before GPH petitioned for the funds to be restored.
Mrs. Roman said she liked the idea of putting any surplus into the WPCLF. She also reminded the audience that the sale of property was how septic systems were checked in the past. As a result, Geauga County has been way behind in inspections.
Mrs. Roman also stated there is a need for community education to explain the O & M program and why GPH is required to do it. Mr. Graham said they’ve had good coverage about the program, noting they had a combined total of 80 attendees at their last two public meetings. He said flyers about the program are also available at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
There was a brief Board discussion about the value of Facebook as a communication tool. Mr. Litke noted that their 6,100 followers are a small percentage of Geauga’s population of 90,000.
Mr. Graham said in this second year of the O & M program, GPH is doing a lot more repairs than replacements, which is a huge cost savings for citizens. He noted they are working on assessment, awareness and education with the community because enforcement, though ultimately required, is the last thing they want to do.
Mrs. Roman asked if GPH was still working with realtors. Mr. Graham replied they have a meeting with a realtor group coming up. Mr. Litke said they try to deal with realtors as much as possible because they are usually the first interaction someone has with the program.
7.0 Citizens’ Remarks –
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Geauga residents Karen and Tom Rudar expressed frustration over the new requirement for annual inspections. They said that when they moved into their house in 1998, the septic service provider told them their system would require service every three or four years. They had followed that procedure up until now, noting that they are a household of only 2. With inspections and permits costing $330 a year, they wondered why they were being penalized for their good property stewardship while others were not. They asked if there could be an exclusion or adjustment for septic owners who are consistently compliant. Mr. Rudar also expressed concern about the wear and tear on their cement septic cover which has been chipped and beginning to crack due to frequent lifting for inspections.
Dr. Hendrickson said that is an excellent idea, but that Ohio state law currently requires the annual inspections. He said he would like to ask the state to allow exceptions to the inspections based on the type of septic system, positive results and household size.
Mr. Litke confirmed with the Rudars that they have an aeration system. He told them that state code requires homeowners to follow the manufacturer’s minimum recommended maintenance for each type of unit and that annual inspection is recommended for aeration systems.
Overall, the Board and GPH staff agreed with audience members about the need for exemptions, saying this is an issue they have been considering as well. In addition, they said:
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Any change to the laws would take time, noting that it took 30 years for the legislature to finally agree on a septic plan and that makes the state hesitant to make changes. Also, collecting a critical mass of data from the program to present to legislators will take years.
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Annual permitting is required by law for every Ohio septic system with complex mechanical or pretreatment components.
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GPH does not currently have flexibility with state inspection requirements.
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The program is only in its second year. The first year focused on the most advanced and expensive septic systems, such as NTPS. Plans for traditional septic systems with drain fields, the majority of the county’s systems, are being rolled out this year.
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Geauga has an exceptionally large number of septic systems (30,000+) compared to other counties, which makes the O & M program a big priority for GPH. Much of GPH’s processes are considered the gold standard by other health departments. GPH thinks that many state septic regulations may be feasible for counties with 10,000 or fewer systems, as these counties probably don’t encounter the same types of problems GPH does.
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Getting a state exclusion would be easier for traditional septic systems which are on a five-year maintenance/inspection plan.
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Though they don’t have flexibility with inspection frequency, GPH could potentially lower permit costs. The current, outdated computer software program has limited how the permit process is structured. GPH is planning to purchase new software next year which will allow them to gather and track data more easily and redevelop program costs. The new software will also help them track different homes and systems to create a template for possible exemptions. In addition, the new data could improve the department’s workload by reducing the number of required inspection visits.
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Mr. Litke said the GPH must comply with the law or face penalties, such as reassignment of all their environmental health programs to another entity who will create their own fee structure.
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The $300 inspection fee pays for the inspector’s salary and mileage as well as an administrative fee for such things as certified letters and court appearances.
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GPH has a good relationship with its state representatives who are monitoring the program. GPH expects they would advocate for their concerns to the legislature. Mr. Litke said he has no problem pushing the state to make exceptions or exemptions for household size.
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GPH is constantly re-evaluating its fee structure to keep them as low as possible.
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GPH audits the work of the septic service providers to ensure reports are accurate.
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GPH had investigated offering rebates to citizens, but learned it was illegal. They are looking into other ways to “put money back into citizens’ pockets.”
After discussion with the Rudars, Mr. Litke asked them to give their contact information to Mr. Graham to make sure they are kept abreast of developments. Mr. Graham thanked the Rudars for their courtesy and common-sense observations.
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Ms. List warned the staff that someone who planned to attend one of the upcoming Munson public meetings had heard GPH is not doing their sampling correctly. Mr. Graham responded that GPH sampled over 2,000 systems last year. He said they do not follow manufacturer recommendations 100% but find that they get better results than when using recommended procedures. He said their sampling methods are more efficient which allows them to cover more homes in a day and still yield better results. He said each year GPH does comparison sampling to make sure that their methods are sound.
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There was a brief discussion about requirements for NTPS systems, including EPA requirements for the homeowner.
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There was further discussion about the different types of septic systems which GPH has classified into three general groups to simplify the information for GPH and homeowners. Mr. Lark said they are working on a flow diagram to help residents visually understand compliance requirements.
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Mr. Litke said they are investigating training videos to post on Facebook to cover such topics as how and why GPH takes samples. Details are still being determined. Ms. List asked if they had considered working with Auburn Career Center to develop the videos, and Mr. Litke said they work with them a lot and that they are exploring that option. Mr. Lark expressed concern about distributing a video so early in the process that they ultimately may need to revise. He said he fears putting out information that they “can’t put…back in the bottle.”
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Mr. Litke stated they are considering testing the area waterways to evaluate any changes. He noted they should have a reason for the testing, not simply test for testing’s sake. He said they are looking at a variety of different things that will help the public and state understand what they are doing.
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There was a question about the status of the video live streaming for the Board meetings. Mr. Litke said they learned that ADP’s annual cost for the video would be approximately $20,000 and, given the expense and limited number of video views, the Board decided not to continue using it. Mr. Litke says they are looking at other options. He also noted they try to keep the minutes updated and post news to their Facebook page to keep the public informed. Observer Note: Prior to the January meeting, GPH meetings were live streamed with a video posted later. This was done by Geauga ADP (Automatic Data Processing) for no charge.
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There was a question about Covid-related grant cuts being related to DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) cuts. Mr. Litke said he didn’t think they were specific to DOGE, but he could understand deciding to cut funds designated for a program that had been over for 3 years. He pointed to unexpected GPH budget cuts by the state legislature as a reason he is especially mindful about expenses.
8.0 Executive Session - No session requested.
Motion to Adjourn at 6:25 pm
Next Regular Meeting: April 16, 2025 at 5:00 pm. All meetings are held at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B 167-168, Chardon, OH.
More Information: Geauga Public Health
Observer: Rooney Moy
Editor: Sarah McGlone
Reviewer: Carol Benton
Submission Date: April 7, 2025
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