ADP (Automatic Data Processing) and Auditor Outline Recent State-wide
Phishing Attack
Board of County Commissioners Meeting - June 17, 2025
Meeting Details: The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) met in Regular Session on Tuesday, June 17, 2025 at 9:30 am for a meeting at the County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Room B303, Chardon, OH. Meetings can also be live streamed through the Geauga ADP Youtube channel. Recordings are available for the public. The June 17, 2025 meeting recording can be found here As of the date of publication this video has been viewed 191 times. Notations in the report refer to the minute notation on the video for a particular section. An agenda is available in advance via request to the Commissioners’ Clerk and at the meeting. Items discussed at the meeting but not on the agenda, if any, are addressed at the end of this report.
Public Comment Policy: Permitted as outlined in the BOCC’s Public Comment Policy that was adopted on January 28, 2025 and revised on April 15, 2025. Observer Note: The above link to the Policy does not have the revision, which was simply to change the time allowed for public comment from two minutes to three minutes.
Attendance: Present were Commissioners Carolyn Brakey and James Dvorak. Commissioner Ralph Spidalieri was absent. Also present were Commissioners’ Clerk Christine Blair, County Administrator Amy Bevan, Assistant County Administrator Linda Burhenne and Finance Manager Adrian Gorton.
County Representatives: Frank Antenucci, Chief Deputy Administrator, ADP; Charles (Chuck) Walder, Auditor; Zach McLeod, Department of Advanced Research and Cyber Security, ADP; Shane Hajjar, Deputy Engineer, Engineer’s Office; Linda Crombie, Director, Planning Commission; Kathleen Miller, Fiscal Specialist Water Resources; Andy Haupt, Engineer; Craig Swenson, Executive Director, Job and Family Services (JFS); and Chuck Tkach, Program Manager, Maintenance
Others in Attendance: Pam McMahan, Chief Operations Officer ADP/Auditor; Sheriff Hildebrand and Chief Deputy Sheriff Rowan; Walter (Skip) Claypool, member of the County Planning Commission; Cuyahoga County Resident Xavier Rivera; County residents Tom and Diane Jones, other members of the public and press, and this Observer.
9:03 Min The Pledge of Allegiance was recited and a prayer was offered by Commissioner Dvorak.
Minutes: No minutes were submitted for approval. Observer Note: Weekly LWVG Observer Reports for BOCC are available online through June 17, 2025 for informational purposes but are not substitutes for approved minutes. Approved BOCC Minutes are posted online here through April 1, 2025.
10:29 Min. Administrator’s Report - Ms. Bevan reported that she concurred with Burton Township requesting that a hearing be held on a liquor license for Enterprises LLC at 15015 Kinsman, Middlefield.
Financial Report - No Financials were submitted for approval.
10:57 Min. Commissioners Office received approval to request the County Auditor to establish a New Fund called the Dog Shelter/Kennel Building and Improvement Fund, to account for monies received from the State, County or any other grant or donation from an organization or the public to be expended for the purposes of acquisition, construction or improving existing or future fixed assets of the Geauga County Dog Warden related to shelters and/or kennels.
11:52 Min. Phishing Attack - The County Auditor presented an update on an ongoing phishing attack. He also acknowledged the presence of Zach McLeod, Department of Advanced Research and Cyber Security, ADP and Frank Antenucci, Chief Deputy Administrator, ADP. Mr. Walder said it was a multi-county phishing attack through inter-county relationships to spread malicious emails. Mr. Walder said they had traced the attack back to a county association meeting for engineers held at the Quest Conference Center (east of Columbus) on May 20, 2025. Mr. Walder said that the hackers obtained access through an unsecured Wi-Fi network. Mr. Walder said this could have been caused by a QR code that wasn’t going to the correct address, or an “evil twin” Wi-Fi network, or a compromised Wi-Fi network. The first attack was on the day of the conference. One week later there were different attempts, and another week later there was another attempt which resulted in a large breach, with a large contact list. From there it spread to most counties in the State. Mr. McLeod said that this was the largest phishing attempt they have seen. Mr. Walder said that once they saw this ramping up from other legitimate emails of other counties they moved into high gear. This was an engineering group and engineers correspond with a large number of other entities (townships and others). This resulted in a large breach which has spread to many counties in the State. In Geauga, the use of an early warning detector was very helpful and put their IT on alert. Umbrella software helped also, as well as the features of the version of Microsoft that the County is using.
Mr. Walder said he had two take-aways:
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When traveling, ADP is banning the use of public Wi-Fi at conference centers, hotels, restaurants and airports. He suggested that departments invest in a “hot spot” or users could use their cell phones.
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Asking employees not to click on QR codes unless they are confident that they know where they are going. Mr. Walder said that QR codes are easy to manipulate.
Mr. Walder said that there is a 10 county coalition sharing data, for which he credited Mr. McLeod. Mr. Walder also said that they were working 100 hour weeks in order to make sure they were responding to everything that was happening.
Mrs. Brakey asked for the response time to the report of a phishing email. Mr. Walder said that as soon as a phishing email is identified, the email gets isolated.
Some counties are still locked out of the Geauga system (no emails can be received from these counties), which Mr. Walder called a Domain blocking. He said there is a Domain unblock process. The county has to send a report and state what steps they have taken to remedy the problem. Mr. Walder also said that if the county doesn’t use MFA (Multi-factor Authentication), they don’t unblock them.
Mrs. Brakey said she wanted to recognize staff who caught and reported the phishing attempts and commended Ms. Christine Blair, Commissioners’ Clerk, for her actions. Mr. Walder urged employees not to click on questionable links, but to use the “report” button so that ADP could isolate the email and investigate.
Mr. Walder said that eight counties are still blocked (as of the date of the meeting) and Mr. McLeod said that in their opinion this was probably the first step by someone trying to get access. The next step would be that they would sell these emails to another party, and this party would potentially try a Ransomware attack.
35 Min. The County Engineer’s Office received approval for the following:
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to award the Bid to Ronyak Paving, Incorporated for the Asphalt Resurfacing of Sperry Road (CH-0012, Sections B-G) in Newbury, Russell and Chester Townships in the amount of $1,220,100.00 as they represented the lowest and best bid. The Bid Bond submitted shall be held to serve as the Performance Bond for this project.
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to award the Bid to Ronyak Paving, Incorporated for the Asphalt Resurfacing of Fairmount Road (CH-0016, Sections C-E) in Newbury and Russell Townships in the amount of $690,223.00 as they represented the lowest and best bid. The Bid Bond submitted shall be held to serve as the Performance Bond for this project.
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to execute Change Order #1, increasing the Contract with Ronyak Paving, Incorporated for the Asphalt Resurfacing of Auburn Road (CH-0004, Sections R-U) in Chardon Township in the amount of $39,943.50. Mr. Hajjar said that this change was necessary because after they “milled off the surface,” they discovered that more work than anticipated needed to be done.
37 Min. The Planning Commission received approval for the following:
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to execute the Final Plat for Coldwater Reserve Replat of Sublots 15 and 16, creating Sublot 15-R in Hambden Township. Ms. Crombie said this is a consolidation of six acres.
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to execute the Final Plat for Lake Lucerne Subdivision No. 1, Replat of Sublots 4 and 5 Block M, as recorded in Volume 2, Pages 21-24 of Geauga County Records, creating Sublot 4R in Bainbridge Township. This is a 1.1 acre consolidation according to Ms. Crombie.
38:20 Min. The Department of Water Resources received approval to execute the service Contract Agreement with Mission Communications to perform Monitoring and Alarm Services at various locations within the Department, effective May 1, 2025 through November 30, 2026, in an amount not to exceed $40,000.00 ($35,000.00 Wastewater and $5,000.00 Water). Ms. Miller said that a couple items went up but the work did not require a bid. She said that ADP had reviewed and approved this.
40 Min. The Commissioners Office received approval for the following:
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to execute Resolution #25-134 Seventh Amended Resolution Approving the Use of County Credit Cards for the Year 2025 to include for the Department on Aging, a Geauga Credit Union Visa Card, and add additional employees for Job and Family Services cards, pursuant to O.R.C. 301.27.
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to execute the Application for Authorization to permit the use of County Credit Cards for the Department on Aging, for use of the Geauga Credit Union Visa, for the Year 2025, pursuant to O.R.C. 301.27.
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to execute the Application for Authorization to permit the use of County Credit Cards for Job and Family Services to add additional employees for use of the Capital One Walmart Community Card, and Wright Express (WEX) Fleet card, for the Year 2025, pursuant to O.R.C. 301.27.
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to execute the Certification Request to County Auditor, Request to Board of Commissioners Quarterly Use of County Credit Cards, pursuant to O.R.C. 301.27 for the Year 2025 (Quarters 1, 2, 3 and 4) for the Department on Aging – Geauga Credit Union Visa.
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to execute Resolution #25-135 to Ratify an Amendment to Article IV, Section 4.2 to the Code of Regulations of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA), to designate one of its seats to be specifically reserved for the County Engineer. Mr. Dvorak said that other counties have their Engineer as a voting member, but in Geauga, due to the lower number of voting members (based on population), this will not increase the total number of voting members.
51 Min. - 10:18 am Executive Session: The Department of Job and Family Services received approval to move into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing the compensation of a public employee, pursuant to O.R.C. 121.22 (G) (1).
1:00 Min. - 10:27 am Return from Executive Session - Action - Approval for a Merit Raise of 3% for one employee, Lisa Ngate, to be effective June 22nd 2025.
1:03 Min. Executive Session: The Commissioners’ Office received approval to move into Executive Session for the purpose of considering the purchase of property for public purposes, if premature disclosure of information would give an unfair competitive or bargaining advantage to a person whose personal, private interest is adverse to the general public interest, pursuant to O.R.C. 121.22 (G)(2).
1:16 Min. Return from Executive Session at 10:37 am. No Action.
1:16 Min. Board Discussion – Letter to the Ohio Department of Health regarding the O & M (Operations and Maintenance) Program. Mrs. Brakey authored this letter, which was also approved by Mr. Dvorak. The letter was obtained by this Observer and said in part:
“We are writing to express our deep concerns regarding the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) septic inspection program mandated under Ohio Administrative Code 3701-29-19. This program, while well-intentioned, has created a significant and unnecessary burden on our residents—particularly those on fixed incomes—without clear evidence of improved environmental outcomes.
Geauga County is uniquely impacted by this regulation. The majority of our residents live in homes serviced by septic systems—estimated at approximately 30,000 across the county. These are not fringe cases; they represent the backbone of our rural housing infrastructure.”
Mrs. Brakey concluded: “We believe Ohio can protect clean water without saddling residents with another unfunded state mandate. A more targeted approach—grounded in complaint response, high-risk system identification, and public education— could better safeguard environmental health without imposing universal fees and inspections on responsible homeowners.
We stand ready to work with your office to find a more balanced path forward—one that upholds environmental health while respecting the financial realities of rural Ohioans.”
117 Min. House Bill 335 - Mrs. Brakey said she also wanted to talk about this Bill which is pending in the House.
She said, “House Bill 335 was recently introduced by Representative Dave Thomas out of Ashtabula and that it would eliminate inside millage for counties, municipalities and schools.” Mrs. Brakey asked County Finance Manager, Adrian Gorton how this would impact Geauga County, and he said that Geauga County receives $11.5 million in inside millage. This amount would be lost in the General Fund every year if House Bill 335 passed. Mrs. Brakey said that the sales tax for Geauga County is currently at 1%, combined with the 5.75% State Sales tax means we pay 6.75% in Geauga County. Mrs. Brakey said that Geauga could go up to a total of 8%, so that would be one approach to make up for the lost revenue. She stated that they would have to go up 0.56% but not to the full 8% to make up for the loss of funds in the General Fund. Additionally, she pointed out that there is also potentially a constitutional amendment which would eliminate all property taxes. Mrs. Brakey said that if that passed it would eliminate $40 million in revenue for the county. She said that the County Commissioners Association of Ohio (CCAO) is requesting that counties submit testimony regarding House Bill 335. Mrs. Brakey said that other options could include cutting discretionary spending or a hiring freeze. Mrs. Brakey said in her opinion that the state “legislature needs to just completely deregulate because so many of the reasons why county government is as big as it is is because of these unfunded mandates that are put on the legislature on the counties.” Observer Note: The proposed Constitutional Amendment to ban property taxes is in the process of gathering signatures. See Channel 6 report here for more information.
Mr. Dvorak said that he has been in contact with Commissioner Casey Kozlowski in Ashtabula. He said that, “we talk about every two weeks on this subject and I think you know some people are excited about no property tax.” He said that it would be hard to raise $11.5 million dollars “overnight.” Mr. Gordon said that the loss of $11.5 million would just be lost revenue in the County’s General Fund. He pointed out that there are other departments that receive funds from levies (like Job and Family Services, Developmental Disabilities and Office on Aging) and those departments could also be impacted. Mrs. Brakey confirmed that if House Bill 335 passed, it would not impact townships (due to the way the bill is currently written). Mr. Dvorak said, “yeah you construct a letter to Columbus, we'll go from there okay?”
Mrs. Brakey said she would prepare something for the next meeting.
1:37:06 Public Comment
Xavier Rivera, a citizen from Cleveland, said he was taking a day off from work (which he said he would have to make up) to urge the Commissioners to stop housing ICE detainees. This is part of what he said: “As of January dozens of people were detained here after a series of arrests in northeast Ohio where 20 people were arrested. The ACLU has requested information from the county about the conditions and the identities of these people but has been rebuffed. This is a failure of Geauga County to be transparent to the people who reside here as well as to the people who reside around it. I ask you this in the wake of our president admitting what people like myself have already known and have been saying for years. He said last week ‘Our farmers are being hurt badly. They have good workers that have worked for them for 20 years.’ “ Observer Note: See the Capital Journal for information. There was no update regarding the lawsuit following Mr. Rivera’s comments.
Howard from South Russell Village announced that this Saturday there was going to be a “fly-in” at the Geauga Airport so that young people could find out about flying. He also said that Liberty Camp will be happening in July.
1:28 Min. Walter (Skip) Claypool commented about having the Engineer as an alternate to NOACA (see above). He said that he believed that there should be a fourth voting member, so that the three commissioners (or their representatives) and the Engineer could all attend. He objected to the by-law change, and felt that it bypassed public hearing on this topic. He said this “demonstrates to me a lack of integrity. One of the commissioners who's likely impacted is not in this meeting. This board never had a public discussion about doing this. It was two commissioners from this board who went to NOACA and made a request for this by-law change circumventing the public process in hearing what the case should be. This board should be going and asking NOACA to add a fourth seat.”
Elsie Tarcy (correct spelling unknown, South Russell)) also said that NOACA should provide an additional seat for Geauga County. She said, “I also advocate that we get out of NOACA and . . . go in with Lake County and get other counties so that we are more represented. Geauga County is rural. We are not urban like Cuyahoga County and they have 51% of the vote. . . “ She also talked about having Liberty Camp USA be part of the 250th celebration. She said no one has gotten back to her to get invited to the meeting.
Christine Samuel from Munson Township said she agrees with “Skip” on the NOACA issue. In her opinion, “We’re never going to have representation.” She felt that Geauga should leave NOACA.
Meeting adjourned at 1:38 Min. on the video, which would be roughly 11:04 am.
More Information and Posted Minutes: Available here.
Next Regular Meeting of the BOCC: The next two Regular Meetings of the BOCC will be on Tuesday, June 23, 2025 and Tuesday July 1, 2025 at 9:30 am at the County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Room B303, Chardon, OH.
Observer: Gail Roussey
Editor: Rooney Moy
Reviewer: Carol Benton
Date Submitted: June 23, 2025
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