GPH Answers Questions about 2023, 2024 and 2025 Missed Payments for
the Lake County Cross Jurisdictional Agreement
Geauga Public Health (GPH) - June 18, 2025
Meeting Details: The GPH Board met in Regular Session at the Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Suite B334, Chardon, OH, on June 18, 2025. The meeting began 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: There was a special meeting of Geauga Public Health on Monday, June 16, 2025 “to approve expenditures.” This Observer obtained copies of the Resolutions that were passed at that meeting which are detailed below. No other details of this meeting are known at this time.
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:
Staff Attendance:
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Dan Lark, Director of Environmental Health
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Adam Litke, Administrator
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Ron Graham, Lake and Geauga Health Commissioner
Others Present: Reporters from the Geauga Maple Leaf, and Geauga Times Courier and this LWVG Observer were present.
Call to Order: Called to order at 5:01 pm.
Opening of Meeting
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. A quorum was declared, as was a Certification of the Delivery of
Official notices of meeting.
Minutes -The Board approved the Minutes of the Regular Meeting held on May 28, 2025. Minutes, once posted, can be viewed here.
Health District Staff Reports
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Environmental Health - Mr. Lark said he had nothing to add at this time.
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Administrator's Report - Mr. Litke said that there had been an event at Geauga Hospital at 10:30 pm the previous night to which he and another staff member had responded. Due to the nature of the event, he said he couldn’t discuss it further.
Health Commissioner Report
Mr. Graham said he just had an update on House Bill 309, which he did not report on in depth but said he would be watching it.
Ms. Roman asked about the Association of Ohio Health Commissioners. In the report Mr. Graham submitted, he said there was an opening. Mr. Graham stated that he would find out more information.
Mr. Graham also had a paragraph in his report about the testimony of Health and Human Services Director Robert Kennedy to Congress. Mr. Graham’s report cites Director Kennedy as saying that there would be $30 billion in cuts to HHS. Ms. Roman asked if this would impact Geauga, and Mr. Graham said he didn’t think it would.
Old Business - None
New Business - The Following Resolutions were approved:
There were no questions or comments from the Board
This Observer asked (during the Public Portion, but reflected here) for clarification on Resolutions passed at the Special Meeting on June 16 which appear to overlap with those passed at the May Regular meeting. Mr. Litke said that they had to be “redone,” however, there was no Resolution rescinding the prior Resolutions. The Resolutions passed at the Special Meeting were specific and included payments for the Cross Jurisdictional Agreement.
Mr. Litke also said that they do not have to redo their budget or submit a new budget to HDAC (Health District Advisory Council, which has the responsibility of reviewing the GPH Budget at their annual meeting in March). Mr. Litke said this is because there are no new expenses. He said HDAC knew of these expenses, and that overall expenses are the same. Mr. Litke said that the Cross Jurisdictional Agreement has been under budget for all years. Mr. Litke also mentioned that, even though the Board might have approved of a new position (like an additional sanitarium), the Budget Commission required that they redo the entire lengthy Cross Jurisdictional Agreement. Reviewer Note: There is no mention of the Budget Commission requesting that the Cross Jurisdictional Agreement be redone in the LWV Geauga Budget Commission Observer Reports. He also said that they always had sufficient cash (extra cash) to pay these amounts due for the 2023, 2024 and 2025 invoices that weren’t paid until the last six weeks. Mr. Litke said the money has been in the General Fund (or other Funds). This Observer was unable to verify the extra cash.
Observer Note: This Observer reviewed the payments toward the Cross Jurisdictional Agreement with Lake County, with analysis provided below:
As of the end of May, the Contract Services expenses for the Cross Jurisdictional Agreement YTD are listed as $813,953.40. At the end of April the total paid was $628,626.93. At the April regular meeting, vouchers listed payable to Lake County for the Cross Jurisdictional Agreement for the month of April 2025 were: $105,367.90 and $21,825 on 4/23/25 and $175,331.37 on 5/07/25 for a total of vouchers of $302,524.27. At the Special Meeting, payments were authorized for April 2025 in the amount of $149,043.94 and for May 2025 of $147,260.93 for a total of $296,304.87. As this Observer did not attend the Special Meeting, it is unclear what accounted for the discrepancy in the amounts.
The resolutions for payment to Lake County for the Cross Jurisdictional Agreement that were passed at the Special Meeting for 2024 totaled $255,544.24 and were for January, February, July and August 2024. Resolutions passed at the May 2025 regular meeting for 2024 were for $298,546.77 for January, February and part of July, August and October 2024. Presumably all of those passed at the regular May meeting are void and were “redone” at the Special meeting, except for whatever was due for October 2024.
As stated at the Special Meeting of June 16, 2025, the Board also approved 2025 payments to Lake County for the Cross Jurisdictional Agreement for April ($149,043.94) and May ($147,260.93).
At the regular May meeting, the Board authorized a Then and Now to Lake County for the Cross Jurisdictional Agreement for January, February and March 2025 in the amount of $324,236.71. This also does not appear to be reflected in the YTD total for the Cross Jurisdictional Agreement payments through the end of May, and to date those payments for January, February and March 2025 do not appear to have been deemed defective since they were not addressed at the Special Meeting.
It is hoped by this Observer that the June Financial report will have caught up with all these payments and accurately reflect what has been paid year to date for both 2024 and 2025 payments.
No Board members asked questions and no one asked about the status of the 2026 Budget with the Budget Commission.
Observer Note: On June 2, 2025, the Budget Commission voted unanimously to not approve the GPH Budget, citing concerns about 1) high cash balances in some funds without a clear plan from GPH to either return excess funds to Geauga taxpayers or find other uses for the money and 2) compliance issues uncovered in audits conducted by the State. No one from GPH opted to be present at this meeting. See the June 2, 2025 Budget Commission Observer Report here.
This resolution reduces some fees (e.g., for Installer Registration and Service Provider Registration, the $200 fee was reduced to $175) and other fees remained unchanged (e.g., Household Treatment System fees remained $800.00 and Household Treatment System Replacement fee remained $800.00).
Mr. Lark said that the State sets the fee maximums, but they did not go to the maximum with their fee increases. Fees generally went up by about a quarter to a third, except for Mobile (food trucks), which went up from $86 to $160. Mr. Lark said this is far below what they could charge according to the State of Ohio. There was discussion about the different categories of Non-Commercial, which are Level 1 (no cooking), Level 2 (coffee and donuts), Level 3 (most restaurants, regular cooking and serving), and Level 4 (cooking, freezing and reheating). Mr. Lark mentioned that freezing and reheating is a process that is potentially more open to bacteria than just cooking and serving.
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Resolution for Legal Action against Auburn Inn at 17755 Ravenna Road, Chagrin Falls. The water for this establishment tested positive for e-coli, and therefore it cannot be open to the public until the situation is remedied. Mr. Lark said they are working with the EPA. The Resolution states that the Auburn Inn will remain closed until they have a good test result.
Other Information: Mr. Litke also said that they have begun the State Audit process, which takes place every two years. He said that all Board members would be contacted.
Mr Litke also reported that the County Commissioners passed a resolution to send a letter to the Ohio Board of Health stating that the O&M (Operation and Maintenance) program could cause hardship to citizens of the county and that there could be better ways to approach the issue.
Citizens’ Remarks
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This Observer asked some clarifying questions about the payments to Lake County, and the answers are reflected in the report.
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This Observer also asked about the payment of $9,995.10 to their attorney, McDonald Hopkins, LLC, and whether it was for past months as well as the current month. Mr. Litke said it was for numerous things. According to the Financial Report, the total budgeted amount for 2025 for legal fees is $18,674, and YTD Expense is listed as $0.
Executive Session - The Board adjourned for matters pertaining to pending litigation. It was stated that there would be no action following the Executive Session.
Next Regular Meeting: July 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 and Board minutes can be found here: Geauga Public Health
Observer: Gail Roussey
Editor: Rooney Moy
Reviewer: Sarah McGlone
Submission Date: June 22, 2025
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