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Geauga Soil & Water Conservation District Hosting 

a Summer Workshop For Teachers

Geauga Soil & Water Conservation District (GSWCD) Board Meeting - June 9, 2026

Meeting Details: The Geauga Soil & Water Conservation District (GSWCD) met on June 9, 2026 at 7:30 am at the Geauga County Office Building, 12611 Ravenwood Dr. #240, Chardon, OH. 

Board Attendance: Jeff Huntsberger, Board Chair; Robert Lausin, Vice Chair (arrived late); Tracy Engle, Secretary; Dee Belew, Fiscal Agent. Not in attendance: Mary Slingluff, Treasurer

Staff Attendance: Carmella Shale, District Director/Engineer; Gail Prunty, Education/Communications Specialist; Katie Williams, Conservation Education Coordinator; Lisa Berkheimer, Conservation Technician

Others in Attendance: Julie Parker, District Conservationist, United States Department of Agriculture/Natural Resources Conservation Services (USDA/NRCS); Rebecca O’Neill, Program Specialist, Ohio Department of Agriculture/Division of Soil & Water Conservation (ODA-DSWD)

Open Board Meeting at 7:40 am

Pledge of Allegiance

MOTION: Approved June 9, 2026 Board Meeting Agenda

MOTION: Approved May 12, 2026 Board Meeting Minutes

OPEN PUBLIC DISCUSSION - No Comments

MOTION: Accepted Treasurer’s Reports from the previous month (including all deposits and transfers that
occurred in addition to previous approved expenditures)

MOTIONS

• Approved money transfer in the amount of $ 2,046.89 from Huntington Savings (Electronic/Stripe Payments through end of May 2026) to Huntington Checking

• Approved transfer of $25,000 from Huntington Checking to Chase Bank

• Approved transfer of $100 from Huntington Checking to Middlefield Bank- This nominal amount was to keep this account open.

• Approved payment for expenditures, purchase orders, vouchers and bills as presented including EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) payments and estimates and Sales Tax EFT payment of $75.99 less ¾% discount

• Reviewed previous month’s mail, bank statements, payroll and minutes – sign/initial/date as applicable

• MOTION – Approve and acknowledge the below list of refunds - Overpayments and some people didn’t pick up their fish order. Mr. Engle asked if there was something they could do to avoid people not picking up their fish. Ms. Shale advised that reminders went out to everyone the day before to pick up their fish and in the past they called people when they didn’t show but with all the transitions going on at the office there wasn’t time to do this. She further explained that the fish company simply took the fish back and did not charge GSWCD for the fish.

SCHEDULED GUEST: REBECCA O’NEILL, PROGRAM SPECIALIST, ODA-DSWC

Updates: H2Ohio pilot program: No word on who ODA has chosen to receive this yet.  

SCHEDULED GUEST: JULIE PARKER, DISTRICT CONSERVATIONIST, USDA/NRCS

Updates: One Conservation Stewardship Plan (CSP) plan for this month. This plan is for woodland, non-industrial private forest land contract in Huntsburg. The farmer will be primarily doing maple syrup and brush management. Mr. Huntsberger asked how people find out about these opportunities. Ms. Shale advised word of mouth primarily, but also they do some outreach through news releases. It was noted that once people find them, they continue to reapply for different programs. Ms. Parker stated they have 30 pre-approvals, so her office will start meeting with applicants to sign their contracts soon. It was noted that everything was supposed to be obligated this month and they will require some assistance from other offices to help with this. 

They had their quality assurance review and it seems to have gone well, but they will have a review later in the week via TEAMS. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is still under review and has not been presented to GSWCD yet. It was noted that the MOU they continue to work under is from 2018.

KATIE WILLIAMS, CONSERVATION EDUCATION COORDINATOR

2026 State Envirothon Updates: West Geauga High School competed with two teams. Team Green Claw 3rd place in oral presentation and team Eco Wolves placed 16th. 

2025-2026 School Year wrap-up for Planting the Seed to Read is completed. They had approximately 800 children receive books this year, an uptick of over 200 kids. All the schools in the county received a program, except Notre Dame and St. Helens. Ms. Williams said she spoke with the Notre Dame principal about doing the program there, but the principal declined because they are really busy. It was noted that she has tried to get into Notre Dame for several years with no success. St. Helens didn’t participate this year for reasons not disclosed. Ms. Williams advised that there were close to 30 programs last month and provided some of the evaluations for the board to review. Ms. Williams expressed hope that the board would support this program again next year. 

GAIL PRUNTY, EDUCATION/COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST

Teacher Workshop Update: They did a change to the summer teacher workshop on Advanced Water Sheds. Since there were only two registrants, they pivoted their plan from a three day retreat/education program to a day program. They are now fully registered with 10 teachers: 4 from Geauga, 4 from Portage, and 2 from other counties. Base camp will start at the Bainbridge Library; they will do their composting activity there and then tour a composting facility. Teachers are charged $10 a person, which includes the day workshop and recycling materials. This program is able to be put on due to funding from the Go Green Grant to provide composting materials to educators, and the grant expires at the end of this year. They will re-evaluate this program in the future. Ms. Prunty questioned if the initial low sign-up rate was due to the cost of the 3 day program (approximately $295). There was a discussion that this longer program offered the opportunity to receive graduate credit. They are going to consider how to offer the longer program in a way that will get registrants in the future.

Program Updates:

The Soil “Fun”damentals workshop was completed successfully. 

300 tree seedlings were distributed over the month of May to 14 different programs at schools. 

Upcoming: Organic Lawn Care Program at the Bainbridge Library to be offered June 6th where they have 47 people registered for the program. 

The tree contest for the largest White Oak Tree in the county has been launched. Nominate a tree here.

In July there will be a Native Plant Program, which is a tour of Gabe Wright’s residence in Novelty. More information here.

LISA BERKHEIMER, CONSERVATION TECHNICIAN

MOTION/ACKNOWLEDGED - Ag Pollution Complaint – Max Motil – Claridon Township:  An anonymous complaint came into the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where they have an online form people can fill out. The complaint stated that semi-sized loads of horse manure are being brought in and dumped onto this property, and there were concerns about run off from these loads that could contaminate neighboring well water. Ms. Berkheimer spoke with the owner, who explained he is a composting facility and brings in manure because there isn’t enough on the property for composting. He further advised that he used to have a permit through EPA, but decided that their rules and regulations were too much so he stopped getting the permit. Aerial shots of the property were shown and the mounds could be seen. GSWD referred this to EPA because this is not GSWD jurisdiction. 

MOTION/Acknowleged– Review, approve and sign the Forestry Pollution Prevention Plan (FP3) prepared by Adam Beichler for Belew property on Messenger Road in Auburn Township: 25 acres will be harvested with a select cut by a logging company, MK Hardwoods, LLC, using a tracked skidder/dozer.  Horse skidding will be utilized to protect the wetlands. This will start at the beginning of June and finish up at the end of August. Ms. Berkheimer advised that her role in this project is to just make sure that they are doing best practices. She only gets about two calls a year because it is not required, but this forester is a good communicator and believes in “call before you cut.”  Ms. Belew abstained from vote because this is her property up for review. 

CARMELLA SHALE, DISTRICT DIRECTOR/ENGINEER

Little Punderson Lake Reset Grant – status They did not get  awarded this grant. 

Observer Note: This observer asked if GSWCD has any responsibility once they know there are issues with a lake. Ms. Shale  advised that this time of year with the extreme weather shifts we have had, most lakes have issues. There are not issues downstream. Little Punderson is aware of the issues and they are trying to resolve them; it will just be a matter of finding the funding to make the adjustments to the water. She advised that if GSWCD runs across any grants that might be good for them to apply for, the office will send them to Aqua Docs. For more information on the initial discussion on this topic, see the March 2026 GSWCD LWVG Observer Report.

MOTION Approved – Acknowledge and approve final payout for Colleen Lair with last day of employment of 5/22/2026 (80 hours worked REG, 163.47 hrs Annual Leave, 7.89 of comp time no PERS and 13.5 hrs of comp time at her current rate of pay)

MOTION Approved – Acknowledge and approve hospitalization final waiver payout prorated for 5 months for Colleen Lair in the amount of $1287.50

MOTION (Tentatively Approved) – Date of Annual Meeting change and discuss caterer: The Annual Meeting was set for Tuesday, October 6th; however, they are considering using a different caterer of BBQ in theme with the American 250/Bald Eagle. They are not open on Tuesdays, which will require moving the Annual Meeting to Thursday, October 8th. The facility is available on that date. They need to check with the speaker before they move the date for sure. Last year, they spent $1,386 for around 80 people with a menu of salad, pasta, chicken, rolls, and beans. This year it will be $1,100 for: slider buns, pulled pork, mac & cheese, cheese potatoes, salad, and corn casserole. Ms. Shale talked to a 4H Club that will come serve. 

MOTION Approved  2026 Spring Fish Sale profits to be transferred to Education Fund: The net Profit from the fish sale this year was $1,562.60. It was one of the largest fish sales they have had. These funds were approved to be transferred to the educational fund.

MOTION Approved 2026 Tree Sale profits to be transferred to Education Fund: Gross Sales were $36,000, and the invoice from the tree supplier was $24,000. GSWCD profit ended up being $12,118.26. Last year the profit was only $8,000. It was noted with all the problems the supplier had with the trees this year, they waived a lot of the fees, and GSWCD profited approximately an extra $4,000. These funds are used for their educational programs, like the Kindergarten Planting the Seeds to Read Program. There was discussion about staff time: when the hours worked are calculated in, there isn’t really a profit, but Ms. Shale said it is a really great way to interact with the community.

Motion Approved: State Match: GSWCD must verify the funds received from the county in the amount of $345,750 through a verification worksheet, which was completed and reviewed by the board. 

Meeting Adjourned 8:31 am

NEXT BOARD MEETING: Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Observer Notes: At the end of the meeting, Ms. Shale passed out the Area 2 District Showcase Ohio Soil & Water Conservation Districts booklet published by the Ohio Department of Agriculture that highlights all the counties in Area 2 to all Board Members. She had an extra and offered it to this observer. To review GSWCD Biggest Achievements of 2025/Goals for 2026 and numbers of action items completed, please see here. 

In review of the GSWCD website, there is an upcoming Geauga County Planning Commission Farmland Preservation Plan Update Public Forum on July 15, 2026. For more information go here.

More information available here.

Observer: Wendy Landry

Editor: Gail Roussey

Reviewer: Sarah McGlone

Date Submitted: June 22, 2026

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