Board Meeting Minutes, March 13, 2018
Commissioners’ Meeting
William F. Hutson called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. with Adam Friedrick and Patricia G. Geissman present. The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer.
The minutes of the March 6, 2018, Commissioners’ meeting were emailed in advance. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the minutes; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.
Highway Administrative Assistant Doug King presented and reviewed a resolution authorizing the Medina County engineer to advertise for bids for the 2018 Medina County Highway Department Equipment and Labor Contract. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the resolution; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.
The commissioners reviewed the permits issued March 1-7, 2018.
Finance Director Mike Pataky presented and reviewed the following resolutions: (1) amending the Annual Appropriations Resolution; (2) authorizing the county auditor to transfer funds for Title IV-D services; (3) authorizing the county auditor to transfer funds from various county department accounts to the Gasoline Rotary Fund; (4) accepting a lease agreement with the Battered Women’s Shelter of Summit and Medina County, Inc.; (5) approving an optional third year for janitorial services for various Medina County office buildings; (6) authorizing expenditures related to Juvenile Detention Center-sponsored meetings and events; (7) allowing expenses of the county engineer; and (8) allowing expenses of county officials. Mr. Pataky requested payment of the weekly bills in the amount of $1,026,994.54. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the eight resolutions and to pay the bills; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.
Human Resources Director Holly Muren presented and reviewed a resolution approving personnel changes for the employees under the jurisdiction of the Medina County commissioners. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the resolution; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.
Chief Building Official Christopher Randles presented and reviewed a resolution revising Medina County Building Regulations. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the resolution; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.
Clerk of Courts Dave Wadsworth noted that the Medina County Clerk of Courts’ Senior Walk started three years ago by people who were passionate about taking care of seniors. The main goal was to inspire 55+ members of the community to stay active, motivated and involved. The committee teamed with businesses and non-profits so that donations could be given to an important cause in Medina County that directly helped seniors in need. The Office for Older Adults had a home-delivered meals program for seniors. The donations to this vital program have grown each year. This year, $7,500 was donated to help feed Medina County homebound seniors. Betsey Kling agreed to be the celebrity guest host; she brought her daughter Violet. Mr. Wadsworth thanked the committee, supportive sponsors, and Bruce Wells and Fred Weber of LOVE, INC. for being a very supportive non-profit group; they handled all of the accounting. He noted that present were: Sue Becks operates the senior programs at the Medina Recreation Center; Laura Toth of the Office for Older Adults; and, Fred Weber of LOVE, INC.
Mr. Wadsworth continued that this year’s Senior Walk is Friday, August 31. 10:00 a.m.-noon on the Medina City Square. Mr. Weber and Ms. Toth talked about their organizations. Commissioner Geissman noted that the donation from the Senior Walk also helps the county’s general fund.
Office for Older Adults Director Laura Toth distributed grant services utilization reports for January and February.
The reports showed:
For home-delivered meals, January averaged 153 per day and February’s averaged 154. Transit totals are average thus far this year, as are congregate meals. In Wadsworth, they facilitate a restaurant voucher program; there are 51-56 clients utilizing about 276 meals per month. In Wadsworth, their home-delivered meals are extremely low compared to other municipalities with about 20 clients. It’s a model that is definitely showing positive results, although replicating the model in other areas is difficult. It must be a restaurant open to the public, menu variety, dietician-approved menus, etc.
Ms. Toth announced that Senior Day will be held Tuesday, May 15. They are taking registrations for vendor tables. Honey Baked Ham is the food vendor. She will provide updates next month.
MCDAC Director Brian Nowak noted that their booth at the Home and Garden Show was successful; many people visited the booth and everyone was very supportive of the services they provide in the areas of enforcement,prevention and treatment. The next Opiate Taskforce meeting will be held April 13 9:00-11:00 a.m. at Founders Hall in the Wadsworth Medical Center. The Share Cluster Breakfast will be held at Williams on the Lake on April 27, 8:30-10:00 a.m. They will also be participating at Senior Day on May 15 from 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. where seniors will have the opportunity to drop off unused medication for appropriate disposal. This past week, he met with David Spade, Manager of the BreakThru Program at Southwest Hospital; the program provides medically supervised withdrawal from alcohol and other drugs. Mr. Nowak had received a call over the weekend from a resident seeking help with alcohol withdrawal and he was referred to the Breakthrough Program. It’s important to know that there are two types of drugs that if used heavily, the sudden stop can be life threatening – one is alcohol and the other are benzodiazepines (such as Xanax, Ativan or Valium). Programs such as BreakThru to help with detox is essential.
Mr. Nowak noted that the grant applications as due April 6. The Recovery Center will be applying for a grant; Brandon Chrostowski and Veronica Perry will be presenting their proposal at the next April MCDAC meeting.
Commissioner Hutson presented and reviewed resolutions on graduating from Junior Leadership Medina County, Class of 2018. The recipients were:
Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the 41 commendations; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.
Mr. Hutson noted that his son was a member of the first class, Class of 2003, and he still speaks highly of it. He also commended Susan Vlcek who has led the program for 15 years and is now retiring; he welcomed Carrie Park who would take over.
Mr. Friedrick moved to go into Executive Session following the Discussion Session to consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion, or compensation of a public employee or official; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE. With no further business to come before the Commissioners, the meeting recessed at 9:55 a.m.
Discussion Session
At 9:57 a.m., the Commissioners began the Discussion Session in the Commissioners’ Conference Room.
Animal Shelter Fees
County Administrator Scott Miller noted that the Commissioners were provided a memo regarding Animal Shelter fees. Three or four years ago, fees were reduced. Afterwards, the State implemented the ability for residents to purchase one- or three-year or permanent licenses. With so many residents purchasing permanent license, revenue is down; however, costs have increased. In 2015-16, the fund balance decreased by approximately $80,000; in 2018, projections show a decrease by $80,000. Based on the projections, the fund balance will be approximately $24,000. In 2015, the fund balance was $277,000; in 2016, it was $196,000, and in 2017, it was $113,000. Mr. Miller proposed increasing the fees at the Animal Shelter; it would increase revenue by approximately $137,000 and bring the fund balance back up. He would like to present a resolution next week; it would take effect between April 1 and May 1.
Mr. Hutson asked Dog Warden Del Saffle if he was seeing any activity changes. Mr. Saffle answered that there has been a lot more owner surrenders. The adoptions have been running the same the past couple of years. Mr. Hutson noted that there are approximately 23,000 dogs that are licensed; Mr. Saffle answered that he was sure that there were double the amount of dogs but people aren’t licensing them. Department personnel go door-to-door in their downtime. They visit the addresses (based on a printout from the Auditor’s Office) of people who didn’t renew their licenses. If they have a dog that’s not licensed, they are provided a 72-hour warning to obtain a license and they have to pay penalties.
In answer to a question, Mr. Saffle stated that the cost is approximately $13 to give a dog vaccinations (DHLPP) for a 50-pound dog. Every dog is given the vaccinations within 15 minutes of arrival. If the current owner retrieves the dog, the owners aren’t charged for the vaccinations because the owners didn’t order the vaccinations. The current charge if the dog stays is $15 for the first day and $8 for each additional day. Mr. Miller noted that approximately eight dogs are euthanized each year; they are normally dogs that are vicious and have bitten someone. There is a high adoption rate in Medina County and they want to encourage people to adopt; therefore, they don’t want to raise rates too high and then people not adopt.
Commissioners agreed to the rate increase.
Next Week’s Commissioners’ Meeting
Mr. Miller asked that the Commissioners’ Meeting start at 9:00 a.m. on March 20. Mr. Friedrick is traveling and the earlier start time will facilitate travel times. The Commissioners agreed.
New Payroll System
Mr. Miller noted that Holly Muren had been working with the new Kronos time clock/payroll system for about two months. This week, parallel systems are being run for pilot departments. Once the pilot period is done and everything is working, they will move all of the other Commissioner departments to the new system. The system is paperless and will integrate well with the Auditor’s payroll system. The time clocks appear to be working well. Likely by mid-April/May, the other departments will be brought onto the system. Auditor Mike Kovack said that the new system is more efficient in using the information.
Sanitary Engineer Amy Lyon-Galvin thanked Holly and Nicole for the Kronos training. Their department was one of the pilot departments for the timekeeper program. They have eight physical locations and the thumbprint scan system and the computer login are working well.
Good Friday
Mr. Miller stated that he had been approached by various departments asking about Good Friday and whether or not the Commissioners’ department would close at noon. The Commissioners agreed to close at noon.
Tour of Perry Nuclear Power Plant
Commissioner Friedrick reported that one of the Lake County commissioners had invited them to tour the Perry Nuclear Power Plant yesterday; he attended. They are having financial issues. There are two cooling towers and vapor towers. They initially intended two reactors; the second reactor is more than 80% built. There were financial concerns and population studies showed that northeast Ohio wasn’t going to grow, so they stopped construction. The control room had 80’s technology; there was nothing digital.
Executive Session
At 10:13 a.m., the Commissioners went into the Executive Session that had been voted on earlier. The Executive Session ended at 10:30 a.m.
Adjournment
There being no further business, Mr. Friedrick moved to adjourn the meeting; the motion was seconded by Mrs. Geissman. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE. The meeting ended at 10:30 a.m.
RESOLUTIONS PASSED MARCH 13, 2018
18-0196 Allowing claims and authorizing issuance upon the treasurer in settlement of such list of claims
18-0197 Authorizing the Medina County engineer to advertise for bids for the 2018 Medina County Highway Department Equipment and Labor Contract
18-0198 Amending the Annual Appropriation resolution
18-0199 Authorizing the county auditor to transfer funds for Title IV-D services
18-0200 Authorizing the county auditor to transfer funds from various county department accounts to the Gasoline Rotary Fund
18-0201 Accepting a lease agreement with the Battered Women’s Shelter of Summit and Medina County, Inc.
18-0202 Approving an option third year for janitorial services for various Medina County office buildings
18-0203 Authorizing expenditures related to Juvenile Detention Center-sponsored meetings and events
18-0204 Allowing expenses of the county engineer
18-0205 Allowing expenses of county officials
18-0206 Approving personnel changes for the employees under the jurisdiction of the Medina County commissioners
18-0207 Revising Medina County Building Regulations
All deliberations concerning official business and formal actions by this Board of Commissioners were conducted in an open public meeting this thirteenth sixth day of March 2018.