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Commissioners’ Meeting

William F. Hutson called the meeting to order at 9:00 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 May 1, 2018, Commissioners’ meeting and the May 3, 2018, Commissioners’ special meeting and public hearing were emailed in advance. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the minutes; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.

Highway Engineer Administrative Assistant Doug King presented and reviewed the following resolutions: (1) determining the necessity to close Fixler Road (C.H. 75) between Ridge Road (S.R. 94) and Beach Road (T.R. 54); (2) determining the necessity to close Lester Road (C.H. 56) between Elyria Road (S.R. 57) and Wolff Road (T.R. 94); and (3) finding that public convenience and welfare requires the replacement of Bridge No. 35 and Culvert No. 36 on River Corners Road (T.H. 27) in Spencer Township, Medina County, Ohio and authorizing the Medina County Engineer to replace said bridge and culvert. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the three resolutions; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.

The commissioners reviewed the permits issued April 26-May 2, 2018.

Finance Director Mike Pataky presented and reviewed the following resolutions: (1) amending the Annual Appropriation Resolution; (2) amending the 2018 Appropriations Resolution by transferring appropriations; (3) revenue adjustments for the sale of surplus county property; (4) authorizing the county auditor to transfer funds from various county department accounts to the Gasoline Rotary Fund; (5) authorizing the county auditor to transfer funds from various county department accounts to the Medina County Print Shop revenue line item; and (6) allowing expenses of county officials. Mr. Pataky requested payment of the weekly bills in the amount of $445,078.65. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the six 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 the following resolutions: (1) approving personnel changes for the employees under the jurisdiction of the Medina County commissioners; and (2) amending the Table of Organization for the Medina County sanitary engineer. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the two resolutions; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.

County Administrator Scott Miller presented and reviewed the following resolutions: (1) authorizing the advertisement for bids for Medina County Human Services Building wall restoration and repairs; and (2) determining to submit to the electors the question of levying a county sales tax at the rate of two tenths of one percent to provide additional revenue for criminal and administrative justice services. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the two resolutions; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.

Office for Older Adults Director Laura Toth reported that as they are celebrating Older Americans Month, Senior Day will be held May 15 from 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at the Community Center. There are over 80 vendors signed up for this event and they expect approximately 500 seniors to attend. Admission is $4 and includes a boxed lunch and entertainment. This year’s theme is “School Spirit.” Mrs. Toth noted that this is a huge event and encouraged everyone to attend.

At the Medina Center, they held their Annual Billiards Tournament; winners were Clarence Kinkelaar and Gary Summers. In Brunswick, they held their last dinner and a play event of the school year. They had 100 percent increase from last year’s spring event to this one.

Mrs. Toth reported that they will have 194 packets of vouchers they will be distributing for the farmers’ markets; this event is planned for the first week of June.

Commissioner Hutson presented a resolution proclaiming May 2018 as Older Americans Month and May 15, 2018 as Senior Day in Medina County. Mr. Friedrick moved to approve the resolution; Mrs. Geissman seconded the motion. Roll call showed all commissioners voting AYE.

Chief Public Defender Jocelyn Stefancin reported that effective April 30th, her office joined OPD online; it is a web-based computer software program for their client database and calendar system and is user-friendly. The state covered the cost of the data migration. This will result in an annual savings of $3,000-$4,000 each year. In answer to a question posed by Mr. Hutson, Ms. Stefancin answered that OPD online is not compatible with the prosecutor’s new software.

Ms. Stefancin further reported that she will have a new lawyer starting on May 14; this is the first time she has been fully staffed with lawyers in about six months.

She noted that at the end of April, her office had 663 pending cases. In CY 2018 to date, the following cases have been opened:

• Felony Cases (including probation violations): 81
• Juvenile Cases: 106
• Medina Municipal Court: 299
• Wadsworth Municipal Court: 194

County Home Superintendent Joyce Giles reported that the County Home currently has 45 fulltime residents and 1 intermittent adult daycare participant. She noted that there continues to be staffing challenges on second shift, but they are making is work. She also noted that the Friends of the Medina County Home recently purchased a new cross-trainer for the home at a cost of about $4,000; several residents are utilizing it. The Friends of the County Home are also researching and looking into replacing the female peacock the home recently lost. She reviewed events that have been held recently as well and noted the upcoming emergency preparedness training this summer that will be held with the assistance of Lafayette Fire Department.

Continuing, Ms. Giles reported that volunteers cleaned flowerbeds and scraped the paint off the pavilion; other volunteers will be painting the pavilion and working on flowerbeds. They are always grateful for volunteers. They received notice of a $10,000 donation being made to the home by the family of a longtime resident in honor of the resident’s birthday. This donation will be used to purchase mulch and many special projects.

Public Comment

Jessica Hazeltine, 515 Blake Avenue, Medina, stated that she is the Administrative Manager at the Recovery Center of Medina County and shared that they received a commendation from the Secretary of State for the vocational training program at the Recovery Center as well as a proclamation from the Ohio Senate honoring Serenite Restaurant on the grand opening. Rob Portman recently visited the Recovery Center and offered his support. They are receiving state and national recognition for their program. She explained that from 2016-2017, Medina County alone had a ten percent increase in overdoses; in January, there were ten overdoses and four of them died. She thanked everyone for their support and asked for their continued support as there is still a lot of work to do.

Mr. Friedrick moved to go into Executive Session following the Discussion Session to consider the purchase of property; 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.

Job & Family Services

Scott Miller noted that he recently met with Job & Family Services Director Jeff Felton regarding the services they are providing. If the sales tax does not pass in August, Job & Family Services and Office for Older Adults are discussing putting on a property tax.

Jeff Felton reported that in 2014, his office investigated 318 child abuse cases and took in 1,100 calls. In 2017, that number rose to 489 and took over 1,500 calls. In the first quarter of 2018, they are at 229; when annualizing that number, he projects they will be at approximately 700 actively investigated cases; this is a 54 percent increase. The numbers are greatly increasing with the same number of staff, and these numbers are only a reflection of intake cases. When looking at foster care, they had 95 new placements in 2017 compared to 51 in 2014. The median number of months people are in care (in 2017) was 80 months. In 2014, 4.4 percent of children who had a substantiated report of abuse had a subsequent substantiated report of abuse; in 2017 that number rose to 8.4 percent. This is a reflection of his agency doing everything they can, but not having the time to provide adequate services to prevent re-abuse. They have experienced a similar increase on the adult protective side.

He explained that his agency has been very busy and he has been having conversations about the possibility of a levy for human services if the sales tax does not pass. The cases that have been coming in are serious cases. Mrs. Geissman stated that it’s a sad situation with the opioid epidemic and the kids that are involved. Mr. Felton said we often hear about overdoses, but something people don’t always think about is the children of the parents who overdose. In 2017, four or five children found their parents who died from an overdose; this creates trauma throughout their lives and it’s not a one-time intervention. He reported that his staff has done a good job and they have tried to prioritize. The most important thing is seeing the children to make sure their needs are being met and they are doing the best they can.

In answer to a question by Mr. Hutson, Mr. Felton stated that Medina County is the 16th largest county in the State of Ohio and they have the fewest number of social workers in their children services department. In Huron County, they had 20 workers and Medina has 12 workers. The recommended caseload size is 10 active investigations per workers and his agency is running on average over 19 cases per worker with some at 25-35 per worker. The workload has increased significantly over that past few years. The nature of their business doesn’t allow for waiting lists nor should it, so they must prioritize the work they are doing the best they can to make sure kids are safe. There was discussion regarding legislation that will expand the number of categories of people required to report abuse such as notary publics. There was discussion regarding Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Mr. Friedrick noted that Medina County is one of six counties in Ohio that does not have a social services specific property tax levy. Mrs. Geissman noted that she wished more people in the community understood these needs. We have not had an increase in our General Fund in years and continue to have cuts at the state level and how the opioid problem affects children is increasing. Mr. Felton stated they have noticed a plateau of positive drug screens for heroin over the last few months, however, they are seeing about a 300 percent increase in positive drug screens for cocaine and methamphetamines.

Voting Machines

Mr. Hutson reported that there is a senate bill that has passed where they are looking at reimbursing costs for state mandated voting system that was purchased after 2014. Going forward, the state may pick up the cost of the new voting machines if counties go through the state-approved systems.

Executive Session

The Commissioners went into Executive Session at 10:18 a.m. that had been voted on earlier. The Executive Session ended at 11:15 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 11:21 a.m.

RESOLUTIONS PASSED MAY 8, 2018

• 18-0414 Proclaiming May 2018 as Senior Day in Medina County
• 18-0415 Allowing claims and authorizing issuance upon the treasurer in settlement of such list of claims
• 18-0416 Determining the necessity to close Fixler Road (C.H. 75) between Ridge Road (S.R. 94) and Beach Road (T.R. 54)
• 18-0417 Determining the necessity to close Lester Road (C.H. 56) between Elyria Road (S.R. 57) and Wolff Road (T.R. 94)
• 18-0418 Finding that public convenience and welfare requires the replacement of Bridge No. 35 and Culvert No. 36 on River Corners Road (T.H. 27) in Spencer Township, Medina County, Ohio and authorizing the Medina County engineer to replace said bridge and culvert
• 18-0419 Amending the Annual Appropriation Resolution
• 18-0420 Amending the 2018 Appropriations Resolution by transferring appropriations
• 18-0421 Revenue adjustments for the sale of surplus county property
• 18-0422 Authorizing the county auditor to transfer funds from various county department accounts to the Gasoline Rotary Fund
• 18-0423 Authorizing the county auditor to transfer funds from various county department accounts to the Medina County Print Shop revenue line items
• 18-0424 Allowing expenses of county officials
• 18-0425 Approving personnel changes for the employees under the jurisdiction of the Medina County commissioners
• 18-0426 Amending the Table of Organization for the Medina County sanitary engineer
• 18-0427 Authorizing the advertisement for bids for Medina County Human Services Building wall restoration and repairs 18-0428 Determining to submit to the electors the question of levying a county sales tax at the rate of two tenths of one percent to provide additional revenue for criminal and administrative justice services

All deliberations concerning official business and formal actions by this Board of Commissioners were conducted in an open public meeting this eighth day of May 2018

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