Mueller Spearheading Recall of Four GPH Board Members

March 22, 2023 by Ann Wishart

Russell Township Trustee Jim Mueller wants to stop the Geauga County Board of Health’s plan to lay off a majority of Geauga Public Health employees after signing a cooperative agreement with the Lake County General Health District.

Mueller said in a phone call March 18 he thinks four of the five members of the district’s board of directors should be removed from office.

“I’m going to do more now,” he said. “(Ohio Revised Code) section 3709.35 says we can recall them.”

Mueller represents Russell Township on the Health District Advisory Council, which is made up of one trustee from each township, as well as a representative from each of the county’s five cities or villages and one Geauga County commissioner.

The HDAC elects board members and approves the annual budget for GPH. Mueller attended the March 15 meeting.

Under the ORC, a public official can be removed from office for malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance and for failure to do their duties, Mueller said, adding he needs a few more HDAC members to join the movement to recall.

“I’m filing it against four members,” he said. Dr. Mark Hendrickson was not in office when the 27-page contract between GPH and LCGHD was drawn up to apparently gut the Geauga County office and terminate 17 employees at the end of March, Mueller said.

LCGHD workers would then take on the duties of the former Geauga County employees in a move Geauga’s health board claimed will save GPH from possible fiscal failure. GPH employees would be welcome to apply for any open positions at the LCGHD, but their hiring would not be guaranteed.

The HDAC elected Hendrickson to the health board just hours after the March 15 GPH special board meeting where the contract was unanimously signed. He replaced board President Richard Piraino, who said during the GPH meeting he had only had a short time to review the contract.

“It’s obvious to me the fix was in,” Mueller said. “They had made up their minds.”

The Geauga County Maple Leaf asked the health board to produce the minutes showing the GPH employee layoffs were decided in open session, but Mueller said he believes those decisions were not made in public meetings.

The board’s private counsel, Bryan Kostura, said in an email those deliberations were not subject to Ohio’s open meetings act.

Mueller said he will file a suit against the board for violating the Sunshine Laws that he feels require such actions be taken in open meetings.

“I’ll ask that the contract be null and void until the Sunshine Law violation is adjudicated. That should delay it a couple of months,” he said.

Even the HDAC members who were tentatively in favor of the contract asked the board’s action be delayed long enough for the council members to read and digest the implications, Mueller said.

His fellow Russell Township trustees disagreed with each other during the March 16 regular trustees meeting.

The matter was on the agenda at Mueller’s request. However, Mueller was absent from the March 16 trustees meeting due to a scheduling conflict.

“Jim was alarmed at the situation with the board of health,” said Trustee Matt Rambo, adding Mueller requested a resolution reflecting the trustees’ lack of confidence in the board.

“I don’t necessarily disagree with him,” Rambo said. “The decision was questionable to do what they did.”

However, Rambo said he read through the contract between the two health district boards.

“It doesn’t seem terrible to me,” he said, admitting he was originally unhappy with the elimination of positions previously held in Geauga County, but the agreement is a “simple cost sharing of personnel.”

He noted Mueller objected vocally to the contract during the GPH board meeting.

“Jim was heard. I think that’s where our role stops,” Rambo said.

Trustee Kristina Port disagreed.

“I believe Geauga County should retain a health department as opposed to going with (LCGHD),” she said, noting it will be two years before Geauga County can get out of the contract. “We already have a foundation for a health department. It would be hard to rebuild that.”

Townships and villages could address questions about alleged financial shortfalls by contributing more toward the health department operations, she said, adding the issues may be political as well as financial.

“I think there are factors that aren’t positive in respect to Lake (County),” she said.

Rambo, who is chairman of the board of trustees, stood firm.

“I don’t believe it is the business of township trustees to vote on the competence of the (GPH) board,” he said. “I will not be calling a special meeting to discuss this matter in public forum. We will not be passing a resolution.”

HDAC President Jonathan Tiber had reservations about the contract during a phone interview March 18.

“This agreement might be necessary and wise now, but why didn’t they see it coming two years ago? Why not at least ask the voters to authorize a levy? At least ask?” Tiber said.

He also was concerned about rebuilding a health district once it is dismantled should the GPH board change its mind in two years and not renew the contract.

“If it’s a failure, it’s a long turnaround,” Tiber said. “I want what’s best for the residents. In a perfect world, I don’t want to do this.”