Geauga Public Health May Have to Pay Rent After All

May 29, 2024 by Allison Wilson

Months of previous debate about whether GPH is a combined or general health department came to a recent close.

GPH Health Administrator Adam Litke told the Geauga County Board of Health May 22 the department uncovered a document naming it a combined health department after all.

“There was a document provided that was determined to be a factual document, that the health district did enter into a contract with the City of Chardon in 2002,” he said. “And in that document, we do say that we’ve become a combined health department.”

The Ohio Revised Code indicates general health districts only cover townships and villages, not cities, Geauga County Administrator Gerry Morgan had previously said, adding because GPH covers the city of Chardon, it should have a contract with it, making it a combined department.

However, the very document that names GPH a combined department also refers to them as a general health department, which helps explain why “on every document we had, (we) said ‘general health district’ or ‘general department,’” Litke noted during the May 22 meeting.

The department’s classification was a previous source of conflict between GPH and Geauga County Commissioners for several months, sparked during discussion of whether GPH — if considered a combined health department — should be paying the county rent for its office space at the new county administration building in Claridon Township.

Per a meeting in November, GPH was told previously uncovered Ohio Attorney General opinions about what a county must provide for its health department did not apply to GPH as from the county’s perspective, they were a combined health department. GPH argued they were general.

The county proposed in August of last year to begin charging the department rent at a rate of $8 per square foot, or approximately $58,000 a year, a number that was later lowered to around $48,000. The health department was not charged rent at their previous location, the old county offices at 470 Center Street.

When the offices moved to their new location on Ravenwood Drive, the department did not want to move but were told they must, as the old location would be demolished. As of the November meeting, the topic of rent had been settled, with the county relenting and allowing GPH to remain in the new offices free of charge.

The new document was uncovered while filling a public records request, Litke said.

“During a records request, there was a discussion to get some documents from the (Health District Advisory Council) because there was actually a request for some HDAC records, which we don’t hold,” he explained. “And in that review, it was determined that they had the document and we did not.”

The health commissioner at the time had signed the document, but the board of health had not, said GPH legal representative Bryan Kostura.

“The issue presented is whether or not the board of health gave permission to the health commissioner to sign it,” Kostura added. “Now, in many cases, it is perfectly acceptable for the board of health to authorize the health commissioner to enter into contracts with vendors and/or other parties for the benefit of the board.”

Kostura said it is unclear from the meeting minutes if this authorization occurred, but he assumes the board was aware of the situation as it is stated in the minutes that they were notified of the contract.

“What was stated in the, I believe, April 2001 board meeting minutes, was that the HDAC had discussed an agreement with that of the City of Chardon to enter into agreement to become a combined health district and that, at that board meeting, the health commissioner was going to work with the mayor of Chardon and their law director to put together a contract which would make it a combined health district,” Kostura said.

Following the records request, the department made their own records request to Chardon and HDAC. From these requests, they were able to determine the contract exists and is indefinite, meaning the department is still under it, Kostura said.

“This obviously changes my approach on how we were handling the rent negotiation, among other things,” Litke said, adding the commissioners are aware of the contract and have a copy.

Kostura added a copy has also been provided to the City of Chardon, who agreed with its validity.

“The board of county commissioners are happy that (the) health district is operating properly as a combined health district and that the required contract for the health district to operate within the City of Chardon has been found,” County Administrator Gerry Morgan said in an email May 28. “The commissioners will need to reevaluate the idea of rent for the district.”

Morgan noted while the discussion of GPH’s status had originally started with rent, the rent was not their largest issue.

“The board of county commissioners’ bigger concern and the reason they asked the prosecutor to seek an Attorney General’s opinion was to ensure that the health district was acting in accordance with the Ohio Revised Code when performing health district services in/for the city of Chardon,” he said.

Despite the current ambiguity around the department’s rent, it was still present in Litke’s mind.

“We do have to start looking at rent … at some point and what that’s going to look like, or what the county commissioners would like to do when they move forward with this,” he said.