LAKE COUNTY - Lake County Commissioners Bob Aufuldish, Dan Troy and Ray Sines meet at 10 a.m. most Thursdays, with some meetings at 2 p.m. on Tuesdays, in the Commissioners' Chambers on the fourth floor of the Lake County Administration Building, 105 Main St., Painesville.
All meetings are open to the public. Requests to address the government board may
be made at any board meeting or presented to the Commissioners' Office by calling Amy Elszasz at (440) 350-2753.
The next meeting will be Tuesday, July 10 at 2 p.m.
At the June 28 meeting, the following resolutions were adopted:
ENGINEER'S DEPARTMENT
* Authorizing the commissioners to pursue federal aid funding for the replacement of the Hopkins Road Bridge in Mentor.
The engineer’s office received approval for Local Bridge Funding by the County Engineer’s Association of Ohio to replace Hopkins Bridge which is in poor condition.
* Authorizing advertising for bids for county pavement markings with a bid opening date of July 18.
UTILITIES DEPARTMENT
* Awarding a bid contract for $214,713 to Fabrizi Trucking & Paving Co. Inc. for Bellflower Area Outlet Sewer Replacement Project.
Bids received ranged from $214,713 to $235,577. The bid was 7 percent over the engineer’s estimate. There is OPWC funding for 50 percent of the project up to $99,800.
* Authorizing execution of contracts for various chemicals.
* Establishing a line item as Kirtland Area Sewers 284S refunds & reimbursements and increasing appropriations.
* Establishing a line item as Stirling Road Sewer Repair 337S advertising, printing and increasing appropriations and transferring cash.
* Accepting the retirement resignation of Joseph Fedor from his position of operator III effective Dec. 31.
JOB AND FAMILY SERVICES DEPARTMENT
* Authorizing execution of Amendment II to the agreement between the Commissioners for the Department of Job and Family Services and the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Local 4340.
This is a one-year contract. Director Matt Battiato said the contract agrees to a 2.5 percent increase effective July 1, which will not be paid from the county general fund.
“… we were consistently, constantly losing employees to the private sector,” he said. “In the past six months five employees left … We were no longer competitive in being able to attract employees who could manage the type of responsibilities we have …”
The non-bargaining employees have not had a raise in nearly four years and are not affected by this contract, but Battiato said he hoped they might be able to get raises in the future.
Commissioner Bob Aufuldish commented on the increase in workload the employees have had over the past several years.
Commissioner Dan Troy confirmed this was the wage reopener in the third year of the last contract and the employees had not received a raise in the past three years.
This was a different situation since the county was responsible for the negotiations even though the state provides the funding, said Commissioner Ray Sines.
He said the commissioners had been working to equalize the pay for all county clerks to rectify the differences created in past years.
* Appointing Julia N. Boggess to social services worker 3 in the Children Services Division, effective July 9.
* Authorizing execution of an agreement between the commissioners on behalf of the Department of Job and Family Services and County Commissioners Association of Ohio Service Corporation for employment verification services, effective July 1 through June 30, 2013.
Battiato said this is for use of a system for verification of eligibility.
* Authorizing execution of a service agreement between Guidestone and the commissioners on behalf of the Department of Job and Family Services to provide a Worksfirst Program not to exceed $425,000, effective July 1 through June 30, 2013.
Guidestone, formerly Berea Children’s Home, administers this program to help get people to work for those people who receive cash assistance. They are only allowed this cash assistance for three years.
* Authorizing execution of a service agreement between Lifeline, Inc. and the commissioners on behalf of the Job and Family Services for 2-1-1 Lake County Information and Referral in an amount not to exceed $25,000, effective July 1 through June 30, 2013.
* Authorizing execution of a professional service agreement between Catholic Charities Services and the commissioners on behalf of the Department of Job and Family Services for implementing a Families of Promise Program in an amount not to exceed $25,000, effective July 1 through June 30, 2013.
* Authorizing execution of a professional service agreement between the commissioners on behalf of Job and Family Services and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) for support of the NAMI Basics Program not to exceed $10,000, effective July 1 through June 30, 2013.
* Authorizing execution of a professional service agreement between Crossroads: Lake County Adolescent Counseling Service and the commissioners on behalf of Job and Family Services for a bullying prevention and intervention training program not to exceed $39,000, effective July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013.
* Authorizing execution of a professional service agreement between the commissioners on behalf of Job and Family Services and the Lake County General Health District for the Help Me Grow Program not to exceed $60,000, effective July 1 through June 30, 2013.
* Authorizing execution of a professional service agreement between the commissioners on behalf of Job and Family Services and the General Health District for the Great Gains Project not to exceed $20,000, effective July 1, through June 30, 2013.
* Authorizing execution of a professional service agreement between the commissioners on behalf of Job and Family Services and Signature Health for child and adolescent drug and alcohol treatment not to exceed $36,000, effective July 1 through June 30, 2013.
COMMISSIONERS' OFFICE
* Authorizing change order 1 to the radio communications system agreement (Northern Border Initiative Grant) with Motorola, Inc.
* Authorizing execution of a design services agreement between MBI|K2M Architecture, Inc. and the commissioners not to exceed $24,500.
“It’s a company that’s based in Cleveland; they’ll look at the mechanical workings of the jail itself (to see what might be needed to be done),” said Building and Grounds Director Chuck Klco.
* Establishing a Senior Citizen Advisory Panel for the support, operation and maintenance of senior citizens services, facilities and programs pursuant to Sections 5705.19(Y), 307.85 and 307.694 of the Ohio Revised Code.
“What this resolution does is it creates an advisory panel. We’ve had kind of an unofficial group called the Senior Citizens Levy Coalition, which is made up of representatives of all the senior centers, Council on Aging, RSVP and all that,” Troy said.
The resolution establishes the five-member panel, appointed by the commissioners, to make recommendations on how to disperse senior services levy funds.
The panel will not be paid for their services.
Aufuldish said the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office recommended the resolution to keep the process more in line with the Ohio Revised Code statutes.
“The needs assistance for the senior population is changing all the time; whether it means changing the way we fund these programs, I think its necessary to look at maybe the perspective we had in the past (and perhaps make adjustments to the funding distribution),” Sines said.
* Appointing Jason W. Boyd to the position of county administrator effective Aug. 6.
“It’s been awhile since we’ve had a county administrator and what we’ve looked at with Jason is continued responsibility,” Sines said. “We looked at what he’s done over the last several years from the Planning Commission to CDBG. All the things we’ve thrown at him over the last few years he’s handled with a great deal of style, expertise and knowledge.”
He said, while Bill Margalis had done well covering those duties in addition to his work as human resources director, the job required a separate person now.
Sines said the commissioners felt the position could also use a fresh perspective for the future and Boyd, with his experience could bring that to the position.
FINANCE DEPARTMENT
* Approving payment of bills as listed on the commissioners' approval journal in the amount of $645,535.45.
* Approving purchase orders as listed on the commissioners' purchase order approval journal in the amount of $339,876.84.
* Increasing appropriations for various non general fund accounts.
* Transferring cash and appropriations within various general and non general fund accounts.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
* Bill Margalis reported the date for the auctions of the two county buildings had been changed from July 12 to July 19. They will take place in the Assembly Room in the basement of the Nolan (County Administration) Building.
Klco said there are open houses of the properties on the Thursdays before the auctions.
NEW BUSINESS
The initial meeting of the Lake County Land Bank will be Friday, July 6 at 10 a.m. in the Auditor’s conference room.
PUBLIC COMMENT
* Painesville Township resident John Muzic recalled the state of Ohio was told it was not meeting guidelines for getting people to work and could be fined.
Battiato said only the Ohio Job and Family Services might have been fined, not the counties. However, Lake County and the rest of the counties were now exceeding the requirements for numbers of people being involved in the Worksfirst programs.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The commissioners adjourned to executive session to discuss personnel discipline.
Marian McMahon, county editor for Lake County Tribune/Gazette Newspapers, may be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
