Eleven Geauga County Residents Receive USDA Application Approval
for Incentive Programs
Geauga Soil & Water Conservation District (GSWCD) Board Meeting - July 14, 2026
Meeting Details: The Geauga Soil & Water Conservation District (GSWCD) met on July 14, 2026 at 7:30 am at the Geauga County Office Building, 12611 Ravenwood Dr. #240, Chardon, OH.
Board Attendance: Jeff Huntsberger, Board Chair; Robert Lausin, Vice Chair; Tracy Engle, Secretary; Dee Belew, Fiscal Agent; Mary Slingluff, Treasurer
Staff Attendance: Carmella Shale, District Director/Engineer; Gail Prunty, Education/Communications Specialist; Renee Bamberger, District Technician
Scheduled Guests: Shardonay Miller, Resource Conservationist, United States Department of Agriculture/Natural Resources Conservation Services (USDA/NRCS); Rebecca O’Neill, Program Specialist, Ohio Department of Agriculture/Division of Soil & Water Conservation (ODA-DSWD)
Open Board Meeting at 7:38 am.
Pledge of Allegiance
MOTION Approved
-
Approval of July 14, 2026 Board Meeting Agenda
-
Approval of June 9, 2026 Board Meeting Minutes
-
Accept Treasurer’s Reports from previous month (including all deposits and transfers that occurred in addition to previous approved expenditures)
-
Approve money transfer in the amount of $ 1,787.67 from Huntington Savings (Electronic/Stripe Payments through end of June 2026) to Huntington Checking
-
Approve payment for expenditures, purchase orders, vouchers and bills as present including EFT payments and estimates (no Sales Tax for June 2026)
-
Approve and acknowledge refund of $100 via Stripe to Anthony Tamburro on 6/29/26 because he already submitted a permit one month previously and forgot.
Reviewed previous month mail, bank statements, payroll and minutes – sign/initial/date as applicable
Open Public Discussion - None
SCHEDULED GUEST: REBECCA O’NEILL, PROGRAM SPECIALIST, ODA-DSWC
Updates: Elections for the GSWCD are coming up and she acknowledged they were in good shape on what is needed submission-wise for the elections. This year the only open spot is Robert Lausin’s position and he is running again. There are no challengers at this time. Salary summaries for the state and Area 2 are available, if the board wanted to look at those. Someone at ODA made a logo map to do some outreach to promote their district and initiatives. Ms. Shale verified their logo looked good on the map. The purpose of this is to promote all 88 districts individually, instead of one collective Soil and Water Commission. Ms. O’Neill invited ideas on what to do with the map. This Observer later suggested that stickers be made for water bottles. ODA has some new staff, but none in Area 2, where they are down to five staff members. There is an Administrative Development Program (ADP) that is an introduction to grant-seeking management and open to all employees. The technician development program added some urban sessions. This program is training for technicians and she acknowledged it was a nice addition because it typically is all agricultural-based sessions. Area 2 training will be September 3rd, from 9:30 am -2:30 pm and will focus on Accountability, Team Work & Development. Board members and staff are invited to this training. On July 27th, there will be a meeting with State Commissioners where they will look at revising the State Match Policy. Ms. O’Neil had no knowledge of what the Commissioners will be looking at in regards to changes. There will be a period of open comments. Ms. Shale advised she will be present to answer questions, if needed. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Division of Materials and Waste Management, is looking to partner with government agencies to collect scrapped tires through June 2027. The challenge with tire collection is the cost to get rid of them and this program will cover the cost if the agency will host an event.
Ms. O’Neil stated that the GSWCD Board is “fabulous” at keeping open board meetings, noting that not all counties are as diligent as GSWCD is.
SCHEDULED GUEST: SHARDONAY MILLER, RESOURCE CONSERVATIONIST, USDA/NRCS
Updates: Ms. Miller filled in today for Julie Parker who was out of the office. The Crop Reporting Deadline is this week. They are currently working on a restructuring plan and she noted that the rumor is there will be no mass firings this time, but no one knows for sure. There is one Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and one Environmental Qualities Incentives Program (EQUIP) left to obligate money. The deadline was July 2nd to have these done; however, the department is behind due to shortage of staff to complete the work. She noted that their area is only 56% complete and the State as a whole is only at 60% completed, noting the staffing shortage negatively impacts their ability to get things done quickly and in a timely manner. CSP & EQUIP recipients are being visited by USDA to see their progress with getting things completed. There is one person in Astabula interested in an Easement Program.
Ms. Miller brought a file box full of Geauga County EQUIP & CSP applications for the Board to review and sign off on. The Board ultimately approved 11 applications. Since these are federal programs, while the Board was reviewing the files, this Observer asked Ms. Shale why GSWCD was reviewing and signing off on them. She advised that because GSWCD is a partner with the USDA office, they just sign off confirming the applicant’s eligibility for the program and that there are no outstanding issues with the applicants. The GSWCD does not have to oversee any part of this program. Previously, they used to have a presence in each office but are now separate, though they still partner together.
EQUIP Application Approvals
-
Forest Management Plan (FMP) - in Thompson Township
-
FMP also in Thompson Township
-
Brush Management (BM) - Chardon
-
BM – Little Mountain
-
Bird Boxes-Wildlife Coded - Auburn Township - Was funded in a different program through ODA. Brush Management is treating invasive species
-
Cover Crops, Soil Crops & Putting in a Waterway - Hambden & Chardon
CSP Application Approvals
-
Forestry/Brush Management (FBM) - Chardon - Note: Mr. Huntsberger asked what Brush Management involved. Ms. Miller advised Brush Management typically covers invasives such as: Buckthorn, Honeysuckle, Multiflora Rose .There are different management methods, such as stamping, forestry mulcher, cut stump and spraying.
-
Forestry - Chesterland
-
FBM - Burton
-
Forestry - Munson for Brush Management and heavy use pad for horses
-
Forestry - Claridon for tree shrub planting/birdboxes/forest land improvement. Mr. Huntsberger asked if these were bluebird boxes. Ms. Miller advised that residents could pick whatever kind of wildlife boxes they liked, such as bat boxes.
One note that the office will be getting a new phone number in the fall. It is supposed to forward calls from the old number to the new number for a time.
MOTION (Roll call) - Executive session for the purpose of consideration of employment and employee evaluation per ORC 121.22 (G)(1) - Recessed to interview a candidate at 8:03 am and resumed at 8:32 am. They were interviewing for a receptionist position.
NOMINATING COMMITTEE Report (Dee Belew)
After completing the due diligence, there will only be one candidate for the one Board position presented by the Nominating Committee: Bob Lausin - Form EL-3, Signed and completed. They do not have to find anyone else to run against Mr. Lausin because they did the due diligence of contacting more than 5 people and confirmed with Ms. O'Neill that they have covered their bases and Mr. Lausin will be running uncontested. The election and annual meeting will be held on October 6th. A caterer has been hired and last year’s speaker, who was very popular, will be the same. This year he will be speaking on the bald eagle.
Observer Note: For those interested in attending the annual meeting, keep your eye on the GSWCD website as the date gets closer to purchase a ticket to attend the dinner and bald eagle presentation.
RENEE BAMBERGER, DISTRICT TECHNICIAN
Welcome & Introduction - Ms. Bamberger is the new technician who has been working in her role for 4 weeks. She reports enjoying the work and getting ready to go out and do some site inspections in Bainbridge this week. She has been receiving a lot of training from staff. The Board welcomed her and congratulated her on her recent engagement.
GAIL PRUNTY, EDUCATION/COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST
2026 Fair Overview & Schedule - The Geauga County Fair will be September 3-7. Ms. Prunty had the schedule she was preparing for shifts to cover their booth during the fair. Multiple Board members said they will sign up to help. Themes for the fair will be On The Road to Clean Water (stormwater and history of water in Geauga County) and America 250. They have the painted rain barrels that will be available for sale at the fair.
Observer Note: The rain barrels are beautiful this year and are sold by silent auction as a fundraiser to fund programs. Watch their website and Facebook page for more information on the sale.
Program Updates: Beautiful Organic Lawn Care Program was completed at the Bainbridge Library, with 34 people in attendance. The Educator Compost Project was completed at the Bainbridge Library in June as well with 10 teachers (4 Geauga, 4 Portage, 1 Trumble, 1 Cuyahoga) registered. A Native Plant Landscaping workshop in Novelty will be hosted later in the week and filled with 70 people within hours of the workshop registration going online.
CARMELLA SHALE, DISTRICT DIRECTOR/ENGINEER
MOTION Approved
-
Abolish Petty Cash fund and deposit $150 balance into Huntington Checking
-
Dispose of broken Keurig Coffee Maker Inventory # 9686 at recycling center
-
MOTION (roll call) – Hire Administrative Assistant (contingent upon offer being made and accepted)
MOTION Approved – 2nd Quarter Review of 2026 Annual Plan of Work - Ms. Shale noted the summary of work for the quarter was completed with their office short two staff members in part, during this quarter.
-
115 Plan Reviews
-
500 Site Inspections
-
5 Stormwater Basin Inspections
-
139 Technical Assistance to public (drainage, property reviews, ponds, soils & erosion)
-
16 general school programs - 333 children
-
20 Planting the Seed to Read programs - 417 children
-
13 Geauga/Trumbull Solid Waste District Recycling Program - 304 children
-
2 Stream Quality Monitoring completed - 7 people
-
1 Forestry Management Plan approved
-
1 Agricultural Pollution Abatement Program (APAP) Complaint
-
1 Camp Canopy Scholarship Awarded
-
Teacher Composting Workshop Completed - 10 Teachers
-
3 Woodland Wednesday programs
-
1 Organic Lawn Care Program
-
1 Soil Fundamentals Program
-
Horse Pasture Grazing Workshop scheduled for 7/23/26
-
46 Facebook Posts
-
13 News Releases
-
1 Farm & Dairy Article
-
3 Office Displays
-
Comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) reviewed and written for new Administrative Assistant
-
Administrative Procedures updated and streamlined
-
Recycling at office with batteries collected at least 1x month and taken to recycling center
NEXT BOARD MEETING: Tuesday, August 11, 2026
Meeting Adjourned-9:03 am
Observer Note: In review of their website, the fall fish sale orders are currently being taken online here. Orders due September 25th with fish pick up October 2nd, 9 am-10:30 am.
More information available here.
Observer: Wendy Landry
Editor: Gail Roussey
Reviewer: Rooney Moy
Date Submitted: August 2, 2026
The League of Women Voters of Geauga is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. They do not support or oppose individual candidates or parties. Learn more about the LWVG at www.lwvgeauga.org.