Commissioners Return $1.66 Million to Property Owners in Geauga
by Foregoing Collection of a 0.50 Mill Job and Family Services Levy
Board of County Commissioners Meeting - August 25, 2026
Meeting Details: The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) met in Regular Session on Tuesday, August 25, 2026 at 9:30 am at the Geauga County Office Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Room B303, Chardon, OH. BOCC Meetings can be live streamed through the Geauga ADP Youtube channel and can be accessed here by scrolling down and clicking on the section for YouTube videos. Recordings are available for the public. This meeting can be found here. As of this report’s publication date, the video has been viewed 185 times. Notations in the report refer to the minute notation on the video for a particular section. An agenda is available in advance via request to the Commissioners’ Clerk and at the meeting. Items discussed at the meeting but not on the agenda, if any, are addressed at the end of this report.
Public Comment Policy: Permitted as outlined in the BOCC’s Public Comment Policy that was adopted on January 28, 2025, revised on April 15, 2025, and again modified on September 30, 2025 and February 24, 2026.
Attendance: Present were Commissioners Carolyn Brakey and James Dvorak. Commissioner Ralph Spidalieri was absent. Also present were Commissioners’ Clerk Christine Blair, Finance Manager Adrian Gorton and Deputy County Administrator Mark Jimison in the role of Acting County Administrator. County Administrator Amy Bevan was absent.
County Representatives: Jessica Boalt, Director, Office on Aging; Becky O’Reilly, Chardon Senior Center Manager; Rob Weigle, Director, Maintenance; Liz Rubino, Contract Coordinator, Maintenance; Megan Ericson, Benefits Specialist; and Joseph Rice, Communications/Media Specialist.
Others in Attendance: Members of the public and press. This Observer attended virtually and was unable to identify other attendees if they did not speak.
4:28 Min. Pledge of Allegiance and Prayer (Commissioner Dvorak)
Public Comment on Agenda Items - None
Report from Acting County Administrator Mark Jimison - Mr. Jimison reported that he approved the hiring of an employee in the Water Department for the position of mechanic number 2310 to be effective September 14, 2026.
Minutes - Minutes from the March 31, 2026 meeting were approved. Observer Note: Weekly LWVG Observer Reports for the BOCC are available online through August 25, 2026 for informational purposes but are not substitutes for approved minutes. Approved BOCC Minutes are posted online here through March 10, 2026.
6:42 Min. Report of Financials - County Finance Manager Adrian Gorton received approval for the following:
Mrs. Brakey added that NOACA dues were approved at the NOACA June meeting. She said that “the decrease of the dues came about from good financial management of NOACA in part but they had additional interest income of over a million dollars.”
Mr. Dvorak asked if the Ohio Paving payment was the last for the project. Mr. Gorton said it looked like there would be a couple more.
8:39 Min. The Department on Aging received approval to execute Resolution #26-130 Honoring Hildred and Edward Tornberg for their dedicated Service, Volunteerism, and Community Enrichment through the Geauga Renaissance Choral Group. Ms. O’Reilly, manager of the Chardon Senior Center said, “We annually have a 90th birthday party to honor everyone in the county who is 90 and over. It's taking place this Friday. And this party, basically we have 200 people signed up to come. Of those 200 people, a little over half are 90 and over. Two of those people are very special volunteers who have been volunteering with the Department on Aging, specifically at the Chardon Senior Center, leading our choral group for the last 20 years. And they fall into that 90 plus category. They have done so much for our senior community. They organize weekly practices, direct the choir, establish performances out in the community, and they really have done so much. They embody the spirit of volunteerism and aging in the community.” The award will be given at the birthday party.
11:44 Min. The Maintenance Department received approval for the following:
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to advertise for Bids for 2026-2027 Snowplowing Services, including the West Geauga Senior Center, Geauga County Office Building, Safety Center, Dog Warden, Department of Emergency Services, County Home, Patterson Center and Sheriff’s Station, Post #2, to be held on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, at 2:15 pm. Notice of this Bid Opening will be advertised on August 28, 2026, September 4, 2026, and on the county website.
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to advertise for Request for Proposals for Food and Beverage Concession Services in the Geauga County Office Building with Proposals due by 4:00 pm on September 24, 2026. Notice of this Request for Proposals will be advertised on August 28, 2026, September 4, 2026, and on the county website. Mrs. Brakey said she looked forward to seeing what sort of proposals they receive.
14:56 Min. The Commissioners’ Office received approval for the following:
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to execute Resolution #26-131, Seventh Amendment, Approving the Use of County Credit Cards for the Year 2026 for Agencies and Cardholders to add additional users for the Department of Water Resources, pursuant to O.R.C. 301.27.
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to authorize the President of the Board to execute the Application for Authorization to Permit the use of County Credit Cards form, pursuant to O.R.C. 301.27, adding Jeremy Neill and Shawn Maruna for the Year 2026 on the Tractor Supply Commercial Account, and Jeremy Neill for the Home Depot Commercial Account.
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to execute Resolution #26-132 Requesting the Geauga County Budget Commission Suspend Collection of the Job and Family Services 0.50 Mill Levy for the Tax Year 2026.
Mrs. Brakey said that this will result in the return of $1.66 Million to Geauga County taxpayers who own property. Mrs. Brakey said, “Some of this goes back to the 2023 (property tax) revaluation. That's when property values increased substantially, which also increased the county's inside millage revenue. And that's the portion of your property tax bill that is unvoted for…. So over the last few years, at least as long as I've been watching, the Commissioners and the Budget Commission have worked together to use levy suppression to offset that unvoted increase rather than simply allowing the county to collect money because property values went up.” She said it was also important “to keep the county's role in perspective as far as the overall property tax burden. As Adrian (Gorton) pointed out in his tax budget presentation, only about 16 cents of every property tax dollar paid by the average Geauga County homeowner goes to county programs and about only five cents of every property tax dollar actually goes to the county general fund through that inside millage. So most of the rest of that county share is for things that the voters have approved, which means we only really have a small piece of that pie of your tax bill.“ She also referenced Ohio House Bill (HB) 335, which limits the growth of inside millage resulting from future reappraisals and updates. Observer Note: See information about HB 335 here. In the past when the County deferred collection of a JFS levy, an equivalent amount was made available to JFS to continue to fund programs that would have been covered by the levy. This is possible due to sufficient money in the County General Fund. Mr. Dvorak said, “Keep in mind we've almost done this every year, save one, about $1.7 million. Now, to make the Job and Family Services whole, we take that $1.7 (million) out of the general fund. So, they're not missing anything (they need) to operate.”
20:22 Min. Board Discussion
Mrs. Brakey said, “I just want to give a quick shout out to EMA (Emergency Management Agency), especially our director Austin (Rice) and his employees Brandon and Blake. So, they recently had two days of dry run drills in preparation for next month's Perry nuclear power plant exercise. This is my first time as Commissioner doing all of that and I was really impressed by how professional they were, how prepared they were, but they still somehow made it fun and not a miserable experience despite being inside with no windows for two days.”
21:38 Min. Public Comment - A gentleman from South Russell Village spoke about his concerns regarding safety outside the Geauga County Fair. Mr. Dvorak explained that this issue would be the responsibility of Burton Village.
24:38 Min. Executive Session - The Commissioners received approval to move into Executive Session at 9:50 am for the purpose of discussing compensation of public employees. The Commissioners were joined by Mr. Jimison and Megan Ericson, Benefits Specialist.
44:47 Min. Return from Executive Session at 10:10 am, with no action taken.
Ms. Blair said they were trying to reschedule the Geauga Trumbull Solid Waste District meeting.
Ms. Blair also said, in response to a question from Mrs. Brakey, those wishing to attend the meeting of the Commissioners next Thursday, September 3 at the Geauga County Fair should go to the main gate and state that they are going to attend the Commissioners meeting.
Adjournment at approximately 10:15 am.
Next Meeting: The next Regular meeting will be on Thursday September 3, 2026 at the Great Geauga County Fair at 10:00 am at the Junior Fair Stage, Burton, Ohio. After this meeting, the next Regular meeting will be on Thursday, September 10, 2026 at the Geauga County Office Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Room B303, Chardon, OH. This meeting will also include a work session with Community and Economic Development.
Observer: Gail Roussey
Editor: Rooney Moy
Reviewer: Sarah McGlone
Date Submitted: August 29, 2026
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