GEAUGA SOIL AND WATER FINALIZES 3-YEAR LEASE WITH GEAUGA COMMISSIONERS IN COUNTY OFFICE BUILDING;AUTOMATIC 10% MONTHLY RENEWAL RATE

Thursday, December 19, 2024

Carmella Shales represented Agenda Items 14 and 15. When this writer asked just prior to the 9:30 opening of the Commissioners meeting about the yearly lease rate, Assistant County Administrator Linda Burhenne, not Ms. Shales,noted that SWCD’s yearly payments would be covered by grant money. When I asked about how much office space SWCD would receive in the new county office building, neither Ms. Burhenne nor Ms. Shales, subsequently, could answer that question.

The Agenda Items concerning Soil and Water Conservation District follow:

14. The Soil and Water Conservation District is requesting the Board approve and authorize the President of the Board to execute the Lease Agreement between the Geauga County Board of Commissioners and Geauga Soil and Water Conservation District for space in the county office building defined as office number 240 on the second floor and room B003 in the basement for the term of three years, beginning January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2027 with an automatic renewal for a three year period, in the amount of $25,000.00 per year for the initial term and then upon renewal in the amount of $27,500.00 per year.

15. The Soil and Water Conservation District is requesting the Board grant permission to advertise to hold Public Hearings for the consideration of Adopting the Updated “Water Management and Sediment Control Regulations, Amended 2025.[sic] The Public Hearings will be held on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at 9:45 a,m. and on Tuesday, January 28, 2025 at 9:45 a.m. Notice of these Public Hearings will be advertised on December 19, 2024, December 26, 2024 and on the County Website,

By the time Ms. Shales made her 11:10 appearance, the voting quorum of Commissioners was reduced to Ralph Spidalieri and Tim Lennon, with the exit of Commissioner Jim Dvorak. Ms. Shales made her appearance short and sweet for immediate 2-0 approval on each agenda item.

This writer is curious that the three-year automatic renewal of the Lease for payment by the State of Ohio annually at $25,000 will automatically renew at the annual rate of $27,500. To this writer, the rate of payment appears to increase 10% annually from January 1, 2028 until December 31, 2030.

Per Ms. Burhenne, we are led to understand that the State of Ohio will be paying SWCD’s way for the first three years. Nevertheless, when SWCD’s lease increases 10% annually beginning January 1, 2028, where will the funding for the $82,500 three-year-obligation come from?

Additionally, we are hopeful that the document covering the Water Management and Sediment Regulations, Amended 2025, will be available for public inspection and critique before the two January 2025 Public Hearings arrive.

An accounting of the announced Ohio state grant applied to the total six year lease rate of $25,000 x 3 and $27,500 x 3 for a total of $157,500 for an unknown amount of actual floor space will be well-worth watching.

PUBLIC DISCUSSION REGARDING LEGAL RIGHTS AND RAMIFICATIONS OF GEAUGA COUNTY DOG WARDEN

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

The 36-item agenda, finalized on December 16, evolved because December 17 is the last date to include adjustments regarding financial adjustments for final pay checks. That issue alone, might have been a major reason for much confusion. Consider that the Geauga County Department of Aging, was responsible for the final 13 items, including an Executive Session “for the purpose of discussing the compensation of public employees.” In general, the agenda demonstrated that the items reserved for this final Commissioner meeting before Christmas resulted from an inability to take care of these issues before the last possible legal moment. This writer has no idea at what time the Executive Session with Commissioners, Assistant County Administrator Linda Burhenne, and Department of Aging Director Jessica Boldt finally wrapped up after its inception at noon. This writer had other tasks to complete at that point.

The most time-consuming and complicated portion of this last public commissioner meeting before December 25 was agenda item #6, added yesterday and identified “Commissioner Dvorak would like to have a public discussion regarding the [Geauga County] Dog Warden’s Office.” Dog Warden Matt Granito took his seat before the Commissioners at approximately 10:05 am to explain the legal complexities and uncertainties that have developed around the Dog Warden’s Office at a time when he is basically the entire staff, unless one considers a 57-year-old volunteer assistant. Mr. Granito began his presentation with calm logic, explaining that new responsibilities have fallen to his department since Covid.

Granito explained that if he is contacted at 10 pm, including on a holiday, by the Sheriff to collect a dog whose survival and/or safety is threatened, it is his responsibility to be on call.

Sheriff Hildenbrand and Chief Deputy Tom Rowan were present, as was Prosecutor Jim Flaiz. Hildenbrand walked to Granito’s location to explain that although he was not eager for additional job responsibilities, be believed his department could provide improved dog-warden services at reduced prices to county taxpayers. If Commissioners wanted to consider this offer, the contract would have to be completed right after a newly-elected commissioner takes office in January. That newly-elected commissioner would be Carolyn Brakey. Hildenbrand’s statement brought nods of quiet agreement from Granito as well as Granito’s acknowledgment that he and Hildenbrand got along well. On the other hand, Hildenbrand mentioned the presence of Prosecutor Jim Flaiz because of complaints regarding the current dog warden’s actions received by Flaiz.

Granito has been the Geauga County Dog Warden for 22 years and a humane department worker for the last 30 years. As such, he has been responsible for getting dogs removed from vehicles involved in motor accidents. Because a dog trapped in a vehicle may have accompanied its owner, the animal is considered private property. Likewise, if a dog is left in a residence, the animal is also considered private property. According to Granito, there is no clear-cut legal authority for a dog warden to remove personal property like a dog from within four walls. He cited the example of the Portage County Dog Warden, who can legally shelter a dog for 7 days only; thereafter, Portage County owns the dog. In terms of avoiding nebulous legal situations, Granito cited conversations with Auditor Charles Walder, requesting that any dog licenses issued by the Geauga Auditor’s Office include a phone number or contact for the owner’s next of kin or significant -other to provide a clearer legal course of action should the owner die or become incapacitated.

Prosecutor Jim Flaiz, sitting in the back of the attendee section, chose to speak from his seat in the back portion of Commissioner chambers in Suite 350. He narrated the episode of a dog that “ripped off” a portion of a male Russell resident’s face in October 2024. He noted that the victim’s wife had been to the Prosecutor’s Office on or about October 31 to voice her panic and displeasure with the severity of the event. Further, he criticized Granito for causing Geauga taxpayers to pay excessively for dog warden services. [see video on YouTube https://youtu.be/tzQbda-UND4?si=m37Ien0RO4yVlDe8 agenda item 6 starts at 24:48 on the video.]

Not content to cease his reporting there, Flaiz cited his due-diligence in keeping track of $11,000 in veterinary bills chalked up by Granito’s office to treat dogs reportedly under the dog warden’s control, including those that Granito had picked up out of county, perhaps in Ashtabula, because of Flaiz’s suggestion that Granito had too much time on his hands: “I don’t know what he does with his time.” In the next breath, however, Flaiz reported that he and Hildenbrand didn’t want to show up in public to rat on the dog warden, but the Sheriff “has done most of the dirty work” for Granito anyway.

With calm demeanor, Granito noted that he had listened thus far without interrupting. Therefore, he chose to seek permission from the three Commissioners to respond because “I have no problem with you guys having the facts.” Asking Flaiz how many times the Prosecutor had spoken to him, Flaiz asserted, “Several.” Granito, however, at that point referred to email conversations directed to Chief Assistant Prosecutor Laura LaChapelle asking for assistance with determining proper legal guidance from the Prosecutor’s Office. According to Granito, those legal clarifications never came in spite of Granito’s efforts to set up meetings back in April 2024.

From this point on, the dialog between Granito, seated in front of the Commissioners, and Flaiz, responding from the audience, became frenzied, with Granito noting that he has been set-up politically in a “witch-hunt.” Further, he shared with the public,”If you want to let me go, do what you have to do,” recounting that Flaiz’s one conversation with him was, “Do your f--------job; I’m gonna bring you up before the Commissioners.”

Later in his testimony, Granito expressed disbelief that Steve Patton, an assistant in Flaiz’s office, had reduced the original fourth degree misdemeanor imposed upon the aggressive dog’s owner to a speeding ticket violation that could avoid a court appearance with a simple monetary payment.[see video from 1:03:16 to 1:04:07]

By 10:40 am. Granito was becoming more outspoken.”This pisses me off. . . I have 22 years with this f____county.”

Flaiz noted that he would provide Commissioners all relevant information regarding the ongoing situation that he was legally able to send,

When Commissioner Lennon observed the depth of “the communication problem,” Granito immediately asked, “Do I still have a job?”

Lennon, the only Commissioner who will not return in January, responded meaningfully,” As far as I am concerned, but it will have to be reviewed.”

It was 10:52 am. The County Engineer’s Office under Shane Heijar presented items 9-12. Right about that time {check time clip]. Commissioner Jim Dvorak got up to leave, with Spidalieri and Lennon composing the Quorum.

By about 11:30, Spidalieri chose to perform for the video [see video from 1:58:29 to 2:17:04] camera. “ Matt [Granito] has a tremendous love for dogs.” As usual, Spidalieri was highly critical of Dvorak’s Agenda Item #6, choosing in typical Spidalieri fashion to ridicule a co-Commissioner in his absence.

Attendee Newell Howard in his loudest voice and loudest Christmas sweater, bellowed from his attendee’s seat. “This should never happen again.” At least one Commissioner, Ralph Spidalieri, voiced his support.

The question remains for this writer: What should never happen again? Readers obviously recall that at the Organizational meeting of January 2017, Mr. Spidalieri, then already on his second term, announced that the current Commissioners would not be videotaping, and, indeed, the Commissioners; Office has not provided live video to the public. Mr. Lennon, who has identified Mr. Spidalieri as his friend, started his first elected four-year term that same January 2017 meeting, consequently starting his second term in January 2021. We have never once heard Mr. Lennon actively support the Geauga public by demanding Commissioners video the proceedings every meeting.

This writer and her co-editor have been videoing these Commissioner meetings for nearly fifteen years as the right of the public to understand the important public issues in Geauga County, but in Mr. Lennon’s words, “It will have to be reviewed.”

Indeed, Mr. Lennon. History will indeed review Geauga County’s actions as well as witch-hunts, ………………………………………………...

NATION STRONGLY REJECTS BIDEN’S PARDON OF SON HUNTER

Monday, December 9, 2024
Paul Bedard | Washington Examiner

The first poll out about President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter has found that people widely reject his action and that it may have sparked the beginning of Democratic anger at the failed presidency.

In a Napolitan News Service survey shared with Secrets on Thursday, just 30% of registered voters agreed with the expansive Biden pardon of Hunter. The majority, 62%, opposed the pardon, 41% “strongly.”

Biden had repeatedly promised not to pardon his son, who has faced gun and tax charges. But he flip-flopped this week and made the pardon good for an 11-year span.

The president has said that he believed Hunter was unfairly targeted by prosecutors, a claim that echoed what President-elect Donald Trump has said about the weak cases he faced.

But the public in the new survey had a different view of the Bidens. Some 54% disagreed with the president’s excuse. But on Trump, 46% did believe that the Justice Department unfairly targeted him while 42% disagreed.

Pollster Scott Rasmussen told Secrets that his poll also suggested that Democrats are reevaluating Biden, who currently sits at his lowest approval rating ever. The New York Times on Thursday, for example, slammed the pardon, calling it “a significant misstep that could leave lasting damage.”

“In this hyper-partisan world, it’s stunning that only 52% of Democrats support the president’s pardon. This is just the beginning of partisan re-evaluation. I suspect the anger at Biden among Democrats is ready to bubble over. Over time, the party will come to believe that the only reason they lost in 2024 is because Biden selfishly tried to run for re-election,” Rasmussen said.

And, he added, “It’s also interesting to note that more voters think Trump was prosecuted unfairly than believe that about Hunter.”

SOCIAL SECURITY UPDATE: DECEMBER PAYMENTS WORTH $4,873 GO OUT DECEMBER 11

Monday, December 9, 2024

Brady Knox | washingtonexaminer.com

The first round of December’s Social Security payments, worth up to $4,873 for the highest-income earners who retire at age 70, will go out to the first group of retirees on December 11.

Here is all you need to know about this month’s Social Security payments, which go out in three rounds.

When does the check arrive?

Social Security payments typically begin on the second Wednesday of every month, and the following waves go out in the subsequent weeks. The distribution of payments depends on which day of the month a retiree was born.

Retirees born between the 1st and 10th of a month receive their payments on Dec. 11. Beneficiaries born between the 11th and 20th of a month receive their checks on Dec. 18, and retirees born on or after the 21st of a month will receive their payments on Dec. 24. The final payment will be on a Tuesday, as the fourth Wednesday falls on Christmas.

How can I maximize my check?

The time of retirement, the amount paid into Social Security, and the number of years paid into Social Security all affect how much beneficiaries receive in the program.

Payments largely depend on the recipients’ retirement age. Retiring at the youngest age, 62, allows up to $2,710 per month, while delaying retirement until 70 can allot up to $4,873 per month, according to the SSA.

Beneficiaries can see a personalized estimate of how much they can expect each month through the SSA’s calculator.

When am I eligible?

Citizens are eligible for Social Security payments beginning at 62 years old.

How is it financed?

Social Security is financed by a payroll tax paid by employers and employees.

Social Security payment amounts are set to shrink unless Congress takes action to prevent it. Analysts estimate the SSA will no longer be able to give out full payments to recipients as early as 2034 due to a rising number of retirees and a shrinking number of workers.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN LOCAL VOTERS ELECT GRINCHES FOR A LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT LIKE BEDFORD?

Friday, December 6, 2024
Joseph Mestnik | Liberty News & Views

What happens when you have no one on the board or administration that has a combined comprehensive experience and understanding of finance, construction, planning (strategic, tactical and logistical) and are running an educational system with a budget of $67,252,029? Current enrollment is 2,950+ students that give us about $22,797 per pupil per year towards education. (12 years totals $273,568 per pupil!) With this budget, the board and administration are producing a failing school district according to Ohio measurables. See measurable stars below.

This group are now going to build all flat 20 year membrane roofed buildings, just like the ones we currently have! Can anyone else do worse? The current buildings are all going to be torn down because they all have flat membrane leaky roofs costing and according to so called experts, close to $221 million to renovate! (This number was pulled right out of the air by a crank and is absurd!) My house has a 40 year gabled roof. Cleveland’s St. Ignatius High School was built in 1886 with gabled roofing! This group can’t build a building with a 40 year roof? I have told all many, many times directly and in Liberty News government buildings have to have gabled pitched roofs to prevent water damage. Am I the only one who understands construction? During my 20 years on the Bedford school board, with my guidance we brought in the stadium $120,000 under budget and the South East Library $220,000 under budget, because I have an education and experience and insisted on having an independent construction manager! How is your current administration doing?

Achievement
This component represents whether student performance on state tests met established thresholds and how well students performed on tests overall 2 out of 5. * * _ _ _ Needs support to meet state standards in academic achievement.

Graduation
The Graduation Component is a measure of the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate and the five-year adjusted cohort graduation rate 2 out of 5. * * _ _ _

Early Literacy
The Early Literacy Component is a measure of reading improvement and proficiency for students in kindergarten through third grade 1 out of 5. ( * _ _ _ _ Needs significant support to meet state standards in early literacy [K-3].)

Is this a good example of how our tax dollars are being wasted? What is happening to the Bedford City School District that you should know about? There is a building project that was recommended by a group of well-meaning citizens that all the buildings in the district were old, antiquated and a number pulled right from the air that upgrade would cost an estimated $221 million to renovate. A bond issue should be on the ballot during the May election when fewer citizen vote. Out of 29,000 registered voter only 8,608 voted and the margin of victory was razor thin winning by 424 votes. This gave the board and administration a supposed mandate to begin the project that demolishes all the existing buildings and build new. This would according to them, be so much less expensive. That a bond issue should be passed for $141,000,000 and the state would furnish an additional $39,000,000 to accomplish this project. So the project will demolish 7 buildings and replace them with four. I requested citizens to have their say and not one respondent was for this crazy building project. To make matters worse, the first building to be built is a flat roofed elementary Pre-K through 2nd behind the existing Middle School Heskett. This is the extreme North East corner of the school district which means every child across the district will have to be bussed, costing millions in extra transportation costs. Elementary schools are always in the middle of the district so you can have walkers!

NEVER ENDING ELECTIONS, FARM BILL FIGHTS AND ‘EMERGENCY RELIEF’

Thursday, November 14, 2024
Alan Guebert

The now two-times-delayed 2024 Farm Bill remains captive to all the election engineering. The bipartisan House version, pushed through by GOP Ag Chair Glenn Thompson last May, sits unmoved in what forecasters predict will soon be the Dem-controlled, lame duck Senate.

Currently, there are no signs that Senate Ag Chair–and probable chief lame duck–Debbie Stabenow is ready to finish the bill before she retires to Michigan in early January.

Meanwhile, the Senate Ag’s ranking Republican, Arkansan John Boozman, Stabenow’s likely successor if the GOP retakes the upper chamber, holds a strong hand to pull the ever-weakening Stabenow into one–maybe two–lame-duck-session ag deals.

First, Stabenow, who reads the same gloomy Dem polls that Boozman happily reads, also knows if she’s to have any of her ideas included in any Farm Bill she needs to act quickly and boldly during the November-December lame duck period.

That will be a tough steak for her to chew because she has steadfastly opposed the House bill’s deep, $30-billion cuts to food assistance programs and its substantial boost to income-supporting reference prices. Still, if there’s a deal to be done with House negotiators–say, a mid-point on each element–Stabenow might take her half and walk away with a lukewarm compromise.

Compounding any simple deal, however, is who wins the House majority. If the GOP keeps (or builds on) its slim, control, any lame duck deal might become a dead duck because Republicans, in control of both the Senate and the House in early 2025, would have zero incentive to bargain with Stabenow in late 2024.

Then again, if today’s Congressional roles reverse–a Democratic-controlled House and a Republican-led Senate–the current Farm Bill stalemate might continue well into the new year.

That’s where Boozman’s second card may come in handy.

Since early September, Senate Republicans have been pushing for “emergency farm relief” to counter the delayed Farm Bill and this year’s stumbling farm income. In mid-October, Trent Kelly, a Republican House Ag member from Mississippi, presented a formal bill–named FARM: the Farm Assistance and Revenue Mitigation Act–that looks to give farmers about $20 billion in direct income assistance this year.

“The response to the proposed FARM Act has been positive, with large farm organizations such as the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Corn Growers Association, and the American Soybean Association in support of it,” Farm Journal reported Oct. 22.

Of course they are “in support of it” because, with the bitter campaign over, all its talk about government overspending will be over, too.

MEETING ARRANGED BY GEAUGA PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE TO DISCUSS TERMINOLOGY AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR PAYMENT OF BILLS NOW SURPASSING $20 MILLION

Friday, October 25, 2024

The renovation work undertaken on the Geauga County Courthouse, which Commissioners originally thought was going to be completed in the range of $14.5-$15 Million Dollars when first approved during the fourth quarter of 2023, has clearly surpassed $20 million after revelations on October

Readers may remember the confusion over the Courthouse Expansion Project and the lack of responsibility for never-ending costs, corrections, and improvements that apparently were either not anticipated or not distinctly-delineated as this project’s first costs came in at $91,000 on November 21, 2023, , followed quite quickly with an additional contract on December 5, 2023, of $931,002, putting the total financial commitment at year’s end at $1,022,002.

As early as January 20, 2034, a revised contract with more bells and whistles, brought the expense of the Then Design Courthouse renovation fo a whopping $18,664,744. Some of this extra expense had to do with matching limestone facades aesthetically with limestone from the original courthouse. At nearly $19,000,000 to meet aesthetic expectations, the courthouse project was already about $4 million over original expectations.

As if these changes weren’t far too obnoxious for the average Geauga taxpayer who was dealing with far-reaching inflation just to feed this/her family, let-alone meet the perfectionist expectations of matching building stonework, 3 change orders that were billed to the Courthouse Expansion project on July 23, 2024, added yet another $292,761 to the total investment. Therefore,as of July 23, 2024, only eight months into the accounting, the total financial obligation was already for all practical purposes $20,000,000. For those who want the technical information, the total amount sunk into the Courthouse Expansion Project was $19,979,507 in just eight months.

But that isn’t the end of the story, Geauga County taxpayers. At the October 10.2024, Commissioner meeting, Brad Geller, spokesperson for Then Design, came forward from those in attendance to explain why it became necessary for the contracted Then Design to charge additional fees of $368,570 after the fact. Adding these additional charges to the accumulated $19.979,507 now puts the accumulated costs for Geauga taxpayers at well over $20 million, specifically $20,348,077. The project is not finished yet, with fears of a financial downturn and potentially harder times than we have yet seen.

As noted earlier, Commissioner Spidalieri, in response to Geller’s belated explanation in an effort to get Then Design’s additional $370K, could only sputter away, “There was never any advance warning, How do we justify all this?”

Lennon, who will be leaving at the end of his commissioner term, could only shake his head in absolute disbelief. “How did this [project expense] get so high?”

Adrian Gorton, refreshed after a week away from county finance, resumed his role of itemization of Geauga County financials in Agenda Item #3 during the October 22, 2024, meeting. As an endnote, Gorton announced a 2 p.m. private meeting apparently arranged by Prosecutor Jim Flaiz’s office to discuss with Chardon officials the accumulated bills received thus far in connection with the Courthouse Expansion project that has inflicted obvious misery that is far from over. There seemed to be a common response of relief from all three commissioners in the absence of final answers and/or equitable assignments of responsibility for making the renovated courthouse the new showplace of Chardon Square.

Stay tuned. This latest confusion is still a breaking story, likely laden with lots more revelations and tons more expenses for Geauga County taxpayers. As outgoing Commissioner Lennon recently commiserated on October 8, “I’ll be long gone [as Commissioner] and I’ll be paying the taxes.”

Spot on. So will the rest of us. . .

FACTS TO CONSIDER BEFORE VOTING KENSTON PERMANENT IMPROVEMENT LEVY – ISSUE 3

Friday 25, October, 2024
Linda Calvert Nokes, Auburn Township Ohio

Unfortunately, the Kenston School Board did not accept the majority vote against this levy last Fall. The Geauga County Auditor and Budget Commission notified all property owners in the county of the huge increase in the State’s reappraisal and strongly suggested that taxpayers request of local officials they lower their inside millage to help ease the burden on taxpayers. The County Commissioners lowered their inside millage as did many townships and at least one school. Auburn Township who shares the school system with Bainbridge and the Kenston School Board chose not to alleviate this burden. They are running levies on the November ballot in addition to having received a substantial windfall in January 2024 due to the new property valuations.

Kenston’s windfall amounted to $1.16 million (about the amount of the proposed levy). Our State representative Demetriou’s office in Columbus told me last Fall that he was pursuing legislation that would change the way property valuations are calculated because they were unrealistically high. In checking back recently with his office, I found that nothing has been accomplished yet and if they do not pass legislation before year-end, the current valuations will stand for another year. The same amount of windfall that Kenston and other entities received this past January will again be paid to them in Jan. 2025. Our school will receive another $1.16 million without any vote by the residents and it could even be more for any new construction this year. To me, that translates to at least $2.32 million in new money Kenston can put in their improvement fund without the proposed levy and without a vote by taxpayers. If our state legislators never get around to revising the way they do reappraisals, they will all continue to receive the windfall amounts they received in January 2024 and for many years ahead!

At the County Budget Commission hearing, who is by law required to approve the budgets of all political entities, school Treasurer Cales reported an unencumbered cash balance of over $15 + million in their coffers. The Commission questioned Treasurer Cales why Kenston did not show any funds from the windfall transferred into an improvement fund. They also noted that the school’s expenses “have been flat for the past three years”. Kenston has been able to easily transfer $575,000 during those years from the general fund (which can be used for any expense) to an improvement fund but apparently its being stockpiled as unencumbered cash.

The previous superintendent, who was here just a few years, told us how our school system was starting a program to reduce expenses and closing one of the buildings due to low enrollment. We now have a new super backing this levy. With all due respect, I don’t believe this superintendent, this treasurer, or this School Board has given this the thought it deserves. We are in the midst of an unsettling presidential election, inflation has soared the past few years with a national debt of over $33 trillion and many expert economists are warning of a severe recession coming which leads me to believe the “School” is apparently unaware or chooses to ignore our present economic situation. Their costly levy mailers do not mention the windfall they have already received and/or another to come in January. Are they trying to pull the wool over our eyes? They are certainly not being transparent and I believe that this is hardly the way or the time to play games with those of us who must financially support the school.

DEFEAT KENSTON SCHOOL’S FALL 2024 REPEAT EFFORT TO IMPOSE 5-YEAR PERMANENT IMPROVEMENT LEVY AFTER ITS $1.164 MILLION INSIDE MILLAGE HEIST FROM SENIOR TAXPAYERS

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Kenston Schools could have resolved its own top-heavy financing of educators accustomed to receiving healthy raises and fringe benefits in the fall of 2023 when it chose to “stick it” to elderly taxpayers caught between a rock and a hard place after the sexennial revaluation. Back in October 2023 we learned that Kenston Schools had, done an excellent job of staying quiet, playing dumb, and not saying a word about the windfall of $1.164 million dollars that would benefit the system annually without even a vote from beleaguered taxpayers. Then on top of it they expected taxpayers to buy into paying even more out of the goodness of their hearts. These were elderly taxpayers whose fixed retirement benefits had been determined 20-30 years earlier. Kenston Schools have become noted for Taj Mahal laboratories, library acquisitions, new textbooks ,supplies, electronic upgrades. Whatever has happened to waiting for the best deals instead of buying stuff at top prices Because of inflated home prices and shortages of homes on the market, taxpayers were being squeezed, and those highly-paid school executives in charge of spending taxpayers’ fixed incomes, rather than their own dollars, had no empathy, no concern, no respect for homeowners losing the American Dream of Home Ownership so the Kenston Schools could be the Taj Mahal!

As early as October 2023, the Geauga County Budget Commission offered a plan of action to beleaguered taxpayers supporting the top-heavy pyramid oppressing them:

“Encourage your County( Board of Commissioners), School (Board of Education), and Local Government (Trustees, Council, Mayor) to consider reducing Outside Millage to offset the increased Inside Millage tax. Recommendation letters have been sent to the County, Schools, and Local Governments from the County Budget Commission.”

Did Kenston Schools give anything back during their moment of clairvoyance that they were suddenly filthy wealthy on the backs of peon taxpayers, in many cases, taxpayers who had struggled to support exorbitant wants, not necessities, and educator-heavy payrolls within Kenston Schools.

As a result of this elitist attitude and total disrespect for the backs of taxpayers, these taxpayers voted overwhelmingly on November 7, 2023, to defeat Kenston’s 5-year Permanent Improvement Levy. How dare those educators on the receiving end dare to presume that they would be more entitled to Taj Mahal surroundings while the taxpayers felt squeezed inside out. Shame on those college-educated elitists who feel so uniquely entitled to deal with such small numbers of young people. They certainly have no respect for the taxpayers.

As a result Kenston Schools brought their own doom by not receiving their anticipated additional $1,265,000 to buy the newest , the best of electronic and wireless equipment and inflation- subject luxuries. The Kenston Board of Education had finally overplayed its hand when all it was really necessary to do was demonstrate that those beneficiaries of advanced degrees, tenure, and fringe benefits had totally disregarded the needs of others in the community—those who pay property tax.

Candidates running for re-election have in October 2024 campaign literature verified their efforts to make unionized teachers part art of an entitled class. Steve Demetriou has crowed during election season 2024 that as an active lawmaker in Columbus, he has “secured record funding for Ohio’s public schools (e.g., Kenston Board of Education) ” and “provided pay raises for our teachers so our [Public] schools can acquire and retain the BEST POSSIBLE educators,” Obviously, lawmaker Demetriou assumes that the best possible public school teachers are only a function of the highest dollar offered to them…

The Kenston Board of Education under Superintendent Steve Sayers and his successor Dr. Bruce Willingham, had apparently very little difficulty realizing that if Kenston was able to make some cuts on low-hanging fruit by simply offering a retirement buy-out-incentive, the exorbitant costs and fringe benefits for 10 teaching employees could be painlessly eliminated. The most important question is what took these elitist, very highly-paid executives so long to figure out that Kenston Schools was operating with great waste and inefficiency. If these highly-paid leaders were so skilled, why couldn’t they have figured out the waste and inefficiency long before instead of enjoying so much lavish overpayment for teachers on a nine-month teaching calendar?

Additionally, 3 teachers could be reassigned to the Middle School, based on their current certification and seniority. Again, how long on the backs of taxpayers are we supposed to be tolerant of employees on a nine-month teaching calendar with such lucrative fringe benefits when taxpayers are asked to be patient as they are squeezed on the whims of inefficiency and maybe even sweetheart deals.

What we have read from Treasurer Seth Cales that the annual $1,164,000 inside millage annual unvoted windfall is meaningless to him because the $1,164,000 creates no sense of gratitude in him or those in charge of the Kenston Board of Education. After all, to hear Cales rationalize his disregard for the mere $1,164,000 demonstrates his contempt that the annual windfall “constitutes less than 3% of the Kenston Board of Education’s TOTAL REVENUES.” POOR TREASURER CALES! What a sense of entitlement the taxpayers of Bainbridge and Auburn have created in this new class of royalty. Maybe the Kenston Board of Education has just become too accustomed to lavishly spending “other people’s money.”

Back in January 2024 in In the Know Kenston, outgoing Superintendent Steve Sayers reported that “currently the intermediate , middle, and high schools are only operating at 2/3 capacity.” To this writer and to many other observers, this statement is clear evidence that heating, lighting, utility, and janitorial bills were overpriced because of too much available space and too much opportunity for inefficiency. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that charging taxpayers for unused or misused space is an invitation for being ripped-off. By simply deciding to close the Intermediate School and to take advantage of the available space at the Middle School for 4^th and 5^th grades and to move 8^th graders into already available but unused space at the High School could have provided vast savings, years ago, but as long as taxpayers were nothing more than a source of other people’s money to exploit, why work to solve the obvious problems any sooner than absolutely necessary? This writer feels great shame for the inability to foster the problem-solving skills that Kenston Schools continually boast about but take their sweet old time to demonstrate. Hypocrisy?

Interestingly, Kenston Treasurer Seth Cales showed up in person about February 2024 to present his 2024 budget to the Geauga County Budget Commission [Auditor Charles Walder, Prosecutor James Flaiz, and Treasurer Christopher Hitchcock]. At the time, Prosecutor Flaiz reminded Kenston taxpayers about Kenston Board of Education shortcomings and perhaps half-truths as he personally chided Cales in person:
“You are talking about reining in your expenses, but your expenses have been flat for the last three years. Yet, this budget cycle you are jumping up to $2 million. You just got $1,160.000 on inside millage revenue, so what are you all of a sudden spending $2 million on out of your general fund? . . . Permanent Improvement Projects are what’s driving your increases and your deficits. That’s going to eat away at your [annual] cash carryover.”

The Kenston Board of Education apparently refuses to accept the notion that runaway price inflation on even the most pathetic cuts of stew meat and fresh produce are driving into dire straits those who sacrificed for years to achieve the American Dream of Home Ownership.

Instead the Kenston Board of Education has come up with a new five-year Permanent Improvement Levy that will still run $2.92 per month per $100,000 valuation if voters are foolish enough to blindly trust the omissions of information from a group of educators destined to benefit personally from positive approval of the 2024 Permanent Improvement Levy:
Before you accept hype without demanding positive proof as a devil’s advocate, please be aware of several alarming factors presented in Kenston’s own biased reporting to the Auburn/Bainbridge Township Communities.

First of all, according to pages 5-6 of Kenston 2024-2025 District Calendar, Kenston local receipts soared in a two-year period:
local residential real estate taxes increased from $24,185,829 in 2022-23 to $25,701,656 in 2023-24; commercial real estate taxes increased from $4,290,481 in 2022-23 to $4,301,024 in 2023-24; Kenston Board of Education interest income increased from $547,842 in 22-23 to $826,060 in 2023-24.

As elected Steve Demetriou attested, State of Ohio sources of funding/revenue to Kenston Schools nearly quadrupled from $161,394 in 2022-2023 to a whopping $636,205 in 2023-2024. If a school system can’t wholesomely manage giveaways like $1,164,000 in inside windfall millage, but can refuse to respect and honor its Senior Citizens and long-time real-estate tax payers ravages, and can continue to indulge a Gravy Train in top- heavy Salaries and Fringe Benefits, then frankly they do not deserve to continue spending other people’s money.

If Treasurer Cales can justify spending $23,950,000 for Salaries plus Fringe Benefits of nearly $10,000,000 during 2022-2023 and apparently enjoying that role so much that during 2023-2024, he managed to spend $24,200,000 on Salaries and nearly $11,000,000 on Fringe Benefits. During 2023-2024, he did not learn any kind of responsible behavior or respect for the taxpayers, did he?

Worst of all, the Kenston Board of Education under Treasurer Seth Cales can justify overspending capital outlays of $185,502 in 2022-23 to $253,034 in 2023-2024, Those actions force this writer to conclude that the Treasurer truly enjoys spending other people’s money with no respect whatsoever for the homeowner, particularly the homeowner on fixed income who may be squeezed enough between the rock and the hard place to lose all solvency.

If you want other examples of irresponsible behavior, tune in to the Kenston Treasurer’s spending of so-called Non-Operational expenditures. In 2022-23 Treasurer Cales blithely spent nearly $1,100,000. As if that weren’t a big enough demonstration of the Happy Spender of Other People’s Money, Treasurer Cales managed to spend nearly double that amount, $1,800,000 during 2023-24.

The conclusion here is that Kenston taxpayers need to revisit and remember their own pain during the sexennial revaluation. Treasurer Cales will spend every last penny you permit him to spend without subjecting him to the criticism for irresponsibility that he has earned from taxpayers. Uncensored and allowed to spend freely, the Taj Mahal School System created in Kenston is going to break everyone’s financial backs.

Please share this documentation with every potential sympathetic taxpayer in the Kenston School District and vote to defeat the outlandish waste created in Kenston Schools on the backs of responsible taxpayers.

Make sure you communicate your wishes not to have the Happy Spender, Treasurer Cales, eat up your hard-earned money during these awful inflationary times. This lesson may be the very best real-life lesson that Mr. Cales and his entitled crew can realize during the hard times that still need to be resolved.

SAVING AND SPREADING SALT –AT WHAT PRICE TO GEAUGA TAXPAYERS?

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Outgoing County Engineer Joe Cattell presented Agenda Item #8, “requesting the Board approve and execute Resolution #24-178 to Order the Construction of Salt Storage Building at 12665 Merritt Road, Claridon Township” and setting “Bid Opening on Friday, November 1, 2024 at 10:05 a.m.” to be “advertised on October 17,2024.”

Retiring Engineer Cattell acknowledged the building of the Engineer’s Salt Dome on Merritt Road in 2015 under Commissioners Spidalieri, Lennon, and Claypool. Cattell referenced his intention of constructing a second salt dome perpendicular to the original dome “to save a lot of money” by purchasing salt at the current price of $42-$44 per ton at “this year’s contract.” per ton.

Commissioner Lennon played devil’s advocate, reporting that salt usage during the winter has been reduced in the last couple of years due to milder winters.

Cattell noted that the original salt dome was completed with a 0% 15-year-loan, but all three Commissioners approved Agenda Item #8 at 9:57 a.m. to appropriate $172,000 from the General Fund to complete the second salt dome.

We were both surprised and disappointed to hear Maintenance Department employee, Matt Sieracki, present Agenda Item #19, as follows, in regard to the price of salt being charged to Geauga County taxpayers:

“The Maintenance Department is requesting the Board award the Bid to McCaskey Landscape and Design, LLC for the 2024-2026 Snowplowing Services, Salt and Spring Cleanup for the 2024-2025 season in the amount of $92,153.00, Salt at $196.00 per half ton, and any Spring Cleanup with a total not to exceed amount of $267,528.00, as they represented the lowest and best bid.”

We spotted Mr. Jim McCaskey present to hear his motion read and approved unanimously by current Commissioners Dvorak, Lennon, and Spidalieri. We know Mr. McCaskey from his long-term post on the Geauga County Planning Commission. We would have liked to ask him why this unanimously approved contract charges for salt at the rate of $196.00 per half-ton or $392.00 PER TON in contrast to the $42-$44 current price of salt under this year’s contract cited by the Geauga County Engineer Department.

As soon as Planning Commission member McCaskey heard his contract unanimously approved, he quietly left the meeting, making it impossible to ask him in public why his price per ton of salt that he might use in business dealings with Geauga County appear to be multiple times the cost of salt quoted by the Geauga County Engineer.

Not permitted to ask any questions in public session until the Commissioners completed all 33 items and then belatedly asked if there were any questions from the public, one of these long-term editors asked why the snowplowing contract cited salt prices at nearly $400 per ton when we have been

MORE GEAUGA COUNTY PROSPECTIVE FUND SHORTAGES AND COURTHOUSE CONTINUED OVERRUNS UNDER THEN DESIGN CONSTRUCTION POSE THREATS TO COUNTY’S MONETARY SOLIDARITY

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

This is a breaking story!

IS ANYBODY MINDING TAXPAYERS’ MONEY DURING THESE TERRIBLE TIMES?

Geauga County Finance Director, Adrian Gorton, reports directly to the Geauga County Commissioners at the beginning of every Commissioner meeting during the portion of the meeting known as “The Commissioners’ Office is requesting the Board approve and execute Resolution #24 -175 itemizing the financials for the meeting of October 8, 2024. “(Item #3).

After announcing several transfers , Mr. Gorton announced several cash payments totaling more than $1,060,000. In addition, now that the County is in the last quarter of 2024, Adrian reported his observation about Geauga County Departments have been allowed to take their payrolls out of ARPA accounts. He observed that the Auditor, Engineer, Clerk of Courts, and the Prosecutor have taken the luxury of funding payrolls out of ARPA accounts from which Gorton has assumed that that $10 million in Geauga County guaranteed funds to complete projects like new construction from Then Construction to correct long-standing construction, safety, and security shortcomings in the Courthouse on the Square might be depleted before the end of the fourth quarter.

Adrian shared his concern that payroll practices that might terminate the anticipated $10 million or at least reduce the fund by $3-$4 million might make it quite difficult for Geauga County to meet its cost liability in honoring its financial commitments to maintaining legal agreements with Chardon.

Mr. Gorton noted that his observations had caused him to reach out to Ron Leyde of the Auditor’s Department last Thursday, October 3, 2024. As of this morning’s public Commissioner meeting, Mr. Gorton reported no answer back from Leyde.

Apparent lack of communication on the part of County Administrator Gerry Morgan ultimately caused more problems when Brad Geller, spokesman for Then Design Architecture showed up to report additional fees of $368,570 for completion of “geotechnical cores and associated reporting as well as additional construction testing and architectural fees in the amount of $368,570.00.” The new, unanticipated work shot the total amount of money owed by Geauga taxpayers on Renovation of County Buildings and Phase 2 Construction on New Buildings to a whopping $1,512,470.

Clearly with continuous overruns Geauga Commissioners are faced with the clear conclusion that the Courthouse Renovation will clearly exceed $20,000,000 when at least one of the Commissioners, Tim Lennon, had thought that the cost of Geauga Courthouse Renovation would not exceed $14 million. When Lennon asked Brad Geller to identify “ the true cost of the building project” and “who is making the decision” to pad the Courthouse Project with more costs, Geller noted that he was trying to keep any additional costs in line.

Tim Dvorak asked for a breakdown from Gerry Morgan of all costs, but did not receive any immediate gratification.

Lennon had more to retort. “AI thought we approved $15 million with a fancy wall. This thing is now open ended. I’ll be long-gone, but I ‘ll be paying the [property] taxes,” referring to his decision not to seek another term as Geauga County Commissioner in the 2024 November election.

Spidalieri was still burning about ARPA funds that may be quickly declining due to being used as payroll. “This project was based on ARPA funds we knew we were going to have,” he whined like the farmer who counted his chickens before they were hatched and then tried to blame everybody else for his lack of asking more questions and being more concerned, instead of making excuses. “ There was never any advance warning. . . How do we justify all this? . . .We spent a lot of time with contractors.

Lennon mentioned the emotional “nostalgia” involved with the extra cost of matching quarry stone for the courthouse.

When the excuses were laid bare and the chips were down , Lennon noted that because the $368,570 in services had already been completed, “Commissioners will begrudgingly approve the additional cost.”

Nothing like communicating to Geauga County taxpayers that elected officials and their appointed lackeys not even answerable to the public at election time are not conscientious stewards of taxpayers’ moneys during times of terrible inflation.

This issue is far from over and it continues to be a breaking story.