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THE INFLUENCE OF THE GEAUGA COUNTY AIRPORT IN 2025 POLICY MAKING

April 17, 2025

2025 has turned into some kind of battle of wills, with Ralph Spidalieri urging members of the Geauga County Aviation Authority to sue members of the Geauga County Board of Commissioners and members of the GCAA personally taking vengeance out on the newest elected-member of the Geauga County Board of Commissioners because she dared to ask how the Middlefield Airport provides any benefits for taxpayers laboring under the conflict of not being able to meet their bills during these hard times of inflated prices, scarcity of objects, and simply trying to make ends meet. All in all, the since the last week of January 2025 the Middlefield Airport has become the number one item of conversation on the county level, apparently with the so-called “airport” volunteers forgetting that there are rules to follow, as well as promises to keep. If you can’t guarantee the rules for getting “free” things like grant money, then you get the alternative: then you get the alternative, which is no free rides and payback time with interest.

It seemed almost as though select members of the GCAA seemed to dominate monthly meetings at the Middlefield Airport, which has been dominated by different rates of monthly rent charged at different hangars to house small planes and not one consistent rate. Very often the so-called volunteers at the airport seemed resentful that they were volunteers, although the Airport Director was and is continued to be paid a salary for 24-30 hours on-site at the airport and has reportedly received a substantial raise. Mr. Spidalieri has seemed to spur on so-called volunteers to file litigation against the commissioners for rescinding paperwork back in February which would have let the volunteers keep Geauga taxpayer money to decide which projects it would like to upgrade with no regulation, no discernible plan of action, and/or no statement of necessary upgrades.

Prior to the Prosecutor Office’s review there had seemed to be no negative consequences in store for the volunteers, for instance 2018 agreement for $20,000 approved by a group of commissioners, recently cited by Spidalieri, the lone survivor of that team. During the week of April 8, 2025, there was a unilateral resolution, spelling out for the first time negative consequences for the signatory group of GCAA if they chose not to take seriously the “boiler-plate language.”

Part of the problem is that Geauga County Commissioners by the first week of April had decided to give the GCAA the opportunity to receive $800,000 free and clear while not gaining anything on behalf of impoverished county taxpayers. One of the three representatives-- Ric Blamer, Greg Grystton, and Chip Hess-- decided to point out on of all days, April 15--otherwise known to millions as Income Tax Return Day-- that Hangars 4 and 5 had humble beginnings as chicken coops. Commissioner Brakey was able to quip meaningfully that these two buildings certainly still looked like chicken coops, per their current and ongoing state of disrepair and her feelings of distrust for the Geauga County Airport Authority because “the best predictor of future performance is past performance. The Geauga Airport is one of the few municipalities that run on break-even operation.”

Then she added, “$800,000 is a local match to receive $585,000. Communities don’t need to give $800,000 to receive the $585,000 grant. There is only a $30,000 match.” Consequently, Geauga taxpayers will never benefit from their generosity” to the Airport Authority, even though Greg Gyllstrom kept trying to compare grants made to the Geauga County Fairgrounds and Livestock Buildings with grants the GCAA would like. After everything is hashed over, the question again arises why the monthly hangar rental income could not have brought in more income. A plausible response might well be unwillingness to raise the rent and therefore depending on handouts from citizen-taxpayers without the privilege of owning “flying machines.”

Commissioner Brakey was clear in referencing Ralph Spidalieri as the only Commissioner of the three current Commissioners during 2018. She also referenced the plausibility of law being broken referenced the possibility of law being broken: ”I’m talking about Commissioners giving money [to the Airport Authority] without any negative consequences,” especially since the FAA only needed $30,000 from charged board to apply for current federal grants.”

Do we need to define quid pro quo?

Mrs. Brakey says the Prosecutor needs to approve the agreement that the AA and its legal counsel amended during the previous week. Why might the fly-boys’ legal counsel have recommended such an amendment?

Although Fiscal Officer Adrian Gorton came prepared to transfer $800,000 from the Geauga County General Fund to the Middlefield Airport Construction Fund, that action will now no longer occur automatically.

When Spidalieri asked for a second motion to transfer the $800,000 directly to the Airport as a good faith measure, neither Jim Dvorak nor Carolyn Brakey went along with the request, causing the Spidalieri motion to die for lack of a second.

Talking directly to Blamer, Gyllstrom, and Hess, Spidalieri expounded. “It’s hard for me to listen to all this;you guys (on the AA) have maximum patience. You make an incredibly small price to pay. I commend you guys. I tip my hat to you. I know you are professionals.”

In the meantime, Mrs. Brakey confided that the members of the AA made her feel like a wife getting the real truth out of a cheating husband, who when confronted with the possibility that he had never ceased cheating simply averted the issue issue by promising to avoid any cheating in the future, regardless of what dishonesty or fraud that had dishonored the wife.

The amendment that the AA was to have agreed to before amending language on their legal expert’s advice, , was tabled until April 22 at 9:30 am. Commissioners at that time will vote whether the members of the AA can take responsibility for their actions. If they are going to miscalculate their actions or act in a manner that can be attributed to dishonesty or less than full honesty, then the $800,000 they expected to receive from the taxpayers will turn into an outright loan at 2% interest for payback, in addition to their quarterly reports for three years after completion of the new T-Hangar, and accurate report of all leases and dollar accounts of income.

Addressing Misinformation & Clarifying ADP's Role in County Operations

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

I am here today to provide an accurate account of the Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Department’s responsibilities, particularly concerning the Geauga County Office Building (GCOB) technology infrastructure and related Information Technology (IT) matters.

I.    ADP Salaries:

 County Archive and Records staff were transferred under resolution of the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to ADP effective January 1, 2024 without advanced warning or notice. Upon transfer of these employees from the BOCC to ADP, a salary review was made and it became obvious that these employees’ pay rates were below that which could easily be obtained working in the fast-food industry. I made the decision to adjust the affected employees’ rates to a more competitive level. These adjustments improved morale, increased the reasonable certainty of employee retention, and improved our ability to fill vacant positions. Since the incorporation under ADP this department’s performance has been stellar.

ADP technical personnel in general are paid below market rate when compared to other local government employers and private sector companies. This remains a concern for me as our operations are dependent on well-trained Information Technology (IT) personnel for our day-to- day operation. On-boarding and training costs continue to skyrocket as the demand for experienced IT professionals is constantly increasing. The County’s current experience with cyber events indicates that our dependency on having competent, educated, technical personnel will continue to increase and become even more important. I am always willing to justify these professionals’ compensation and value to our taxpayers.

Every year ADP’s budget is reviewed, challenged, and justified to the BOCC, often times repeatedly, yet no similar oversight by the BOCC appears to be made on certain outside agencies whose board members are appointed by the BOCC. In addition, even some hiring authorities within the county who are funded under the county’s General Fund are permitted to waive their annual budget hearing before the BOCC resulting in virtually no oversight, justification, or transparency to our taxpayers.

II. Apparent Confusion on GCOB Audio/Video (A/V) Equipment:

It is perplexing that there continues to be confusion or question regarding the current GCOB A/V equipment situation and how it came to be. The decisions surrounding the selection, vetting, purchasing, configuration, and supervision of installation of this equipment were made by the BOCC, its staff, owner's representative, and/or vendors. These decisions were under the authority and management of the BOCC — with little to no substantive involvement from ADP.

Let me be clear: ADP did not select, vet, purchase, configure, or supervise the installation of A/V technology deployed within the GCOB. ADP was excluded from the initial design phase of the building’s interior layout and the A/V technology deployed within it. Even though I am the statutory Administrator of ADP, I was not consulted on these critical design matters until well after construction had commenced, at which point I actively engaged to ensure essential considerations for ADP’s minimal operational needs. I personally reached out and negotiated with Geauga Public Health (GPH) and secured necessary space for ADP personnel — a critical need that GPH recognized. Securing even a minimal reconfiguration of that space required my repeated direct engagement with the County Administrator. And we all know or should know the ongoing issue of the adjacent conference space currently assigned to ADP.

To me, it is illogical to assume a modern office building can function effectively without the fundamental integration of technology services. Despite all of this, ADP has diligently worked to mitigate the consequences of numerous costly and avoidable errors made in the planning and construction phases of this building. The well-documented A/V issues here in BOCC Chambers are merely one symptom of the broader problems with the building’s integrated technology, which has largely been unusable. These problems have been evident, or at least should have been evident, to the BOCC for several years now.

ADP has offered to investigate all technology issues surrounding the GCOB construction, but doing so will require resources that must be balanced against our county-wide responsibilities. We remain committed to solving these problems going forward however, attempting to rewrite the history of these technological failures through misrepresentation, by assignment to ADP, is not being true to our taxpayers.

III. Live-stream Costs:

Inquiry has been made in a public meeting about live-streaming costs for session, I will provide a detailed breakdown. It is important to first clarify that prior to January 2025, the BOCC had not requested live-streaming services from ADP while under my authority. In fact, the BOCC had indicated a specific disinterest in this service. Following a request from Commissioner Brakey in January of this year, ADP provided various live-streaming options with associated details. The current temporary solution was subsequently approved by the BOCC. ADP has committed to offering a more permanent solution in July 2025.

To provide context on costs, ADP previously outsourced live streaming for GPH at a cost of approximately $1,000 per meeting. ADP is currently providing a similar service to the BOCC in-house for approximately $150 per meeting. We are utilizing two technicians to ensure redundancy and proper training of personnel. As the process matures and stabilizes, these costs will be further reduced. I am satisfied that ADP resources are being utilized efficiently and effectively to serve all our clients, including the BOCC, with appropriate training and contingency planning.

The occasional presence of other ADP staff or Auditor staff at BOCC sessions is at my direction so that I can be kept apprised of any issues affecting my duties or responsibilities. While this allocation of resources represents a cost to taxpayers, it is a necessary cost of doing business. These staff members can, if comfortable, either provide immediate answers in some cases or accurately relay inquiries to me with context for a direct response, as I am doing now.

IV. Potential Email Breach:

Finally, recently made public statements have been made regarding a potential email breach of Commissioner Spidalieri, former Commissioner Lennon and former Administrator Morgan's email. This is deeply concerning in many ways. Given that the two former officials have been separated from the county for over three months, any such incident would predate this year. A review of ADP service logs has revealed no reported email anomalies or requests assigned to Commissioner Spidalieri, Mr. Lennon, or Mr. Morgan’s email accounts.

I am concerned as to why these suspected breaches were not reported to ADP, law enforcement, the Prosecutor, Homeland Security, or another authority who could promptly investigate the matter. To publicly raise this serious matter now through public pronouncement, without any prior reporting or investigation, is incredibly problematic. We all have a duty to report any suspected nefarious activity on our infrastructure immediately. ADP has well established protocols for investigating security incidents, yet no one apparently felt it their duty or responsibility to ensure that our network and infrastructure remains secure by reporting the matter, until now.

I strongly encourage that a detailed incident report be filed so that an investigation into the matter can commence.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide this clarification. If I can answer or clarify anything further, please let me know.

Charles E. Walder

Geauga County Auditor & Administrator ADP
April 15, 2025

“STEWARD OF TAXPAYERS,” GEAUGA’S DVORAK PLEDGES $800,000 GIFT FOR NEW HANGAR” WITH VAGUE ORAL ASSURANCES OF $3800 PER MONTH AND $50,000 PER YEAR FOR MIDDLEFIELD AIRPORT

Wednesday, April 2, 2025

In a thirteen item agenda where testimony from selected representatives of the “Airport Authority and self-proclaimed businessman/industrialist Charles Kochy, alter ego owner of the former Airwolf Filter Company of Burton and its apparent successor company, Airwolf Aerospace, LLC, provided testimony about their own experiences at Middlefield Airport that took the largest portion of the meeting and appeared to harshly criticize the Geauga County Board of Commissioners for “defunding” the individual airport aficionados, who also have aircraft of some kind, whether it be a helicopter, a propellor jet, a glider, or some flying apparatus currently under repair.

When the emotional presentations were done, Airport Director Ric Blamer, successor since about 2018 to current Lake County Airport Director Patty Fulop, insisted that all the pre-application forms necessary for submission of $1.33 million from the Geauga Commissions had been correctly sent by e-mail. Both Commissioners Dvorak and Spidalieri claimed to have received the prerequisite forms from Blamer, though Mr. Spidalieri could not distinguish whether he had received said forms during a public meeting or by some other means directly from Mr. Blamer.

Nevertheless, though their testimony was contested by Mr. Blamer, who consistently also interrupted to emphasize that the necessary paperwork had been sent to the BOCC, there were three separate, very clear statements denying direct receipt of the apparently critical paperwork from Commissioner Clerk Christine Blair, Acting County Administrator Linda Burhenne, and County Commissioner Carolyn Brakey. Commissioner Brakey was elected by Geauga voters in the November 2024 election and took office in January 2025, replacing lame duck Timothy Lennon, a veteran of eight years of service, Each one of the women cited separately stated that she had never directly received the so-called pre-application forms. Mr. Blamer, in spite of clearly understanding, how the so-called ball had been dropped, repeated twice, “If we don’t get money by the end of the month (April 30) we lose [$600,000 federal funds.].

About this point in time, Commissioner Dvorak admitted his apparent feelings of guilt.” I don’t want you to walk away from $586,000 [grant money] from the federal government.” Dvorak insisted, “I have thought about this long and hard. . . It’s not for $1.33 million. It’s a compromise to capture the $586,000 from the federal government. . .With this $800,000 from the federal government, you’ll have enough” to build the new T-hangar , to complete needed repairs, and to create a profit because of “$3800 rental income per month” in that new construction and $50,000 per year for improvements

Dvorak provided his rationale: “ I look at myself as a steward to our taxpayers.”

Commissioner Brakey, who weeks before had expressed her concerns that the financial needs of taxpayers struggling to pay their bills in the current economic climate, asked an important question when Dvorak made his motion for the gift to the airport to be ready for approval at the April 8 Commissioner meeting. That motion passed 2-1 with Commissioner Brakey voting no. “Are you suggesting,” she asked Dvorak, “ there is no [written contractual] agreement behind this?”

With the current acknowledged lack of required receipt from three of the five members of the Board of Commissioners behind the big desk in Suite 350 on 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Mrs. Brakey’s spoken concerns based on “vague assurances of profitability” are not frivolous. “In the current hangar, you are losing $2000 per year. . . These are your own documents. You are losing money [a negative cash flow], and you want to build a new hangar.”

The next Commissioner meeting promises to unlock new information. Watch for the complete video presentation with closed caption right here.