The Geauga Board of Overall health has voted unanimously to enter into a cross-jurisdictional agreement with the Lake County Common Overall health District to serve as a staffing agency for Geauga Public Overall health.

The agreement will save Geauga County residents as substantially as $600,000 annually in wellness solutions expenses, although sustaining all the solutions they at the moment acquire at Geauga Public Overall health, according to a news release.

“This is not a takeover and it is not a merger,” Geauga Public Overall health Board President Richard Piraino stated in the release. “Lake County Common Overall health District will serve as a staffing agency for Geauga.

“Our agreement with Lake is the greatest way for Geauga to sustain manage of the wellness solutions we give our residents although saving these residents important revenue each and every year.”

The agreement requires impact on April three. Due to the fact Lake County Common Overall health District will be offering staffing going forward, 17 Geauga Public Overall health workers will be laid off as of March 31. They will be capable to apply with Lake County Common Overall health District to provide these staffing solutions, but no 1 is assured a position, the release stated.

“We know this is painful for our Geauga Public Overall health workers, and we’re really sorry for that. GPH is facing a spending budget shortfall of more than $500,000 in 2024, and we had to make a quite tricky selection,” Piraino stated in the release. “We have worked diligently to obtain the greatest remedy, and we are getting into this agreement to assure we can continue offering the folks we serve in Geauga County with the solutions they need to have and deserve.”

All Geauga Public Overall health representatives, no matter whether GPH workers or contracted Lake workers, will continue operating on behalf of and at the path of the Geauga Board of Overall health, according to the release. The Geauga Board of Overall health, appointed by elected Geauga officials, will continue to manage GPH policies, applications and solutions and will continue to concern its personal permits, sustain its autos, workplace, internet site and its identity.

“Geauga residents will continue to go to the exact same areas to acquire the exact same solutions,” Piraino stated. “None of that will modify.”

Due to the fact of the agreement amongst the wellness districts, the combined populations of the two counties will open the possibility to apply for bigger grants, which are crucial for funding wellness departments, unavailable to Geauga or Lake on its personal, the release stated. And the efficiencies that will be gained offer you positive aspects to the two wellness departments and residents of each counties.

The benefits, according to the Geauga Board of Overall health, consist of:

• Gaining access to more applications such as outreach solutions due to the fact of enhanced access to grant funding sources

• Cutting the expense of public wellness solutions to residents by funding some present applications by way of qualifying grants

• Sharing specialty employees, such as in the locations of information evaluation, accreditation, neighborhood wants assessment, emergency preparedness, finance, and grant writing

• Elevated coordination for emergency response and public wellness emergencies.

“It is clear that we can be stronger with each other and a lot more fiscally accountable to Geauga County residents,” Piraino stated.