Conference Agenda

Arriving on Monday afternoon or evening? Nothing official is planned, but plan to meet at the hotel restaurant, 17 Arrows to meet up with friends and colleagues or plan a dinner together at one of the many restaurants nearby!

Time

Event

Location

Breakfast

Staying over the night before? Driving in the day of the conference? We'll be providing breakfast and coffee for all registered attendees. Venture down from your sleeping room to grab a bite to eat and coffee before registration opens. Breakfast will be held in the Polaris Ballroom.

Polaris Ballroom A & D

Registration Opens/Badge Pick Up

Stop by the CTAO Registration table just outside the Polaris Ballroom to pick up your name badge and conference materials.

Polaris Ballroom Foyer

Polaris B, C, E & F

Polaris Ballroom Foyer

The Comprehensive Security Assessment: Protecting People, Property and Public Trust at the Treasurer's Office (1 hr AOS approved)

Presenter: Kent Shafer, Owner, K.H. Shafer & Associates LLC

This session gives county treasurers a clear, practical look at how to strengthen safety and security in their offices. We’ll explore common vulnerabilities, examine how policies, facilities, and technology work together, and highlight the importance of staff readiness. You’ll see how a comprehensive assessment—covering interviews, facility reviews, emergency preparedness, and staff training—creates a roadmap for meaningful improvement. Attendees will leave with actionable insights to protect their people, their buildings, and the public trust.

Polaris B, C, E & F

Lunch

Property Tax Reform - A Perspective from the Governor’s Task Force (1 hr CPIM approved)

Presenters: Krista Bohn, Allen County Treasurer, and Matt Nolan, Warren County Auditor.

After Governor DeWine vetoed several property tax reforms in the biennial operating budget, he appointed a special Property Tax Reform Working Group and gave them 90 days to issue recommendations for meaningful reforms. The group included a mix of local officials, including county auditors, county treasurers, county commissioners, school superintendents, and local government representatives. The Working Group issued 20 recommendations aimed at alleviating rising property tax burdens while protecting local services. Our presenters, both members of the Working Group, will give attendees a glimpse into their discussions and the reasons for their recommendations. This session will give attendees a better understanding of the other options available to the state legislature to address the property tax crisis in Ohio.

Property Tax Chaos (1 hr CPIM approved)

Presenters: Catherine Swartz & Rebecca Princehorn, Partners at Bricker Graydon Wyatt LLP

This presentation will explain implications arising from recent and proposed Ohio legislation affecting property taxes, along with the proposed state ballot initiative to abolish taxes on real property. We will also discuss how the expanded authority of budget commissions could affect local government funding. Regardless of experience, participants will understand the current framework for local government funding in light of numerous legal developments aimed at lowering and limiting property taxes.

Polaris B, C, E & F

 District Meetings

Look for posted signs for locations

Vendor/Member Mingle

Join us for a reception before dinner in the Polaris Ballroom Foyer for drinks and appetizers while you learn about our exhibitors’ products and services.

Dinner

Casino Night

Trade spreadsheets for poker chips and join your fellow treasurers for a night of friendly competition at Casino Night! Try your luck at blackjack, roulette, craps, and more — no real money required, just good fun and great company. It's the perfect opportunity to unwind, connect with colleagues from across Ohio, and see who has the best poker face in the room.

After-Hours Networking

Not ready to call it a night? The hotel restaurant and bar, 17 Arrows, will be open to our attendees for drinks and light snacks after our evening activities. Each attendee will receive three drink tokens each evening. Additional drinks are on your own tab.

17 Arrows
(Hotel bar)

Time

Event

Location

How to Reduce Mailing Costs Using New Technology and Electronic Delivery (1 hr AOS approved)

Presenter: Jim Cote', President, The Master's Touch

Jim reveals how to reduce costs using new technology that eliminates paper waste, processing time and reduces the overall postage bill. He will show you how to eliminate the common excuse of “I never received my notice”. Jim will also expose who really dictates the postage you pay and why. He will also share how to reduce undeliverable mail, save on postage, display notices electronically, and the benefit of utilizing intelligent mail barcodes.

Polaris Ballroom B, C, E & F

From Paper to Performance: The Role of AI in Modernizing County Treasury Operations (1 hr AOS approved)

Presenter: Jim Vlasicak, Director, HyperScience, Trevor DeLew, Field CTO at Hyperscience and Sachin Koshy, World Wide Technology

County treasurers across Ohio operate at the center of high-volume, document-driven processes—from property tax payments and escrow reconciliations to delinquent collections and taxpayer correspondence. While these workflows are critical to revenue collection and public service, they are often constrained by manual document handling, data entry, and seasonal volume spikes that create backlogs and increase the risk of errors.

This session will provide a practical, non-technical overview of how advances in artificial intelligence—specifically document processing—are reshaping how organizations manage complex, paper-heavy operations. Using real-world treasury use cases, we will explore how documents like checks, remittance coupons, legal filings, and correspondence impact daily operations, and where inefficiencies and risks are most likely to occur.

Attendees will gain insight into how AI can be applied to automatically capture, classify, and validate data from these documents, reducing the need for manual entry and improving the accuracy and speed of downstream processes such as reconciliation and reporting.

Polaris Ballroom B, C, E & F

Break/Visit Exhibits

Ballroom Foyers

Understanding Levies, the 20 mil Floor, and Its Impact on School Funding (1 hr CPIM approved)

Presenters: Anthony Hatmaker, Ottawa County Treasurer and Caleb Stidham, Erie County Treasurer

Property Tax Reform has been at the forefront of legislative deliberations for several years as property values, and the accompanying property taxes, have risen considerably. One of the largest benefactors of property taxes are schools with various “types of levies” - New, Renewal, Replacement, Bond, Emergency, or Capital available, along with various ways to assess them through Inside or Outside Millage and Fixed Rate or Fixed Sum levies. Adding to this complexity is something called the 20 mil floor that does not allow a school district’s millage to fall below 20 mills, when combining a districts inside millage (unvoted property tax) with its current expense levy millage. This session will give you a better understanding of all that goes in to a resident's property tax calculation, and how school districts and other entities benefit from the revenues they create.

Polaris Ballroom B, C, E & F

Lunch

Polaris Ballroom A & D

New Treasurers Recap – A Look Back on the First Nine Months in Office & Lessons Learned (1 hr AOS approved)

This session will feature newly elected treasurers sharing the unexpected challenges they faced in their first months in office—what their transition documents did or didn’t prepare them for, who they turned to when questions arose (especially when prior staff had departed), and how first half collections went. They’ll also offer key lessons learned, including the top things new treasurers should do before taking office, what they would do differently, and how to respond when you find yourself in over your head.

Treasurer Panelists: Agostino Ragozzino, Trumbull County, Blaine Davidson, Hocking County, Brieanne Sullivan, Hardin County, and Taylor Sappington, Athens County. Our panel will be moderated by John McManus, Montgomery County.

Polaris Ballroom B, C, E & F

Fraud: What a Banker Knows (1 hr CPIM Approved)

Presenters: Caroline Bove, Director, Public Funds, First Financial Bank and Justin Laubach, VP of Public Funds, First Financial Bank.

This session will cover many of the newer fraud trends with specific examples from AI voice scams, to phishing attempts to get login information from online banking users, and much more. Fraudsters are getting sophisticated! You'll learn more about the things banks see, with specific steps to take to protect your organization.

Polaris Ballroom B, C, E & F

Association Updates

We'll hear from Victoria Gresh, Vice President of Association Operations, Government Advantage Group, who will provide an overview of the CTAO's website refresh and other important association advancements.

Polaris Ballroom B, C, E & F

Break

Take some time for yourself before our evening at Top Golf.

Top Golf Dinner & Networking Event

Trade the ballroom for the bay! Join your fellow conference attendees for an evening of food, fun, and friendly competition at Top Golf Columbus. Whether you're a seasoned golfer or have never picked up a club, Top Golf's interactive game format makes it easy for everyone to join in on the fun.

Enjoy a delicious dinner while connecting with colleagues and vendor partners in a relaxed, social setting — then step up to the tee for a little friendly rivalry. It's the perfect way to unwind after a full day of sessions and strengthen the relationships that make the CTAO community so valuable. We'll have a golf pro on hand to give pointers and skill building lessons.

No golf experience necessary. All skill levels welcome.

9:00 pm - 11:00 pm

After-Hours Hospitality & Networking

Not ready to call it a night? The hotel restaurant and bar, 17 Arrows, will be open to our attendees for drinks and light snacks after our evening activities. Each attendee will receive three drink tokens. Additional drinks are on your own tab.

17 Arrows
(Hotel Bar)

Time

Event

Location

Breakfast

Treasurer Roundtable Discussions (1 hour AOS Approved)

Treasurers will gather based on county population to discuss issues facing their offices and share advice and best practices with their peers & colleagues. We will once again be offering the opportunity for similar sized counties to gather and discuss issues & topics of concern. Topics include budget & staffing, unique practices during collections, foreclosures, delinquencies and prevention practices, board of revision, public records, records retention and management, legislative issues, Land Banks, and DTAC.

Group 1 - 1-35,000 people
Group 2 - 35,001 - 55,000
Group 3 - 55,001 - 95,000
Group 4 - 95,001 - 200,000
Group 5 - 200,000+

Various locations

Ohio Ethics Commission Updates

We’ll hear from Paul Nick, Executive Director of the Ohio Ethics Commission, who will lead an informal discussions with treasurers about the Opinion the OEC issued to Hamilton County Treasurer Jill Schiller in December 2025 regarding outside employment. Director Nick hopes to clarify the reasoning behind the Opinion, and how past Opinions impacted this decision.

Roundtable Recap

We'll gather back as a large group to discuss the key take-aways from each of the small groups and continue the discussion. Each roundtable will have a spokesperson to share what they learned with the larger group. There will also be time for Q&A.