Palomino Solar team meets with Highland County commissioners; permissive sales tax receipts see slight increase

Representatives from Innergex met with Highland County commissioners Brad Roades and Terry Britton Wednesday, June 25, ahead of a planned informational meeting on their Palomino Solar project scheduled at the Highland County Fairgrounds later the same day.

Commissioner David Daniels was absent due to being “out of town” Wednesday morning, Roades said.

Attending the commissioners meeting was Innergex community and government relations representative Janet Grothe, as well as a mix of previously introduced and “new team members:” Robert Jung, legal counsel; Narain Khera, project manager for construction; Lauren Odell, real estate manager; Michael Paul, senior coordinator of the environment team; Samuel Richard, project director; and Madison Walsh, senior project manager.

“It's exciting to see the team get bigger and get more people involved as we move forward,” Grothe told commissioners.

Grothe said the whole group was scheduled to appear at the open house Wednesday from 5-8 p.m. at the Wharton Building at the Highland County Fairgrounds, where they said they would be fielding questions from the community and providing project updates.

The planned 200 MW Palomino Solar project in Highland County will be located in Dodson and Union Townships. Innergex is also the developer of the Hillcrest Solar farm in Brown County.

As reported in March, Grothe announced approval of their Large Generator Interconnection Agreement (LGIA) with PJM, the regional transmission organization, for the project, which means construction can begin later this year.

“On Tuesday, we had our pre-construction conference with the Ohio Power Siting Board, and we have a community open house tonight at the fairgrounds,” Grothe said.

Grothe added that she is also “coordinating calendars” on a future groundbreaking ceremony for the project

“We're looking now at breaking ground in September,” Richard said. “We're going to be starting mobilization, probably in early September, and start the work later in the month.

“Our target is Q3 of 2027 for commercial operation, so we want to have all the tests completed by the end of the summer of ’27.”

Commissioners thanked the group for the meeting, as they said they also planned to attend the open house.

“We look forward to getting this started and more to getting it finished,” Roades said. 

In other discussion:

• Highland County Auditor Alex Butler discussed the latest permissive sales tax receipts, as the county continues to be on pace to meet or exceed their current five-year trend of record-high collections.

For June 2025, the county collected $844,817.10, which is the second-highest monthly total for the current calendar year thus far. Compared to last year ($819,806.61), it is a 3.05-percent increase, as the county has now surpassed $4.8 million on the year ($4,857,263.88). 

Now at the halfway point of the year, Highland County’s total amount collected is 1.68-percent higher than the same time frame of last year’s then-record $9.6 million annual receipts.

“Alex, I always love it when you come in with good news,” Roades said.

• Roades and Britton agreed to put discussions of the installation of new AEDs in county buildings “on hold” pending ongoing construction projects.

Roades said that Highland County EMA Director David Bushelman advised that Cintas had reached out for an update on what the county is “planning on doing.”

As previously reported, Bushelman and Cintas sales representative Natasha Mallery spoke with commissioners nearly a year ago, on July 10, after Bushelman said that Britton asked him to draft a recommendation on purchasing AEDs for county buildings.

“I think we need to put it on hold for right now, until we get all of our construction done,” Britton said. “The big thing is how we’re going to pay for it, because those things are expensive.”

As of last summer, Bushelman said the county had three different options to purchase 19 AEDs: a lease at a cost of $2,261 per month for three years, which includes Cintas taking “care of everything;” a purchase at a cost of $50,000, plus a $630 monthly charge for LifeREADY 360 (which provides fire and EMS with information on where the county’s AEDs are located), while the county would be in charge of monitoring each device; and a purchase at a cost of $42,454.05, with a $1,121 monthly fee for Cintas to “take care of everything.”

Roades agreed with Britton, saying that they needed to wait until the buildings currently or soon to be under construction — including the Administration Building, courthouse and engineer’s truck barn — were complete.

“I think it's one of those things that needs discussion, but it’s still little premature,” he said.

• A Community Corrections Grant agreement contract among commissioners, the probation department, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Division of Parole and Community Services and Bureau of Community Sanctions was approved by a 2-0 vote.

“This is just our renewal for the next two-year grant cycle,” Highland County Probation Program Director/Chief Probation Officer Tonya Sturgill said. “This funds the majority of the probation department, all of our positions except for two, our special programming, all of our offender services. 

“Right now what you're signing is the same budget we had for the previous two-year cycle. They have told us to base our numbers on that. Obviously, as the state makes their changes in the state budget, we could see an increase. If that happens, then I’ll be bringing new forms back for you to sign, but right now, it's just the same as we had for ’24 and ’25.”

• After their regular session, commissioners met with Doug Karnes of McCarty Associates to discuss repairs to the Hi-TEC building’s roof and interior work.

Commissioners made the following other approvals, each by a 2-0 vote:

• An agreement with the Village of Greenfield for financial support of Workforce Development Center.

“This is going for a three-year term of $1,000 a month lease for rent on where Workforce Center is in Greenfield,” Roades said.

Britton added a thank-you to the village “for their partnership on that,” with Roades saying it was “very pleasant” to work with Gary Lewis.

• A letter of support for the Alternatives to Violence Center for their annual application for Trauma-Informed Advocacy Project/Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) funding for 2026.

• The execution of a letter of agency with Airespring regarding telephone ports at the Highland County Sheriff’s Office.

• A legal services agreement among commissioners, the prosecutor and Kelley A. Gorry, Rich & Gillis Law.

• A budget modification within the (1000) County General Fund in the amount of $1,100.

• The first pay application from contractor Unger Construction LTD for Rolling Acres wastewater system repair, in the amount of $386,880.

• A resolution to both rescind a previous resolution authorizing a partnership with the City of Hillsboro for the Program Year 2025 Community Housing Impact & Preservation (CHIP) Program and to again approve a partnership with the City of Hillsboro for the Program Year 2025 Community Housing Impact & Preservation (CHIP) Program. According to commission clerk Ashleigh Willey, “a few numbers needed to be changed” from the previously approved resolution.

• A resolution to revise the Highland County Credit Card Policy as follows: to increase the Highland County Court spending limit to $3,000 and to add Judge John Judkins as an authorized user.

• A resolution to authorize the issuance of not to exceed $4,600,000 building improvement bonds for the new truck barn at the Highland County Engineer’s Office.

Publisher's note: A free press is critical to having well-informed voters and citizens. While some news organizations opt for paid websites or costly paywalls, The Highland County Press has maintained a free newspaper and website for the last 26 years for our community. If you would like to contribute to this service, it would be greatly appreciated. Donations may be made to: The Highland County Press, P.O. Box 849, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133. Please include "for website" on the memo line.