Commissioners OK 3 Highland County JFS contracts; solar topics discussed

Following an update from Highland County Job and Family Services Director Jeremy Ratcliff, Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades voted to authorize two contracts and a subgrant agreement for the JFS agency during the Wednesday, June 7 commission meeting.

Approved were a subgrant agreement with the Ohio Department of Medicaid for the 2024-25 fiscal year and two purchased service contracts with Highland County Community Action, one for a community case manager and one for the OWF-SNAP Job Club.

Ratcliff said the Medicaid agreement is a standard “biennial agreement.”

“The only change that they've added this year is a little additional language that requires a little more monitoring of subgrantees that we would have,” Ratcliff said. “At the current time, we don't have subgrantees with any of those dollars. All of ours are contracts.”

The two contracts with HCCAO are “tied to our assistance programs,” Ratcliff said, which are Ohio Works First cash assistance (also known as Federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, or TANF) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.

According to the Highland County JFS site, the OWF cash assistance program is “temporary assistance available to families to help pay for immediate needs while the adults of the family prepare and search for jobs.” SNAP provides food assistance for individuals meeting income qualifications, but “once a family or individual is approved for food assistance, adults of the family who are considered Able-Bodied Adults without Dependents (ABAWD) must meet the work requirement in order to continue to receive food assistance,” the Highland County JFS site says.

The two contracts with HCCAO assist with both administering the programs as well as helping individuals in the programs find work, according to Ratcliff.

“One is a Job Club, which it requires individuals that are receiving those benefits to attend for job search, job readiness, interviewing, résumé skills, things of that nature,” Ratcliff said. “The other is the community case manager program. We do have some folks that have provided sufficient justification or documentation as to why they can't participate in a work assignment. It could be a disability of some sort, could be medical, could be short term, whatever it may be. We’re required to provide an alternative for those consumers, and this is how we kind of develop programs for those folks to stay involved.

“If they're filing for disability, we need to stay on top of that. If it's just something short term, the community case manager is out at their house weekly, and that meets the requirement of those consumers participating in a work activity. If and when they're able to return to the workforce, then they would fold into the Job Club program or be assigned to a work activity somewhere in the community.”

Ratcliff said that there is only a “very small number” — 11 individuals, at his last count — who participate in OWF compared to SNAP. In January, Ratcliff had reported “almost 6,700” Highland County residents utilizing SNAP.
 
Daniels asked if the work requirements discussed in the federal debt ceiling deal will impact the local JFS agency.

“SNAP participants already have some of those work requirements, so at a federal level, that talk is not going to affect us a whole lot,” Ratcliff said. “I don't think that's a real monumental change for us and how we administer that program.”

Daniels also asked Ratcliff if he could also provide an update on the Medicaid verification process. As discussed by Ratcliff in January, the provision prohibiting states from disenrolling people from Medicaid has now expired. Ratcliff told commissioners in January that “close to 40 percent of our county” — or around 16,000 residents — were enrolled in Medicaid.

“We’ve got our head above water, but not very far,” Ratcliff said. “Staffing is a huge issue for us on that side of the agency. We've had some unfortunate turnover, and the amount of work that's coming as a result of the Medicaid unwinding is extensive.”

Ratcliff added that the state has provided some “algorithms to help” go through the data, but “there’s a lot of pressure” from the state “to move this process along” and determine enrollees’ eligibility.

Commissioners thanked Ratcliff for the information before moving to approve all three contract requests.

In other discussion:

• At 9:15 a.m., commissioners conducted a bid opening for reconstruction and resurfacing of part of New Market Road, “from [U.S.] 62 west toward East Danville,” according to Highland County Engineer Chris Fauber. The county received four bids, with the apparent low bidder being Miller-Mason Paving.

The four submissions on Bid Express included: The Shelly Company, $1,447,932.87; Brown County Asphalt, $1,418,957.12; Fillmore Construction, $1,238,817.12; and Miller-Mason Paving, $1,121,627.20.

The bids will be reviewed by Fauber before being accepted by commissioners.

“Our estimate was $1.3 [million], so that’s a good number,” Fauber said.

• Several solar-related topics were mentioned during the meeting, beginning with Daniels asking Fauber if contractors on current solar projects are making repairs to damaged roads as required under their Road Use Maintenance Agreements (RUMAs).

“The groups in New Market Solar I and II, and Highland Solar, which is down in the Buford area — they’re supposed to resume that soon,” Fauber said. “That’s supposed to start back down there on those roads this month.

“We started last fall. Well, we got late in the year, and then the weather ran out on them, but they had an agreement to start back up in June this year. We’re staying on top of that and negotiating some RUMAs with some other solar companies.”

Also during Wednesday’s meeting, Ohio Laborers’ District Council marketing director Randy McGuire spoke to commissioners for a second straight meeting. As previously reported, McGuire told commissioners May 31 that he Palomino Solar and Dodson Creek Solar projects, both approved for Highland County, will be employing union contractors. He said that they were interested in finding Highland County workers to train to assist in the construction of these projects.

This week, McGuire distributed copies of packets about the Ohio Laborers’ union, including information about membership, employment opportunities and benefits.

“We're willing to do everything to help your community to keep this work within the community and not to be bringing people from all over the state,” McGuire told commissioners. “We want to get people that live in this area a career, not just a one-time job.”

The final solar-related topic presented Wednesday was from Chris Snider of National Grid Renewables, who asked commissioners for a time frame on finalizing a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement for Fayette Solar.

“We’ve got it in legal review right now,” Daniels said. “Maybe next week, it might be on [the agenda].”

The Fayette Solar project, which includes parcels in both Fayette and Highland counties (Madison Township area), is proposed as an “up to 47.5MW solar energy generating system,” according to their qualified energy project (QEP) tax exemption application. The substation would be in Highland County, “near the intersection of Lovers Lane and East Martinsburg Road,” the application says. The county has already approved a RUMA for the project.

• Following several recent meetings with insurance broker Brown/Raybourn, Britton said the county has a tentative idea of their health insurance renewal plans and have presented that to county department heads for feedback.

“We will probably act on that next week,” Britton said. “We did send that out early so that the department heads and the employees can get a look at it.”

In other action, commissioners made the following approvals, each by a 3-0 vote:

• A request from Highland County Common Pleas Court for an additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue to Other Expense - Common Pleas in the amount of $64.28.

• A resolution for a contractual agreement for the PY22 CDBG project of Tornado Siren Replacement – Village of Greenfield, per project specifications, with Federal Signal Corporation in the amount of $59,252.

Federal Signal had submitted the lone bid for the tornado siren project, including sirens, material and labor, during a bid opening held May 24.

• Via resolution, commissioners authorized the County Engineer to purchase a 2023 Kobelco Model SK210LC-11 Excavator from Southeastern Equipment Co, Inc., not to exceed $176,323.

“We used to have two that size, and then we ended up getting into smaller ones,” Fauber said. “We usually replace them about every 10 years. This machine is actually replacing a machine that's 12 years old, but we're actually going to keep the old machine.

“That’s a state purchasing price. It's about a little over 30-percent discount on what is normal with that agreement.”

• Commissioners approved a right of way license agreement contract between the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Highland County Airport. Daniels said that was an extension of an existing agreement.