Commissioners amend sewer use rules; hear update on projected spike in energy costs

Highland County commissioners David Daniels, Brad Roades and Terry Britton voted to amend the county’s sewer use rules and heard an update on energy costs during their Wednesday, Aug. 7 meeting.

Via resolution, commissioners voted 3-0 to amend the Sewer Use Rules Section Seventeen to add Paragraph C and Section Eighteen to add Paragraph B Section (5).

The new paragraph in Section Seventeen, regarding suspension of service, applies to “all Highland County Sanitary Sewers” and reads: “If necessary, the sewer district reserves the right to install a shutoff valve to facilitate disconnection of service. Costs associated with this process are outlined in section eighteen B(5).”

That new paragraph in Section Eighteen says: “Fees for installing a shutoff for non-payment will be the cost of installation and materials based on current contractors’ rates. If the account is brought current within the 10 days specified in the certified notice sent to the owner, a shutoff valve will not be installed, and no additional fees will be assessed. Once the 10-day period has expired, the installation will proceed, and the owner will be responsible for the cost associated with the installation and any other applicable fees.”

As previously reported, commissioners met Jan. 31 with Steve Canter, Justin Mason and Aaron Moore of Environmental Engineering to discuss plans moving forward for installing shutoff valves in the Rocky Fork Lake sewer system. A quote from Unger Construction, for $680 per unit, was approved at the Jan. 24 commission meeting.

During the Jan. 31 meeting, Daniels said that “as we move forward,” their new process can be “that we would try to make a verbal contact with [property owners], send them a certified letter letting them know that we're going to be in there doing the work, that we're going to shut them off, that these will be the costs associated with that work and they can avoid those costs if they come in and become current on their monthly user fees.

“Our sewer regs may need to be amended to outline that process,” Daniels added. “We can work on that and get those ready to go, and we may end up having to amend our sewer use rules at some point here shortly to make sure that that's spelled out.”

There was no discussion of the update Wednesday, Aug. 7.

For more on the sewer shutoffs, see the story at: https://highlandcountypress.com/news/rfl-sewer-shutoffs-solid-waste-dis….

Also during Wednesday’s meeting:

• Regional sales manager Graham Leu and intern Cameron McIntosh of IGS Energy, an energy supplier in Dublin, met with commissioners for a follow-up to a previous appointment held in June.

At their June 26 meeting, commissioners spoke to representatives from two different energy companies, as the county is approximately one year into a three-year contract with Muirfield Energy at a rate of 6.44 cents per kilowatt hour.

Leu explained that the county’s rate includes not only the energy itself but also “capacity, transmission, ancillary services,” etc. during the appointment in June. On Wednesday, he shared bad news about capacity costs that will impact the county’s budget in the future, predicting an approximate $16,000 annual increase in energy prices.

“These are rates that are established on a yearly basis for all customers, regardless of who you're working with,” Leu said. “Over the last week, those rates for May of 2025, through June of 2026, increased 600 percent.

“There's a few reasons for why. I think one of the biggest is that you guys are obviously hearing about is all the data centers and load growth that we're experiencing just here in the Ohio area is putting huge stress on the grid. Capacity is really a reliability-based charge, just to make sure that we can ensure that we're serving the load on those peak days where it's a lot of strain on the grid.

“Because of that, we're now seeing obviously, capacity go up pretty substantially with that kind of mismatch between the generation and the demand that we talked a little bit about last time,” Leu continued. “What that means for your guys’ next term is that while energy’s come down a lot, your capacity costs have increased quite a bit.”

Leu encouraged commissioners to discuss this news with their current energy broker, Muirfield, to get an idea of “how the capacity impact is going to impact your current price.

“It’s very possible that your costs, come June of 2025 will also increase pretty substantially,” Leu said. “I think a starting point would be to get an idea of how that's going to impact your guys’ budget in the short term.”

Leu shared information with commissioners that included estimates of costs “before and after the capacity auction.

“Late July, when we had first run our analysis, your capacity costs were about 2.8 mills,” Leu said. “Now your capacity costs are 1.2 cents a kilowatt hour, so a pretty significant jump. It's about a $16,000 annual increase to you guys from a capacity perspective, but energy has relatively remained unchanged since then.

“You guys are absolutely looking at a reduction on the energy piece, just not on the capacity piece.”

Britton pointed out that “that the biggest issue is they're shutting these coal plants down, and they're not replacing them fast enough,” which Leu agreed.

“With the rate that we're increasing on the demand side, we're not even close to meeting that on the generation side,” Leu said.

However, Leu said his report “wasn’t all doom and gloom.

“Because energy as a raw commodity is down so substantially, about 16 or 17 percent from the last time you guys signed a contract, you're actually looking at almost a flattening in your spend for the next term,” Leu said. “You're looking at, depending on term length, right around a 6.5-cent rate from a direct supplier perspective.”

Leu said he would recommend the county “look at more of a fully fixed price” versus a “market-based approach.”

“You guys are using 1.7 million kilowatt hours annually,” Leu said. “Based on where energy prices are now, whether it's IGS or another group, I would strongly consider putting a proactive hedge in place at where these numbers are.

“It's going to put a backstop in place to ensure that between now and kind of mid-2026, you're not going to see a large increase in your energy budget. But on the flip side, if market prices come down — which, candidly, electricity prices really can't come down much further than where they're at right now, but if they did — you would always have the ability to refinance that contract before it even starts with a direct supplier.”

Leu asked if commissioners had started looking at the impact on the county’s budget “when the new capacity rates kick in” next year.

“Quite honestly, an electric bill right now is an electric bill,” Daniels said. “We are going to try to do what we can to keep it as low as possible, but we certainly don't budget individual electric costs, other than just in general county operations. There's not a specific line item that deals with electricity. We're paying a lot of different things out of that utility line item.”

Britton added that they will be speaking to their current supplier, Muirfield Energy, “shortly” for more information.

Leu made various recommendations to commissioners on obtaining pricing for their next contract as well as seeking additional information from energy suppliers and contractors. Commissioners thanked him for the updates.

“As we continue with our budget and our energy costs for the next year and beyond, we'll be sure to keep you in the loop about what we're thinking and what we're doing,” Daniels said.

• Commissioners voted to rescind a previously approved resolution for the Highland County Children Services tax levy and to approve a new resolution with amended text. The correction does not affect the millage being sought, according to Daniels.

“There was an incorrect number in the information that we passed on to the Board of Elections, and it would correct that number,” he said. “It’s the same levy, same millage, same everything. It’s just correcting a number.”

As previously reported, according to Highland County Job & Family Services Director Jeremy Ratcliff, the Children Services agency will place a five-year, 0.9-mill renewal levy on the ballot for the Nov. 5 general election, as they are “on pace for $4.1 million” in placement costs this calendar year. Of that $4 million, the levy would help offset “about 17 percent of what we need,” Ratcliff said July 17.

A proposed five-year, one-mill replacement levy for the agency failed in the Nov. 7, 2023 general election. A subsequent attempt to return to the previous 0.9 millage, through a levy issue on the March 19 primary ballot, was also voted down.

• Three unrelated contracts for the Highland County Sheriff’s Office were approved by commissioners, each by a 3-0 vote.

The first was a lease agreement with David Johnson for a 2012 Chevrolet Tahoe and K-9 insert.

“That is the guy that trains our K-9s to start with, and we purchased the first K-9 off of him,” Sheriff Randy Sanders said. “He's now a special with the sheriff's office here, and he purchased a vehicle that he was using from Greenfield Police Department. It has a K-9 insert in it, and it's registered to him.

“The agreement with him is that we pay him $1 a year. We lease that car from him, because that's the only thing he uses it for is to transport the K-9 in. It'll be used only under the direction of me or the chief deputy.”

Next was an agreement with Primary Health Partners for physician services for inmates.

“This is a doctor's contract,” Sanders said. “The last contract we could find was like 2016 for the doctor, and it just renews year to year. His malpractice insurance went way up, so he’s passing it on to us.”

Finally, commissioners approved another housing agreement for inmates at the Justice Center, this one with the Adams County Sheriff and Adams County Commissioners. In July, commissioners approved similar contracts with Pike and Jackson counties.

• Highland County mobility manager Carl Rayburn reported that FRS Transportation has recently received three new vans, with plans for another three vans in the near future.

“We have two that are getting close to retirement age there, so once the others get up and running, probably here soon the other two will get retired out,” Rayburn said.

According to Rayburn, they have 30 vehicles “right now, not counting the new ones,” and they run “27 to 29” a day during weekdays.

• Commissioners  proclaimed Aug. 31 as Overdose Awareness Day, as part of both statewide and local recognition efforts. For more, see: https://highlandcountypress.com/news/highland-county-commissioners-reco….

• Commissioners held budget appointments with Common Pleas Court, the Engineer’s Office and Job & Family Services throughout the day Wednesday. They also had a software demonstration with the Sheriff’s Office.

In other action:

• Commissioners approved a contract with the Highland County Engineer and Miller-Mason Paving Co. for New Market Road reconstruction and resurfacing.

• Commissioners executed a change order from Tag Williams Inc. for the Ohio State University Extension office at the fairgrounds, “deleting an unused portion” from the contract for a deduction in the amount of $8,645. Also approved was a certificate of substantial completion with Tag Williams Inc. for the OSU Extension office.

On a related note, Roades said that a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new building will be held Friday, Aug. 9.

• Commissioners authorized the commission president to execute a grant amendment for a $60,000 subsidy grant for Juvenile/Probate Court.

• Commissioners accepted a $100 per week quote from Ohio Helping Hands for cleaning at the OSU Extension office.

• Commissioners also approved the purchase of a $1,291 water heater and installation at the Hi-TEC building through Weller’s Plumbing and Heating.

Also approved were the following resolutions, each by a 3-0 vote:

• A resolution authorizing the establishment of new line items within the OneOhio Fund. Also requested is a budget modification in the amount of $30,000.

• A resolution approving the Highland County Juvenile & Probate Court as authorized users to the Highland County Credit Card Policy (Res No 24-56) adopted on March 27, 2024 in the amount of $2,500.

• A request from Victim Witness for an additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue in the amount of $3,000. Also requested is a budget modification within the 2540 Victim Witness Fund in the amount of $3,000.

• A transfer of funds from Public Assistance Fund, 2050 to Child Support Enforcement Fund, 2015 in the amount of $44,313.52 for 2024 Child Support Enforcement coverage of ceiling excess.

• A budget modification within the 1000 General Fund in the amount of $22,152.55.

• A request from Board of DD for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds in the amount of $250,000. Also requested is a transfer from Transfers Out to 2125 in the amount of $250,000. Also requested is an additional appropriation to 2125 in the amount of $250,000.

• A request from Board of DD for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds in the amount of $9,000.

• A request from Board of DD for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds in the amount of $30,000.

• A request from Board of DD to create a new line item within 2400 MR/DD MIECHV Fund. Also requested is an additional appropriation within the 2400 fund in the amount of $32,774.25.

• A request from Board of DD for a transfer from Transfers Out to 2490 in the amount of $32,774.25. Also requested is an additional appropriation to 2490 in the amount of $32,774.25.

• A request from JFS for budget modification within the 2050 Public Assistance Fund in the amount of $60,000.

• A request from JFS for a transfer from Public Assistance 2050 to 2115 in the amount of $226,973.36.

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