Commissioners approve medical contract, several purchases for HCSO

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades made several approvals for the Highland County Sheriff’s Office, including a medical contract, a vehicle purchase and quotes for Justice Center maintenance, during their Wednesday, June 10 meeting.

Commissioners agreed to a medical services business agreement with Allied Correctional Services, as Highland County Sheriff Randy Sanders said the HCSO has reached a deal with the group to provide medical services for jail inmates. 

As announced in January, their longtime provider, Dr. Anthony Wetherington, is no longer continuing in that role. Sanders had told commissioners in May that they were unable to find a local doctor to replace him and that they were trying to reach a deal with a company that would still allow them to retain their existing nursing staff.

According to Sanders, their new provider will be Dr. Alice Frazier of Jackson County.

“We’ve been in negotiations with them for about three months,” Sanders said. “They agreed to keep the nurses that we currently have that's been at our jail for right around 20 years. They're going to stay and go to work paid by Allied.

“The increase per year is about $40,000 a year over Dr. Wetherington's contract. Of course, we're halfway through the year this year, so the hit for us on the budget would be about right at $20,000.”

Sanders added that the contract is for three years and that the HCSO got “a little better price” by coordinating with the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office.

“It increased from $100,000 to $103 [thousand] to $107 [thousand] over the next three years,” Sanders said. “The only way we got these kind of prices, because this is about $15 [thousand] to $20,000 off, is Clinton County had Dr. Wetherington doing stuff for Clinton County also. 

“We worked together on this, and we did separate contracts, negotiated with them, but we still stayed in contact and got a basically a two-for-one deal. This looks like the best we're going to get.”

Commissioners also heard from Sanders regarding two other purchases, as commissioners added a resolution Wednesday to move money for a potential vehicle purchase and advised Sanders to shop around for a security system upgrade.

Britton began asking Sanders about the possible vehicle purchase, but Sanders said he wanted to warn commissioners about the security system first. According to Sanders, since their computers updated to Windows 11, their “system that controls our cameras, door locks and our automatic checks” has been “having problems” with lagging.

“They’ve been in there for the last three months trying to find the problem, fix it,” Sanders said. “They told us we had to purchase new servers inside the control room. We’ve done that. They’ve brought engineers to do it. They’ve not been able to fix it.

“Their equipment is set up with Windows 10, and they said the only way they can guarantee they can fix it is with an update, so we asked them to give us a cost estimate. They got back to us yesterday afternoon, and it’s $73,600 and some change.”

Sanders said he was willing to reach out to other companies to weigh options, due to the high price and the fact he said their contractor “wasn’t ahead of this at all.”

Regarding the vehicle purchase, Sanders said that he had an opportunity to purchase a used 2020 Chevrolet Tahoe with 29,000 miles, which is already outfitted and “ready to go” once a radio and computer are installed, for $23,000.

“With what we're paying for the other cars, I'm guessing $20 [thousand] to $23,000 would be the cost of fitting a Tahoe, which is why we've never even looked at them in the past,” Sanders said.

In response to a question from Britton, Sanders said the HCSO has “been switching cars around” after two vehicles were totaled in recent months. Commission clerk Mary Remsing said there was some confusion with the insurance quotes but that they would not likely have enough from the reimbursements from the totaled vehicles to cover the cost of the $23,000 vehicle.

Britton told Sanders they only had around $2,000 left in their fund for motor vehicles and would have to figure out “where we can get the money to put in there to pay for it.” Roades also encouraged the sheriff to test drive the vehicle before committing to the purchase, as Sanders said he planned to do some additional research.

Later in the meeting, commissioners passed a resolution authorizing a transfer in the amount of $24,000 to the Motor Vehicles line item. 

At the recommendation of Cierra Moore of the county’s maintenance department, commissioners also approved four different quotes for work at the Highland County Justice Center. That included a panel and related equipment for a new 2x2 light above the mezzanine, for a cost of $858.66, not counting the light itself.

“The light has to be correctional grade, so we are still looking for that 2x2 light,” Moore said. “This is just for the panel that goes into the grid. This is for the ceiling tile.”

The second expense approved was a $3,136.28 quote from Johnson Controls for work on the sprinkler system, following the results of a recent “air test and hydro test,” according to Moore.

“What they found is inside the pipe, there is a lot of rust debris, so part of this quote is to flush it out to get rid of it, so that it doesn't just sit there and keep eating on the pipe,” Moore said. “They did find on one of the pipes a small leak, so they want to replace a very small — it's probably like a foot long — piece of pipe.”

Next was a $1,500 drywall quote, including labor and materials, to repair a bathroom ceiling “destroyed” following a leak in the dispatch area.  

The final quote recommended by Moore, and accepted by commissioners, was a $4,969 estimate to replace “obsolete” can lights in the Justice Center lobby with 2x2 lights.

During her meeting with commissioners, Moore warned that the lawn mower she uses on to maintain three different county properties is “starting to eat your money,” as it has had multiple repairs this year already. Moore said that she had to take it to get serviced when it wouldn’t start recently and was told the mower “had flooded itself,” while several parts have also been replaced.

In other discussion:

• In a rare divided vote, commissioners voted 2-1, with Daniels objecting, to approve a $39,989.73 change order from RoofLynx for work at the Because He Lives Food Pantry.

As previously reported, commissioners agreed June 3 to use additional CDBG funds to cover unforeseen expenses connected to a previous grant-funded project at the food pantry, which led to a $25,166.86 funding shortfall. 

• Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a post acceleration payment between LEO Capital Investment, LLC (Borrower) and Highland County Board of Commissioners (Lender).

Commissioners voted June 3 to issue a second notice of default on a promissory note to Leo Capital, the developers of the long-discussed Marriott Hotel project in Hillsboro. The county is seeking “payment in full,” estimated at $815,759.32 or more, with interest and late fees. The project has been in the planning stages since 2019.

“Last Wednesday, we received a payment, their June payment,” Highland County economic development director Julie Bolender said. “This letter that is in front of you basically affirms our position that even though we did accept that payment for the month of June, that the total balance due is still due and owing and to be paid immediately. We just wanted to clarify with them that yes, we did accept your traditional June, or your standard June, payment, but the total due is still due and owing immediately.”

According to the letter, the county received a $4,552.95 payment June 4.

“This June Partial Payment is less than the full amount that has been declared due and owing is insufficient to cure Borrower’s existing payment default,” the letter says.

• Commissioners met with Ty Hamilton, Ohio State University Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Community Development, to discuss plans moving forward for 4-H education in the county.

The county had two 4-H educators as recently as 2024, but former educator Kathy Bruynis was not replaced after her retirement. Now, Hamilton said, the current 4-H educator Danielle Combs has resigned and will be leaving at the end of June. 

Hamilton said that he wanted to get feedback from commissioners on a job description, as he said there were different focuses for each educator when both Bruynis and Combs were employed. As he mentioned, they are “technically rehiring” for Combs’ position but could rework the job description to fit what Bruynis did as well.

“Kathy’s was very more of a traditional one, very focused on camps or junior fair, those sort of things,” Hamilton said. “Danielle's was the link toward building partnerships with schools.”

As the Extension office has also assumed operations for the Junior Fair, Hamilton asked if the county was looking for a “traditional” educator who will focus on “junior fair, summer judging” and 4-H camps or more of the “outreach person that’s in the schools.” 

Britton said he felt they “still need to be in touch with the schools” but should take more of the traditional approach with focusing on “taking care of the 4-H kids that’s coming to the fair.”
 
On a related note, Hamilton said that OSU Extension anticipates high numbers for the Highland County Fair in September, based on plans for the Junior Fair thus far. 

“I think we're going to see over a thousand exhibitors this year, so numbers are increasing,” Hamilton said. “I think overall it looks like it's going to be a good fair, so we'll make sure we do our part to make that happen.”

• Representatives from Innergex gave a brief update on progress on the 200 MW Palomino Solar project, which is under construction in Dodson and Union Townships in Highland County. Innergex is also the developer of the Hillcrest Solar farm in Brown County.

As mentioned by community and government relations representative Janet Grothe in May, hundreds of crew members are on site daily as solar panels are in the process of being delivered.

“We're going to continue to receive our panels Monday through Friday between 7 and 3, and we anticipate those deliveries to continue through August,” Grothe said. “We're going to be having a dinner for our landowners to provide them an update and answer specific questions on their land.”

Senior coordinator of community and environment Taylor Calder added that Innergex crews and the Highland County Engineer’s Office are coordinating “to ensure that we are meeting the requirements and obligations under our” Road Use Maintenance Agreement, or RUMA.

“Our main contractor is currently repairing some of the roads, and we're actively scheduling a local contractor to repair damage on Panhandle Road, Dade Road and Collins Lane,” Calder said. “We continue to implement traffic control measures and enforce our traffic control plan that's been submitted to the OPSB. We also have road sweepers working to minimize the dirt on the roads, and we've installed aprons to further preserve the asphalt.”

Both Grothe and Calder also said that they are working to update the Palomino Solar website with additional information for the community, as they also encouraged anyone with questions to reach out via  email (palomino@innergex.com) or phone (937-820-0164).

• Julie Wallingford and Jennifer Maynard of the records department met with commissioners for an update on moving numerous county records into the new storage building. Wallingford, who has previously submitted her notice of resignation, said that her last day would be June 22, with commissioners thanking her for her efforts over the past few years.

• Commissioners were scheduled to meet with insurance providers Wednesday afternoon. According to commission clerk Ashleigh Willey, no action was taken.

• Commissioners announced that their June 24 meeting will be moved up a day to Tuesday, June 23 at 9 a.m.

Commissioners also made the following approvals, each by a 3-0 vote:

• Authorized certifications for OPWC Disbursements for HIG CR 5E New Market and 5F Prospect Road reconstruction.

• A janitorial services contract with J’s Cleaning Services for the Workforce Development Center.

• A resolution to declare a 2026 Dodge Grand Caravan no longer needed by the County and obsolete; therefore, the said board declares the listed item to be surplus property and no longer needed by the County. 

• A resolution to authorize a “then and now” purchase order and to authorize the county auditor to issue warrants for payment.

• A request from the Engineer for a budget modification within the 2065 Repair MVL in the amount of $80,000.

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