Commissioners host OVRDC second-round caucus; 2 projects advance

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton and Brad Roades hosted the Ohio Regional Development Commission’s second-round caucus at the start of their Wednesday, June 17 meeting, where two grant applications were approved.

Commissioner David Daniels was absent.

Kerri Richardson and Eli Cole of the OVRDC conducted the second-round caucus meeting at 9 a.m., where the executive committee ranked and voted on two county project applications for grant funding through the Appalachian Regional Commission.

The top-ranked project in terms of priority involves multimillion-dollar improvements to Lynchburg’s water systems (a $500,000 request for an overall $2,720,000 project, including village and other grant funding). 

According to Lynchburg Mayor James Burton, the proposal is to “replace 8,830 linear feet of eight-inch water line throughout the village to increase water pressure, increase water quality and to reduce water loss. 

“The existing water distribution system was installed many years ago and is beyond its useful life,” Burton said. “The village regularly experiences water main breaks, and the old water lines contribute to water loss, which increases operation costs. The project will impact 585 households and 21 businesses, and the village obtained letters showing that 115 full-time jobs would be retained as a result of the project.”

Lynchburg Village Council member Christine Hamlin added that the businesses in particular are impacted, as they “have to literally shut down when we have a water line break.

“That’s a big impact for the village,” she said. “We have one section of line that has six breaks, and just had the seventh, all within a quarter of a mile on one street.

“The water line project would also solve, or is said to solve, the low pressure issues that we have in the Glenavy housing development. We have houses up there that literally can tell a difference when someone's taking a shower, if their neighbor flushes the toilet. It’s not even within the same home, and so that Glenavy subdivision was never hooked in with a continuous loop, so it has a dead end, and the water pressure is terrible.”

The second-ranked project is a water tower repair and hydrant replacement for the Village of Leesburg (a $149,937.59 request, with an equal match from the village committed).

For the Leesburg project, village administrator and utility supervisor Sam Spargur said the proposal is to repair the water tower, which was “put up in the early 2000s” and has a sealant that is only expected to last up to 20 years, which is currently failing. 

“Within a year it came from one little icicle on it during the winter time to an icicle clear around the whole thing,” Spargur said. 

Mayor Rita Smith-Daulton added that in addition to the icicles, the tower “was spraying water out,” with residents saying it was “like a shower” over the neighborhood.

“It’s a mess,” she said.

Greenfield Mayor Chris Borreson asked how long the water tower repair is expected to last, and Spargur said the sealant “lasts for 15 to 20 years,” as was the case with the current sealant.

The scope of the project involves taking the water tower out of service, so Spargur said that creates “a whole other situation” with the village having to come up with an alternate water supply while the work is done.

“I'm actually setting it up so that we can run off of pressure with our high service pumps as a backup in case we cannot get it fixed meanwhile, and/or when we do get it repaired, we'll have our way to supply water,” Spargur said.

In response to another comment from Borreson, Spargur said another option is to "reinstate” a former water tank, which is not currently in operation, if there are issues with water supply. 

The grant application also includes the replacement of “very old” hydrants, which Spargur said are from the 1950s and 1960s and “need to be brought up to standards.”

After hearing from the village representatives and reviewing the scoring rubrics, the committee voted to submit the two projects, with Lynchburg earning 40 extra points for being first priority and Leesburg adding 24 extra points as second priority.

Following the vote, Richardson and Cole reviewed other ARC information and updates on various other funding opportunities. 

During the OVRDC caucus, and again during the regular commission meeting, USDA Rural Development State Director of Ohio Charles Tassell and Kathy Harmon of Hillsboro’s USDA Rural Development office spoke about potential opportunities for the county to pursue loans or grants to assist in the planned Highland County Courthouse renovation project, as well as other funding available for area municipalities.

Tassell also advised commissioners to talk to legislators for opportunities for both state and federal funding for the courthouse.

In other discussion:

• Commissioners reviewed a $17,638 quote from the RPHF Solid Waste District for fencing at a planned new secured recycling site on Hobart Drive in Hillsboro.

As previously reported, commissioners purchased 212 Hobart Drive, the former Schwann’s building, at a cost of $275,000 last August with a plan to use the site as a county maintenance building and a central, fenced-in recycling location for the community.

“Erica [Tucker], our district director, came down a week or so ago and went over this with us,” Britton said. “Basically, it's going to be a 120 feet by 60 feet rectangle fence. 

“The Solid Waste District will be picking up all of these costs for this recycling center. That's part of what they're using their funding for, that they get again from all the counties, the four counties that's in this [Ross, Pickaway, Highland and Fayette.

Roades added that Rumpke is scheduled to visit the site to review the plans and ensure their trucks have room to empty the recycling bins.

• In a change from their longtime provider Brown/Raybourn, commissioners voted Wednesday afternoon to join the County Employee Benefit Consortium of Ohio (CEBCO) for the county’s health insurance plan. The county’s health insurance was formerly through Medical Mutual of Ohio and will now be on the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield network. 

Among the other changes are the removal of spouses who have access to coverage through their own employers and a Jan. 1-Dec. 31 plan year with open enrollment in October (next in 2027) instead of June as usual, according to information provided by commission clerk Ashleigh Willey from the county HR department. 

• Highland County Sheriff Randy Sanders reported that the HCSO has applied for state grant funding to address issues with the jail’s security system, which he said June 10 would be over $73,000 to fix. He also confirmed that the sheriff’s office will be purchasing a used 2020 Chevrolet Tahoe with 29,000 miles, as proposed at the June 10 meeting.  

• Jennifer Maynard and Julie Wallingford (in her last planned meeting) of the county records department updated commissioners on several matters, including obtaining a set of elevator keys for second-floor security at Roades’ suggestion. 

According to Maynard, the department has received a quote for $1,756 to shred 250 boxes of records for the sheriff’s office and Job and Family Services office, which commissioners approved by a 2-0 vote.

Maynard said they are also reviewing résumés for a part-time staff member for the records department. 

• Avery Applegate, Dr. Tara Beery and Vicki Knauff of the Highland County Historical Society met with commissioners seeking permission to salvage materials from the Highland County Courthouse during its renovation, as Highland County is home to the oldest courthouse in continuous use in the state of Ohio. 

“I wanted to approach the commissioners to see if you would be open to the Historical Society leading a charge of getting our own contractors to come in a little bit before to harvest what we could from the building, like some woodwork, stairs, anything that people deemed to be of historical significance,” Beery said. “Obviously we wouldn't come in and try to take some of the big blocks beforehand, but if we could, try to salvage some of the big limestone outer blocks and distribute those, use them as a flower bed or something at the Historical Society, or sell them to interested parties.”

Britton said he did not foresee that being “a problem at all” but cautioned that they are “still in the preliminary” planning stages.

Once renovations are complete, Applegate also offered “to oversee the installation” of bas reliefs from the former Colony Theatre, which had been planned for the Common Pleas courtroom for a number of years.

Roades told the HCHS representatives to keep track of ideas as they have them so they can address them with them the architects as plans progress. 

• Britton reminded the community that the June 24 meeting has been rescheduled for Tuesday, June 23 at 9 a.m. due to commissioners volunteering at KAMP Dovetail June 24.

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

• A change order for HIG CR 5-E New Market & 5-F Prospect Road reconstruction and resurfacing, reflecting a decrease of $15,577.80.

• 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 Auditor for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 2055 REA fund in the amount of $8,120.

• A request from the Sheriff for an additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue within the 7305 Law Enforcement Trust Fund in the amount of $66,642.30.

• A request from Probation for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 2645 CCA 2.0 FY 26/27 fund in the amount of $9,000.

• A request from the Sheriff to rename fund 2215 to Project LifeSaver Donation Fund. Also requested is the creation of the following line items: Equipment, Supplies, Donations. 

• A request from the Board of Elections for a budget modification within the 1000 County General fund, Board of Elections in the amount of $7,088.63.

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