Commissioners make grant approvals, hold bid opening

Highland County commissioners Brad Roades, Terry Britton and David Daniels made approvals related to two grants and held a bid opening for a county road project during their Wednesday, July 30 meeting.

Commissioners approved a resolution “to authorize the execution of a Local Jail Capital Project Grant Agreement with respect to the Highland Jail Facility” and a grant agreement contract for the project with the Sheriff’s Office and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

As previously announced by the Ohio Governor’s Office, Highland County will receive $379,504 through the Ohio Jail Safety and Security Grant Program “to renovate restrooms and make security enhancements at the Highland County Justice Center. The award represents approximately 80 percent of the total project cost.”

Highland County Sheriff Randy Sanders said that the project will also include “taking the tile up” and converting the floors to concrete, as well as replacing locks and the screens in “the upper platforms to keep anybody from going over.”

“We don't know what we’re going to do with prisoners yet, whether we can switch them from one section to the other, or whether we have to house them somewhere else for the duration of the floor project,” Sanders said. 

“One of the reasons they’re taking the floor up is number one is some of the tile are coming up, but number two is these prisoners decide to eat these pieces that are breaking off so they can go to the hospital and get out,” Britton added. “It’s just a good thing that we’re going to be able to take that out. It’ll be similar to like your Walmart floors, where they come in and finish it.”

For an unrelated grant program, commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a resolution to authorize Highland County Community Action as the lead applicant for the 2025 HUD Lead Hazard Reduction Grant program. Also authorized was the execution of a letter in support in HCCAO’s behalf.

According to HCCAO housing director Jeanette Mottie, Community Action is seeking funding to cover “20 homes in three years” through this “competitive funding opportunity to reduce lead-based paint hazards for older stock homes with children ages 6 and under as residents.

“I got with the health department and the WIC office, and we just collected one year of data so far,” Mottie said. “We’ve already had 41 children with high lead results, so I find that this would be a great resource to have. 

“Highland County Community Action has qualified staff already, and we're ready to implement if we do get the grant. The funding type is from $1 million to $5 million.”

In response to a question from Daniels, Mottie said that HCCAO has “completed a Lead Safe Ohio grant already,” as they were awarded $200,000 for lead safe work through the state. The agency also received a grant in 2023 to purchase a SciAps X-ray fluorescent (XRF) device for the CHIP program’s lead-based paint abatement.  

In other discussion:

• A bid opening was conducted for the Highland County Engineer’s Office for reconstruction and resurfacing of 3.810 miles of New Market Road and Prospect Road.  

The county received three bids, with the apparent low bidder being Miller-Mason Paving at $956,906.24. Other bids were from Fillmore Construction ($1,048,759.49) and from The Shelly Company ($1,129,829.74).

Engineer Chris Fauber, who said his office would review the bids and make a recommendation for a vote at a future meeting, told commissioners that all three bids came in “under our estimate.

“It's an OPWC [Ohio Public Works Commission] project, finishing the phases that we did,” Fauber said. “This will be the third phase of New Market and Prospect, which will get us to [state Route] 73.”

On a related note, Fauber said the Ohio Department of Transportation reached out to inform him recently of a proposal for a “four-way stop” at the intersection of Route 73 and Prospect Roads. As of right now, he said ODOT wants to install stop signs at all four corners of that intersection as well as rumble strips, with no plans for a new traffic light at this time.

“That’s what ODOT’s safety study has suggested,” Fauber said.

• The 18th and possibly final pay application from Doll Layman, Ltd., the county’s contractor for the first phase of Rocky Fork Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrades, was approved. 

As previously reported, the first phase of the project was awarded in April 2023 to Doll Layman in the amount of $2,597,700.

Daniels said that for the current project, it is the final pay app, but depending on how financing goes, they may use Doll Layman to make additional necessary upgrades.

“They've been a good contractor,” Daniels said. “We're in the middle of phase two now, but also we've identified several projects that we need to do. We've applied for some grant funding to do those, but if by some chance we're not awarded, I think that we can talk about Doll Layman perhaps putting in a change order on the original contract to make some of those repairs and upgrades as well.”

Daniels added that the additional projects would all be “smaller” scale items, such as replacing the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system and “other control options” and/or the UV disinfection system.

• Commissioners received word from the state that the indigent defense reimbursement rate will be 82 percent for the upcoming 2026 fiscal year.

“I think our reimbursement is 93 [percent],” Britton said. “That will decrease, so the county will be picking up the balance of that.”

Roades clarified that “the attorneys will still be receiving the same amount” at the current rate of $75 per hour. 

As reported in March, the state raised the current reimbursement rate from 78 percent to 93 percent for January through April, for an average of 83 percent.

According to the County Commissioners Association of Ohio, “[Ohio Public Defender] plans to reimburse counties at 82 percent for Fiscal Year 2026. OPD states that the funding level is the highest dollar figure that has been appropriated in the history of the state and is the fourth highest rate of reimbursement in the history of the state.”

• Commissioners said that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources notified them of an industrial minerals permit application for the stone quarry in Marshall.

Also approved were:

• The purchase of a 2025 Dodge Durango V8 for the Highland County Sheriff’s Office from Jake Sweeney, using commissary funds. Sanders said it will be “totally used for transport” of inmates.

Daniels asked if the county would “have to outfit the car.”

“We have part of the stuff where we switched a Dodge over to a K-9 car,” Sanders said. “We thought we had everything, but the seat doesn't work because they took an old seat and they manufactured it to fit in a Dodge, but it’s really not for a Dodge.

“That's why we started taking them to an outfitter to get them done, so they're done correct the first time.”

• A request from the Board of Elections for an additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue within the (1000) County General Fund, in the amount of $732.08.

• A resolution to authorize the Recorder’s Office to declare an ASUS Laptop Computer no longer needed by the County and obsolete, pursuant to ORC 307.12 (I). 

• A 63-month copier lease with Canon for the Economic Development and Land Bank offices.

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