Commissioners proclaim Child Support Awareness Month; hear comments on County Court, battery storage facility

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades honored Child Support Enforcement Agency workers with a proclamation and heard comments on Highland County Court and a proposed battery storage facility during their Wednesday, Aug. 5 meeting. 

Commissioners issued a proclamation recognizing August as Child Support Awareness Month in Highland County, with the proclamation accepted by Highland County Job & Family Services Director Jeremy Ratcliff and three CSEA staff members: lead caseworker Kim Duff, support establishment worker Mary Greiner and administrator Shira Smith.

“Some of the things that we do — and when I say we, I mean Shira and her team — we work on support establishment, paternity establishment, of course enforcing collection of child support,” Ratcliff said. “We run administrative hearings where we can set child support orders in our office. We also follow the orders of the courts if they have ordered child support, and we administer the IV-D contracts that you guys see coming before you about once a year with our prosecutor's office and our court system that allows us to help pull in some federal funding to help support legal costs associated with the child support program.”

According to the Highland County JFS website, “Child support is money paid by a parent, who isn’t living with his or her children, to help cover the cost of their care. Child Support helps guarantee that children’s basic needs are met: from food, shelter and clothes to education, transportation and medical expenses. Highland County Job and Family Services helps ensure that child support is received by identifying paternity, establishing child support orders and enforcing spousal support.

"In some cases, additional steps will be taken to engage the parent paying support so they can build a better relationship with their children. Engagement may include supervised visitation, classes to help teach fatherhood principles and personal responsibility or classes to increase financial stability. All Highland County residents are eligible.”

Smith shared statistics from the agency, as she said the local CSEA is “consistently setting higher goals” than the federal guidelines on establishment and collections and “exceeding those every day, every month.”

“Through the end of June of 2026, the agency has established 1,234 paternity orders and 1,964 support orders while collecting $2,643,735 in current charging support,” Smith said. “Currently, there are 1,472 cases that are arrears only or hold arrears, and our Child Support unit has successfully collected on 1,039 of those cases.”

According to the agency website, “In most cases, child support ends when your child reaches the age 18 and is no longer a full-time student at an accredited high school, but in some cases may extend to age 19 (considered emancipation).”

“In the coming months, Child Support will wrap up the federal fiscal year and prepare to conduct our annual self-assessments, which is an internal review of casework that ensures accuracy and compliance, and that will lead us into the emancipation season for 2027, which will start in January and February,” Smith said. “For the 2026 emancipation season, Child Support completed 192 emancipations.”

It was also noted by Smith and Ratcliff that CSEA has just moved into a new office space at the agency, which Smith said is “fully FTI [Federal Tax Information] compliant.

“It’s new and it’s beautiful, and it is refreshing for all of us,” Smith said. “I just told Jeremy, we did complete our first administrative hearing today, where we established another support order.”

Ratcliff added that the office area is “behind three locked doors now” and is a “private and confidential” space for the agency and their clients.

Britton thanked the agency for their work and read the proclamation, which “encourages all residents to support efforts that promote the well-being of children and families” during this month. 

In other discussion:

• Greenfield Village Council chair Amie Ernst addressed commissioners regarding reports that commissioners discussed “the possibility of doing away with County Court” during a recent work session, as described in their July 27 minutes. Ernst asked commissioners “for a formal seat, as the chairwoman of council, if there's going to be continuation of those discussions.

“We are very thankful for the lease and the opportunity to be able to support the court,” Ernst said. “That Madison Township court has been so instrumental to our [Greenfield Police] Chief [Jeremiah] Oyer, who has done such an amazing job. I mean, our drugs are down, our crime is down. The ability for our law officers to have a local court to work through is a tremendous asset, and it's an asset to the county.”

Ernst told commissioners that “the territory of Madison Township is equal to the city of Hillsboro” in terms of population. Highland County Court, located in Greenfield, has jurisdiction over Madison Township only. Hillsboro Municipal Court, located in Hillsboro, has jurisdiction over the 16 other townships in Highland County. Cases from both courts may also be bound over to a grand jury for consideration of charges in Common Pleas Court, which is also located in Hillsboro.

“You think about the operations of our law enforcement, of the safety services that are needed, it is as equal to the city of Hillsboro,” Ernst said. “If you start to consider what our Greenfield PD would have to absorb in having to do 30-mile round trips, 15 miles each way, per court appearance, or for defendants, or people that are victims of crime, to have to come over here and not with public transportation options. We are an Appalachian village area. I mean, it is going to put a disservice to an area.”
 
Ernst encouraged commissioners to “allow me to a part of those conversations” in the future when they discuss County Court.

“The commitment to our second floor is important, it's valued, but the public safety and the effort of having that court is so much more than just a line item in a county budget,” she said. 

Britton thanked Ernst for her comments and pointed out that County Court “has been looked at for a long, long time,” not just recently, but no action has been taken. 

“It was a discussion that we had, and we had it prior to this,” Britton said. “Every time that we go into a budget cycle, when we look at those things, that kind of comes up, but we haven't made any kind of decisions about doing away with that court.”

Daniels also noted that commissioners’ recent conversations about County Court and its location in Greenfield have been partly due to the planned renovations to the Highland County Courthouse.

“As we have looked at the remodeling of the Highland County Common Pleas Court and the Juvenile Court, we have had conversations about whether or not, or on a temporary basis, that those courts could move to the Madison Township chambers,” Daniels said. “After some investigation, we find that the facilities can't handle some of the software that's being used with the court and some of the things that they need to operate, so that's probably off the table as it stands right now because of the amount of work that would have to be done to upgrade the technology at City Hall at this time, on a temporary basis, for those courts to meet.”

Ernst offered to have the village of Greenfield look into options “to expedite to help you with that” to facilitate a move of the Highland County courts to Greenfield. 

“I don't think that we've given any consideration beyond the fact that some work needs to be done, and it may be inconvenient to move that court there, even on a temporary basis,” Daniels said. “If we have to do some work, then we'll probably find someplace closer to the clerk's office.”

• Commissioners encouraged the community to attend the next public meeting for the proposed Barr Energy battery storage facility, as commissioners have heard comments from developers as well as a concerned citizen in recent weeks. The public meeting will be held Aug. 20 from 5-7 p.m. at Southern State Community College.

As previously reported, the up to 200MW Barr Energy project being proposed will encompass approximately 35 acres on Mad River Road in New Market Township, near state Route 138. If approved, this would be NextEra Energy Resources’ first battery storage facility in Ohio, as they already own and operate 50 sites across the U.S. and Canada, according to their website.

Courtney Tompkins, a late-stage developer with NextEra Energy, was in attendance Wednesday and said that she and representatives of the Ohio Power Siting Board will be fielding questions at the public meeting.

“I just wanted to come and show my support and gratitude for everyone that has spoken on behalf of the project,” Tompkins said. “I appreciate you commissioners for sharing information about the OPSB and where they can go for local residents.”

Topmkins added that the project is expected to take up about 25 of the 35 acres involved for a “fairly small footprint” in New Market Township. 

“This will really be great for Ohio's grid reliability and growing energy needs, along with local tax revenue, construction jobs and overall community investment and benefit,” she told commissioners.

• Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve the execution of an affidavit in support of judgment against Leo Capital Investments, LLC, the prospective developers of the long-discussed Marriott Hotel project in Hillsboro, on a promissory note.

The project has been in the planning stages since 2019. The county is seeking “payment in full,” estimated at $815,759.32 or more, with interest and late fees.

As previously reported, commissioners voted in October 2023 to approve an open-end mortgage, Cognovit promissory note and loan agreement contract with LEO Capital Investment LLC in the amount of $1 million for the planned Marriott Hotel project in Hillsboro. At the time, Highland County Economic Development Director Julie Bolender had said that the plan was to “take the $500,000 that we were awarded from Department of Development, add that to our revolving loan fund, and then we would have an agreement then with the Leo Capital Investments organization for the loan for the entire year.”

Commissioners voted 3-0 to sign the first notice of default on April 8 of this year, at the recommendation of Bolender. At that time, Bolender said it would be “the 30-day notice.” The second notice by the county, dated June 3, made the demand “for payment in full.” 

The notarized affidavit by Britton on behalf of commissioners, as part of a court filing in Summit County Common Pleas Court, alleges that Leo Capital “defaulted under the loan documents by failing to cure previously noticed defaults and by transferring the project or project property to Salem-Hillsboro Land Co., LLC on or about May 15, 2026.

“To date, [Leo Capital] has failed and/or refused to pay the sums due and owing to [Highland County Commissioners] under the Cognovit Note,” the affidavit alleges. “To date, the Cognovit Note remains unpaid, due and owing to [commissioners].”

• Bolender introduced commissioners to Madison Dearmon, one of four interns she hired for placement in county offices or other areas through a Highland County Community Fund grant. 

Dearmon has been working with Bolender and the Human Resources department, Bolender said, while interns were also placed with the Job & Family Services agency, the Highland County Treasurer’s office and Hometown Family Healthcare.

•  Prior to the start of the meeting, Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins discussed the great turnout and success of the National Night Out event held the previous evening. 

• After their regular meeting, commissioners were scheduled to meet with Chris Lee and Eric Rowland of the Ohio Department of Public Safety regarding a proposed “rearranging” of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles office at the Hi-TEC building.

• According to minutes provided by commission clerk Ashleigh Willey, appointments during commissioners’ weekly Monday work session included discussions of possible county employee incentives; renovations to the Administration Building basement and the possible future relocation of courthouse employees to that location during renovations; the Self-Help Housing Program, for which commissioners drafted a letter of support; and miscellaneous updates from commission clerk Mary Remsing.

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

• The submission of the aforementioned letter supporting an application for a Mutual Self-Help Housing 523 Technical Assistance Grant through USDA Rural Development. According to documents provided by Willey, CAC of Fayette County is the provider for the affordable housing program in the area and also partners with Highland County Community Action.

• The execution of policyholder disclosure/offer of terrorism insurance coverage from Ohio Republic Insurance Company for the Highland County Airport.

• A proposal from Pinnacle Environmental Consultants, Inc. for pre-renovation environmental inspection services at the Highland County Courthouse for asbestos surveys not to exceed $5,615.

• The installation of a new touch screen panel and automated key system from KeyTrak at the Sheriff’s Office.

“The keys needed locked in a box that when our employees come in to work in the jail, they have to use a thumbprint and then electronically tell who took those keys out at what time to make sure they get turned back in, so they don't take them home and don't end up in a drawer somewhere in the jail or something like that,” Highland County Sheriff Randy Sanders said. “It's just a way that we can basically keep track of each key that's inside the jail.”

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

• A request from JFS for a transfer from 2015 Child Support Enforcement Fund to 2050 Public Assistance Fund in the amount of $29,396.93.

• A request from JFS for a transfer from 2115 Children Services Fund to 2050 Public Assistance Fund in the amount of $37,374.45.

• A request from the Engineer for a budget modification within the 2065 Repair MVL fund in the amount of $75,000.

• A request from the Sheriff to rename fund 2405 to HDH Policeman’s Rotary Fund. Also requested are the creation of seven new line items and an appropriation of $262,413.05.

Publisher's note: A free press is critical to having well-informed voters and citizens. While some news organizations opt for paid websites or costly paywalls, The Highland County Press has maintained a free newspaper and website for the last 28 years for our community. If you would like to contribute to this service, it would be greatly appreciated. Donations may be made to: The Highland County Press, P.O. Box 849, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133. Please include "for website" on the memo line.