Commissioners select truck barn contractor; hear update on federal funding cuts

Highland County commissioners Brad Roades, Terry Britton and David Daniels selected a contractor for the new multimillion-dollar truck barn for the county engineer’s office during their Wednesday, Sept. 24 meeting.

Commissioners awarded the truck barn bid to Jay-Car Construction in the amount of $5,029,738, both through a motion and by passing a resolution. 

According to Highland County Engineer Chris Fauber, the WDC Group recommends accepting Jay-Car’s bid, which was not the lowest but was determined to be the best due to some “discrepancies” with the low bid. The bid from Jay-Car was “25-percent below their estimate,” Fauber said.

As previously reported, commissioners voted 3-0 Feb. 26 to enter into a purchase agreement for the former Pike Gas property at 144 Bowers Avenue in Hillsboro at a cost of $390,000. The property includes two parcels, for a total of 0.3742 acre.

State Senator Shane Wilkin (R-Hillsboro) announced the investment of $1 million from the One-Time Strategic Community Investment Fund (OTSCIF) to support the project, which will accommodate over 20 trucks, in June 2024.

Commissioners voted in November to direct $2 million of their American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars to the project. The amount committed exceeded the initial request made when commissioners reviewed potential ARPA projects in 2022. At that time, Fauber submitted a $1.4 million proposal to build a new 115’x160’ truck/equipment storage facility, replacing an approximately 50-year-old structure.   

In December, commissioners also committed another $500,000 in ARPA funding toward engineer services and contract administration by the WDC Group for the project.

Commissioners also voted to authorize the issuance of not to exceed $4.6 million in building improvement bonds in June and closing documents for the financing in July.

In an unrelated update, Highland County Job & Family Services Director Jeremy Ratcliff discussed how the federal “big beautiful bill” is projected to affect the local JFS office. The most significant change, he said, is “the change from administrative funding of the SNAP program.

“Currently, it's 50/50 split, meaning it's a 50% federal cost reimbursement and 50% state/local,” Ratcliff said. “Ours is always state. We don't dip into local funds for the administration of the SNAP program. That, effective October 1 of next year, will go to a 75/25 split, meaning 75% state/local, 25% federal. 

“For federal fiscal year ’25, we've spent just shy of $227,000, and so we're estimating a potential decrease from the federal government of $120 [thousand] to $140,000 per federal fiscal year.”

Ratcliff said that the Ohio Job and Family Services Directors' Association is working with state legislators “to see what kind of state funds can be used to help make up that difference.

“We've actually got a couple spots, positions right now, that we haven’t filled in anticipation,” Ratcliff said. 

According to the County Commissioners Association of Ohio, “The OBBBA (One Big Beautiful Bill Act) will decrease the federal share of SNAP administrative costs from 50% to 25%, resulting in a larger cost burden on state and county governments across the country. This change becomes effective October 1, 2026, during the current state biennium. If no additional funds become available, counties could see a funding loss of $47 million per year for SNAP administration.
 
“Additionally, OBBBA requires states to begin contributing to the benefit costs of the SNAP program for the first time in the program’s history. The state’s share will be determined by the state’s error rate in SNAP payments. This change is effective October 1, 2027, during the next state biennium and next gubernatorial administration.”

“Looking forward, the bigger impact, as we've talked about, would be potential benefit sharing at the state level,” Ratcliff said. 

However, Britton cautioned that many times, these funding issues are “pushed down to the counties.

“If that would happen, then there would be some things that we’d really have to take a look at,” Britton said. “That’s a pretty big cut.”

In other discussion:

•. Roades reviewed the monthly permissive sales tax report as submitted by county auditor Alex Butler, who was unable to attend Wednesday’s meeting.

According to Roades, the county collected  $813,782.46 in September 2025. 

“For the monthly difference, we are down 6.46 percent from last month, but as a plus, year to date, we are still in a positive .35-percent,” Roades said.

• Ted McReynolds of the Friends of the Highland County Dog Pound group told commissioners that their nonprofit organization donated $901.44 to a local veterinary clinic, of which they are asking the county for $390.64 in reimbursement.

McReynolds said that the Friends of the Highland County Dog Pound’s portion covered the cost of spay/neuter surgeries for dogs, while the other portion he’s asking the county to cover involved “euthanasia, vaccines and things of that nature.”

• Prior to their regular 9 a.m. meeting, commissioners held an executive session to discuss employee compensation. As a result, they voted 3-0 to approve a request from the Board of Elections for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the county general fund in the amount of $12,957.

• Discussed, but not approved, were quotes for a new truck for Environmental Engineering. 

“We’re running close in the Rocky Fork Lake sewer fund,” Daniels said. “I think that a couple things come to bear if we proceed with the expenditure, which I think we're going to have to at some point.

“We're probably going to have to look to see what resources that we can either advance to the sewer fund or pay for it outright from someplace else. We've had some discussion with them. We've gone through quite a number of trucks out there in recent past. They have made some suggestions that might extend the useful life of them.”

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

• A contract between commissioners and the Highland County Department of Job & Family Services approving JFS’s biannual Prevention, Retention and Contingency (PRC) Plan.

• A purchased service contract among commissioners, Highland County JFS and FRS Transportation for non-emergency medical transportation.

• An amendment to the operating agreement contract among commissioners, Aramark Correctional Services, LLC and the Sheriff’s Office for food service at the jail.

• The certification of assessment to the auditor’s office for Lakeside and Rocky Fork Lake sewer upgrades.

• A change order reflecting a $14,667.89 savings for the county’s 2024 chip/seal program.

• A motion regarding an opioid implementation administrator for a new national opioid settlement.

• A $3,450 quote from BNM Painting for exterior work at the county’s newly purchased building for maintenance on Hobart Drive.

• Commissioners received a petition, filed by the Clay Township Trustees, to vacate one lane in Clay Township, approximately 0.429 miles long, located north of state Route 138 and the property of Claudette Cribbett (05-23-000-457.00), located on the property of Daisey Thomas Farms (PN 05-18-000-118.00. Therefore, commissioners agreed via resolution to set the time and date for a public viewing to be held Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 10 a.m. at the site of the alley and a public hearing Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 11 a.m. at their office.

• A request from the Board of DD for a budget modification within the 2100 Board of DD Fund in the amount of $480,000.

• A request from County Court for a budget modification within the 1000 County General Fund in the amount
of $750.

• A resolution to petition a filing to the Court of Common Pleas for the 3130 SCORJDC Debt Fund in order for said funds to represent money transferred from the General Fund of Highland County to act as a payment for the debt, due to no sinking fund for the transfer to take place. Daniels said the resolution “pays our obligation to the Juvenile Detention Center for the upgrades made 20 years ago” and “finally retires that debt.”

• A resolution to petition a filing to the Court of Common Pleas for the 3200 Various Purpose Debt Fund in order for said funds to represent money transferred from the General Fund of Highland County to act as a payment for the debt, due to no sinking fund for the transfer to take place.

• A budget modification within the 1000 County General Fund in the amount of $10,000.

• A budget modification within the 5030 Rocky Fork Sewer Fund in the amount of $10,000.

For more from Wednesday's meeting, go to: https://highlandcountypress.com/news/nextera-energy-resources-outlines-….

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