County insurance and maintenance, area solar projects, congressional update among topics at commission meeting

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades revisited discussions of county insurance and heard updates on maintenance, solar projects and Second Congressional District activities during their Wednesday, July 8 meeting. 

Human Resources director Amy Bradley asked to “clarify” the commissioners’ wishes about “moving forward without a broker” for dental and life insurance. Daniels, who was absent when the decision was made to change health insurance plans and continue without a broker, voiced his dissent Wednesday. 

As previously reported, in a change from their longtime provider Brown/Raybourn, Britton and Roades voted June 17 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. 
 
For dental insurance, Bradley told commissioners Wednesday that “if we do go forward with no broker,” there is a potential rate decrease that would need to be updated in the payroll system. She said her “number-one” question of commissioners was whether to keep a broker for their dental insurance company, the company that provides basic life insurance for county employees and another insurance firm that covers basic life insurance for sheriff’s office employees.

Britton asked if anyone had an “objection to removing the broker.”

“I do,” Daniels said. “We've been dealing with Brown/Raybourn for a long time, and David Brown over the years, and that company, has worked very hard on behalf of the county to do an awful lot of things. First of all, negotiate rates. Second of all, to work with our insurers when things don't exactly go their way. 

“I know that there's expense involved in that. I think that some of the discussions that we are having now, our broker could have settled a lot of those things before they came up and became an issue. There's always a way to save money, but sometimes it doesn't come with a savings after the end of it, so I would oppose removing a broker from our plans.”

Roades asked Bradley if Brown had “reached out to you about wanting to” continue as a broker.

“I’ve not heard a peep from him,” Bradley said. “The last time we communicated was the last time he was here in this room.”

Bradley added that she sent a letter to Brown at the request of commissioners. The letter, dated June 18, thanked Brown for his “more than three decades of dedicated service as our health insurance broker.

“After careful consideration, the Highland County Commissioners have decided to move in a different direction and will no longer be utilizing your brokerage services moving forward,” Bradley wrote. “This decision is not a reflection of the quality of service you have provided, but rather a change in our approach to managing our employee benefits programs.

“To help ensure a smooth transition, we respectfully request that you provide our office with the current contact information for the account representatives associated with Medical Mutual, Superior Dental, Guardian and any other information we may need.”

In addition to that request in the letter, Bradley asked Brown, in an email dated June 18, to share contact information for those companies as well as Hartford “at your earliest convenience.”

Bradley told commissioners that she also sent a followup email, a week later, with the same request, and received no response.

“I did receive a call from David Brown after the initial letter was sent out asking why,” Daniels said. “I think that he felt somewhat, I guess, blindsided with the fact that after a number of years, that he was kind of sent an email saying his services were no longer needed, rather than having a conversation, so that's that.”

Britton and Roades both indicated they were willing to keep Brown for the two life insurance companies, although Bradley said the county doesn’t “necessarily have a contract,” just that it has rolled “over year to year to year.” 

“I think we need to definitely make sure that he's willing and wanting to do that first,” Roades said. “If not, then we go to the other route [without a broker].”

Bradley pointed out that her attempts to contact Brown have gone unanswered and suggested “respectfully, one of you gentlemen reach out to him” to find out his wishes.

“I feel like for whatever reason, he’s not going to communicate with me,” Bradley said. In a response to a question from Roades, Bradley reiterated that Brown has not made “a peep, on any level, for anything.”

Britton suggested that Bradley make a call “one time” to Brown “and see what we get,” as she said regardless of whether they use him as broker, the county still needs to get the contact information from him. However, Daniels defended Brown.

“The last conversation you had with him, with the last communication you had with him, was saying ‘you're fired,’” Daniels said. “So, is he fired or is he not fired? Is he supposed to be communicating with us or not communicating with us? You told him he was done, so if I’m done, I’m not calling.”

Bradley pointed out that she drafted and sent the letter at the request of commissioners, who “even looked at the letter before I sent it,” and that she asked for the contact information “so I can try to manage this business the best that I can.” She also said she was “totally fine with” commissioners offering to keep Brown on the life insurance policies. 

“Just so you know, I’m for keeping him for all three,” Daniels said. 

Bradley also provided updated data for county insurance based on the new enrollment figures, as she said the deadline was July 6.

“We had about 190 employees that took the health insurance prior,” Bradley said. “We are currently at 183 enrollment, so that puts us down overall enrollment by seven employees, which I don't think that's bad at all. I worked up the premiums based upon that. We're looking at $3,048,902.78 [for the year, including HSA/PPA plans].

“HSA utilization is down from 53 individuals to 30. Of those 30 HSAs, 11 are at the engineer's office, and we had 60 employees waive.”

In other discussion:

• Cierra Moore of the county’s maintenance department discussed proposals for work at two different county buildings.

The first option was a $12,705 quote from T&S Mechanical for isolation valves at the Highland County Justice Center.

“As it stands now, if we have a pipe that leaks and we don't have a valve nearby, we have to shut the building down,” Moore said. “It causes a lot of interruptions. It causes a lot of issues, especially if it's a bigger line. There's a lot more time. It takes time to drain these pipes to get to where we can make the repair.

“[With this quote] if we have an issue, we can separate half of the building. Half of the building would be shut down for whatever the repair is, the other half would be functional.”

Highland County Sheriff Randy Sanders added that during a recent incident, they “had it prepared and set up to carry water in to pour to force flush commodes and everything for the entire building.

“The one valve when they shut down now, it affects the court, the jail, the other offices — it’s all shut down,” the sheriff said.

Commissioners asked Moore to obtain more information — including the number and location of valves as well as a price breakdown for labor and materials — from the contractor and also advised her to seek an additional quote.

The other request brought by Moore was one from the Board of Elections office to purchase a mini split for their computer room. Moore said that the Board of Elections wanted to give the contract to Wilkin Heating and Air, who had the lower quote of $4,750, and Moore said they would also need “to have some electrical work done to accommodate,” plus potentially a permit from the city, for the mini split. Including the permit, the cost would be $5,400, Moore told commissioners.

“The Board of Elections is saying that they are going to pay for this, the electric and the mini split, out of a grant,” Moore said.

Daniels questioned why the Board of Elections did not obtain a quote from Weller’s, who does “an awful lot of our HVAC work” in county buildings.

“I understand that they're housed out there, but the maintenance and everything else for that building ends up falling on our shoulders at some point,” Daniels said. “To get brought into this after the fact is probably not the best way to do business or go about it. 

“They haven't talked about permits, haven't talked about any of this, they've gone through this blind, so there's more to think about than just whether or not you stick a mini split in there.”  

Moore agreed, saying there were also different questions involving the placement of the mini split depending on which contractor they use.

Roades told Moore to start the permitting process, since she said that “could be a month” or more, and also encouraged her to reach out to Weller’s for another opinion. Daniels pointed out that “maybe there’s another solution” aside from a mini split that would be better.

Moore asked commissioners whether the Board of Elections would cover the permitting costs, and Daniels said that no one from their office had contacted commissioners. Moore said she would get back in touch with the Board of Elections and would reach out to Weller’s.

• Commissioners noted that they received a quarterly update from the Ohio Power Siting Board on ongoing solar projects in the county. The email from Juliana Graham-Price included a reminder of several previously discussed new proposals.

“There are three proposed projects you should be aware of: (1) an amendment to add battery storage to the Highland Solar facility, (2) Barr Energy, a new battery storage facility near Hillsboro, and (3) Nuthatch Solar, a new solar and battery storage facility adjacent to Highland Solar,” Graham-Price wrote. “We have had a pre-application meeting with Nuthatch, but do not yet have dates and locations for the two public information meetings.”
 
In addition to the Nuthatch Solar proposal, developers at Highland Solar in Clay and Whiteoak Townships are investigating why “a fair number of trees planted around the facility have died” before replanting, Graham-Price reported. 

According to Graham-Price, the county should be receiving payment on the New Market Solar project in the near future, with Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTs) now due.

“Ohio Department of Development issued Certificates of Verification, affirming that the New Market I facility employed a workforce comprised of 80% Ohio-domiciled workers, and the New Market II facility employed a workforce consisting of 80.67% Ohio-domiciled workers, and complied with all requirements to remain a ‘Qualified Energy Project,’” Graham-Price wrote. “According to DOD, the PILOT period and annual reporting requirements will begin. Highland Solar will submit an Annual Nameplate Capacity Report, and DOD will issue a Payment Certification identifying the PILOT payment amount due. 

“Once payment has been received, Highland County will submit a Payment Verification form to DOD. Payments are due in July 2026, and Highland County should verify receipt of payment to the DOD.”

The Palomino Solar project in Union and Dodson townships is “on schedule” with construction, with work completed thus far including “mass grading activities, entrances and access roads, inverter pile installation and the substation pad,” according to the OPSB update.  

“Solar panel deliveries are ongoing and expected to continue through August 2026, along with deliveries of materials such as piles, racking and cable,” Graham-Price wrote. “The project expects delivery of two main transformers in September, panel installation throughout 2026, and commercial operations in August 2027.”

The Dodson Creek Solar project in Hamer and Dodson Townships has seen ponding issues, with Geronimo Power working to mitigate the problem with “new areas of impounded water within the project fence line.

“The project has notified us that the areas will be addressed through a combination of improvements to grading and drain tiling,” Graham-Price wrote.

Graham-Price had no updates of note for Willowbrook Solar.

• Congressman David Taylor spoke briefly about his “three big priorities” for the Second Congressional District, as he noted that he will no longer represent Highland County starting next year. (Effective in 2027, Highland County will move from the Second District to the 15th District, due to redistricting.)

The three priorities discussed by Taylor were broadband improvements, access to healthcare and water infrastructure improvements. 

“We've been trying to work on those priorities, and we've had good luck,” Taylor said. “It has been a tremendously impactful first year and a half.”

As a local example, Highland County economic development director Julie Bolender said that Taylor helped secure $1 million in funding for the Village of Leesburg’s water improvement project to replace aging equipment. 

“We did some public safety things that wasn't a CPF [Community Project Funding],” Taylor said. “This is what they used to call earmarks.

“We got almost $17 million the first year, and we're right at $17 million the second year, and it's basically all water infrastructure, public safety, stuff like that.”

Daniels asked Taylor to “be mindful as new budget proposals come out” of the impact of the “Big Beautiful Bill” on local public agencies, including Children services.

“The state is now kind of leaving it up to counties to fill that gap,” Daniels said. “The number of kids that we end up in foster care and going through the system continues to burden our county, and the loss of those dollars is kind of significant to us.

“As new budgets come around, I understand the need to cut federal debt and cut the federal deficit to do all those things, but when those kind of impacts directly hurt, or deal with, the kids that we have to care for, it does cause a little bit of a problem.”

Taylor said the state hasn’t “really hit the ground running with that,” and Daniels agreed that “it’s a two-tier problem, with the loss of federal dollars” as well as “the state not stepping up in their responsibility.”

• During their passage of resolutions, commissioners approved a budget modification within the 2280 Records Preservation fund in the amount of $2,000. According to records manager Jennifer Maynard, the cost of shredding 340 boxes of records will be “approximately $2,040. 

“It'll go up or down, depending,” Maynard said. “We’re trying to get some prisoners to move some boxes from the basement, because we're having a hard time finding shredding companies that want to go up and down those stairs.”

Sanders and Moore said they are still discussing “the logistics of this operation” of using inmates, including supervision and whether inmates can even touch the records involved. 

Commission clerk Ashleigh Willey said that due to the amount of records being shredded as the records center is getting established, the department’s budget is “getting pretty tight.” She told commissioners that she and Maynard are looking into the costs of potentially purchasing a commercial shredder so in the future, the work could be done in house.

• This week marked commissioners’ first week of a change to their agendas, where they now meet on Monday mornings for “work sessions.” According to Willey, the sessions are to be “informational only” with no action taken. 

Topics listed for discussion this week were plans for a maintenance building; a resolution regrinding Dodson Creek Solar LLC; and cash balance reports/reserve balance accounts. No discussion was held, nor any action taken, on any of those topics Wednesday. 

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

• A resolution to award the OPWC HIG CR 58-B Dawson Road Reconstruction & Resurfacing in the amount of $880,477.79 to Miller-Mason Paving. In a separate motion, commissioners authorized the commission president to execute an Ohio Public Works Commission agreement for the same project. 

• A resolution to authorize WDC Group LLC to proceed with the engineering and preparation of contractual documents for the Highland County Courthouse Project – Phase 2.

“Basically what that is, we give WDC the authority to go out and start doing drawings, that sort of thing, get start getting moving on that project,” Britton said. “We're already going to be working on phase one. They're working diligently now to start getting a bid packet ready for that.”

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

• A budget modification within the 1000 County General Fund from Transfers Out to TEC in the amount of $17,350.

• A request from the Board of Elections for an additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue within the 1000 County General Fund, Board of Elections, in the amount of $10,000.

• A request from the Board of DD for an additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue within the 2195 fund in the amount of $350,000.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 2235 Workforce Development Center fund, in the amount of $3,000.

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