Commissioners agree to dissolve Family & Children First Council

Highland County commissioners Brad Roades, Terry Britton and David Daniels revisited several topics of recent discussion during a brief meeting Wednesday, Oct. 8, including taking action on a proposal to eliminate the local Family & Children First Council.

Highland County Job & Family Services Director Jeremy Ratcliff and Highland County Board of DD Superintendent Larry Gray made the proposal at commissioners’ Oct. 1 meeting, one day after the latest state budget bill — which included the provision for county boards of commissioners to eliminate the councils — took effect. 

Reasons for the suggestion included the “duplication” of services among other programs, which could be maintained without the administrative responsibility of the FCFC.

Via resolution, commissioners voted 3-0 Wednesday to “agree to hereby dissolve the Family & Children First Council effective Dec. 31, 2025, and designate Director Jeremy Ratcliff to notify any and all local or state stakeholders of this action.”

“We anticipate we’ll notify the Department of Children and Youth and any other state agencies,” Ratcliff said. “We'll have to leave that fund that open because it will still need to be audited, and then there'll be some local funds that’ll come back to you guys.”

In unrelated action, commissioners voted 3-0, via resolution, to award the MARCs (Multi-Agency Radio Communication System) tower project to Verdantas in the amount of $106,161, after informally approving a recommendation at their Oct. 1 meeting.

According to clerk Mary Remsing, Verdantas “will do all the work as far as the permitting, the environmental review,” site work and bidding.

Commissioners have been seeking a suitable location for the tower since receiving state funding in June 2022. In February, commissioners selected a 5.11-acre parcel on Butters Road in Brushcreek Township, which came into commissioners’ possession in September after being forfeited in a high-profile drug trafficking case, as the location. 

Commissioners discussed, but did not take action on, quotes from Dance Excavation LLC and from JR Enterprise for the removal and reinstallation of fixtures at the Highland County Justice Center ahead of its upcoming flooring replacement.

In September, Cierra Moore of the county’s maintenance department explained that items “bolted to the floor” — including the “racks that the inmates sleep on, tables and chairs” — will have to be removed for the contractors and reinstalled after the flooring is complete. Moore said that the removal/reinstallation of the items is not covered by the flooring company, and during the Sept. 17 meeting, Remsing contacted the company and verified that it could not be added to the quote.

As discussed in September, if the county maintenance department has to do the work, they would need to purchase the equipment for the job, plus ensure that they meet all of the state standards for reinstalling the equipment. Daniels also suggested that they look into whether any local companies can assist.

Roades said the lower quote, from Dance, was for $12,000, while Highland County Sheriff Randy Sanders said the other quote ffom JR Enterprise was around $14,000. At Daniels’ recommendation, commissioners tabled the matter until their next meeting to see if they could get additional estimates.

“That seems particularly high,” Daniels said.

Sanders agreed but said since the work has to be completed in a “10-day period, that’s the only problem as far as flexibility."

For an unrelated county project matter, commissioners also voted to deny a change order for additional work on the administration building’s first floor. 

As discussed in September by commission clerk Ashleigh Willey, at the first-floor officeholders’ request, they obtained quotes for the casework on the front counters. At that time, Daniels said he did not want to take action on the change order until he sees “a further breakdown of those costs,” but both options exceeded $100,000.

“I think that that’s extremely high for what we need,” Daniels said Wednesday. “I'm not saying it's not needed, but perhaps we can get it done outside the scope of this project for considerably less.”

“It’s the price of a house,” Roades added.

In other discussion:

• Rick Moore of the Highland County Church of Christ provided an overview of the church’s Celebrate Recovery program, as he asked commissioners to help in promoting this free ministry program.

According to celebraterecovery.com, Celebrate Recovery is “a grace-filled community of strugglers who courageously enter this safe and beautiful space to get honest about our pain, and the negative ways we may see ourselves, God, and others. In this process, we come to accept that some of the habits we have developed to escape our pain may have hurt us and those close to us. It is a biblically based approach to help us achieve long lasting recovery by healing our hurts, guiding us toward new healthy truths, and developing life-giving habits.”

Moore told commissioners that the program was started in the early 1990s and is used by “over 35,000 churches.

“They're found in recovery houses, in rescue missions, universities and prisons around the world,” Moore said. “We hopefully can describe it as a safe place where people can seek and find freedom from issues that are controlling their lives. Those issues most often contain chemical dependency, as well as addictions of various sorts.”

Moore continued that the program is “similar to Alcoholics Anonymous” and related groups, with the “primary difference” being Celebrate Recovery’s “focus on Jesus Christ.

“Our goal is to help people cope and succeed and get past many of these issues,” he said. “Our principles and our teachings come mostly from the Beatitudes, from the Sermon on the Mount in the Bible. We're not counselors, nor are we licensed professionals. Leaders consist of church ministers as well as lay people.”

The Highland County Church of Christ, which is located at 6670 U.S. Route 50 West in Hillsboro, hosts their Celebrate Recovery program each Friday evening, according to Moore.  

The program is free and open to the community. Moore said the weekly agenda begins with a dinner at 5:30 p.m., followed by a lesson and singing at 6 p.m., breakout groups at 7 p.m. and dismissal around 8 p.m.

“My only ask for you today is to help us make this resource better known to the community,” Moore told commissioners. “One of our challenges is attendance. It's been so wide ranging. Sometimes we'll have 10 people there, sometimes we have more than 50.

“We’ve got a lot of good success stories.”

Highland County Probation Department Program Director/Chief Probation Officer Tonya Sturgill, who was in attendance Wednesday, said that her office provides meeting schedules for individuals in treatment, including those at area inpatient facilities.

Commissioners thanked Moore for the information and for the church’s program.

“I applaud the work you’re doing,” Daniels said. “Obviously, we have a need here, and you’re an option that maybe somebody that doesn't traditionally want to do an AA thing might have an opportunity to go to.”

• It was noted that effective Oct. 15, commissioners will be returning to the Highland County Administration Building for meetings in their new chambers (suite 211 at 119 Governor Foraker Place, Hillsboro), after meeting at Southern State Community College since April. 

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

• An addendum to a Community-Based Corrections Subsidy Grant agreement amount commissioners, the Highland County Probation Department and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. According to Sturgill, they qualified for a $64,000 increase to their grant.

• A change order for the Engineer’s Office for fiscal year 2025 guardrail improvements, reflecting a difference of $79,572.75.

• A change order for ongoing improvements at the county administration building, for additional electrical work on the first floor at a cost of $13,720.  

• A request from Probation for a budget modification within the (2615) CCA 2.0 FY24-25 Fund, in the amount of $7,994.72.

• A request from Probation for a budget modification within the (2660) ATP fund in the amount of $10,416.01. Also requested is a decrease in appropriation from (2660) Other Expense in the amount of $10,198.

• A request from Highland County JFS for a budget modification within the (2115) Children Services Fund in the amount of $20,000.

• An additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue within the 1000 County General Fund, Sheriff – Contract & Services, in the amount of $1,035.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the (2170) Probation Services Fund in the amount of $40,000.

• A request from the Highland County Engineer to create line items within the 4110 Engineer Building Capital Improvement Fund. Also requested is an appropriation in the amount of $175,000.

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