Commissioners, Veterans Service director spar over Hi-TEC renovation proposal

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades engaged in a heated discussion with Highland County Veterans Service Director/Officer Tim Hazelwood over proposed changes to the Hi-TEC building during commissioners’ Wednesday, Sept. 2 meeting.

As previously reported, after their regular meeting Aug. 12, commissioners met with Ohio Department of Public Safety officials to discuss potential renovations to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles office at the Hi-TEC building. Daniels gave a recap of that discussion at their next regular meeting. 

“The reconfiguration shows taking the large meeting room and using half of that for the license bureau,” Daniels said Aug. 19. “Doing that allows the license bureau to be completely contained within that unit. It requires a remodel but solves a couple other problems. 

“The Veterans [Service] department has been asking for additional space. That would open up office space for them out there. It would expand the building for the title bureau if necessary.”

Hazelwood, who attended the Sept. 2 meeting with VSO Cailin Hoskins, told commissioners he was “curious about the BMV space since we’ve been trying to get space for almost a year.” Britton said that it is being proposed as a Hi-TEC “rearrangement so that we can get you guys more space.”

“Months ago, I stood right over there against that wall with you and Brad, and you asked us to be patient, and we have been very patient,” Hazelwood said. “You asked me and Jeremy [Ratcliff, Highland County Job & Family Services director] both to be patient. Jeremy's done. We ain't even heard hide nor hair from any of you.”

Hazelwood said that due to the Veterans Service office configuration, there are “people coming in the office and having to stand out at the front desk and explain their situations” in the open despite being “privacy situations … not made for anybody else to hear.”

It was noted Aug. 5 that the Highland County Child Support Enforcement Agency, which falls under the JFS umbrella, has a new office space that is “fully FTI [Federal Tax Information] compliant” and “behind three locked doors now.” However, Roades told Hazelwood that Ratcliff’s initial request “was never accomplished nor achieved.

“His project was not nearly done to what he was hoping to,” Roades said. “He bought furniture, and he had to buy small privacy walls. 

“It's not like we can just go in and do it. It's something we have to go through the city [for permits]. It's got to be filed. You have to have architects coming in, which is — it's time-consuming.”

Hazelwood said that he was “not trying to rag on you guys” but that he is “old enough to realize that some of this stuff takes way too long. 

“I’m not any better than anybody else, I can promise you that, but I can also promise you that we could have had this done by now,” Hazelwood said. “We feel, as the veterans' office in this county, that it does not get treated properly.”

Roades disagreed, pointing out that in 2024, the Veterans Service office’s carport and light post were damaged during a wind storm and commissioners helped facilitate the work, with county engineer Chris Fauber also volunteering on the project.

“I can recall back when you had your building blow away, and you tried to have one put up, and all the problems that you had getting stuff worked through the city, permits being filed, everything accomplished,” Roades said. “That was months and months and months of stuff going on, and that's the same thing. We're not trying to hold you back. 

“When the license bureau thing came to us, if I'm not mistaken, I think we all decided we're going to look at the whole thing within there as an entire project, so that we can have one person come in do the conceptual drawings. Once again, I'm going to tell you, having that happen, it’s four months.”

Hazelwood said, “Brad, it’s been that long,” and Roades said “I know it has” been that long since the VSO approached them about needing new space. However, as Roades also pointed out, commissioners now have new drawings to look at and to consider with all of the Hi-TEC offices in mind before taking action and getting work scheduled. 

Hazelwood then asked about the content of the preliminary drawings. As mentioned Aug. 19, Britton said that the specs involve relocating the BMV to the conference room. Hazelwood objected to that plan due to events his office holds in the conference room for various holidays, such as Veterans Day and Christmas.

“There's only two or three days out of a month that that BMV is busy enough to move their office anywhere,” Hazelwood said.  

Hazelwood then referenced “problems from the past” — as this is not the first time commissioners and Hazelwood have argued in a public meeting — and again tried to bring up commissioners’ treatment of veterans before Daniels intervened.

“The point is, I know the problems from the past,” Hazelwood said. “It doesn't matter how you feel about me, but it does matter how you feel about the veterans of this county.”

At that point, Daniels raised his voice, saying, “Hold on, Tim. I’m going to stop you right there.

“I take exception to the idea that we treat veterans poorly in this county,” Daniels said. “I take exception to it every day. Everybody tries to play that card when something doesn't go their way. They say, ‘Oh, you're against us.’ That's not true. That is not true. 

“You came in here and asked for a building about a year and a half ago. We gave you what you wanted. Then, when it didn't go the way you wanted, then you were trying to blame us. This goes back and forth all the time. 

“We fund the veterans to the amount of money that we're allowed to, and that we're required to,” Daniels continued. “We give that to you to service those veterans.”

Daniels added that commissioners are “trying to balance everybody's needs” at the Hi-TEC building, which is also home to the Board of Elections, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Job & Family Services and Title Department in addition to the VSO.

“There's been a space issue out there for quite a while, and we've been trying to address it in a number of different ways,” Daniels said. “We recognize that what we do is probably going to make somebody unhappy, but we're trying to balance everybody's needs that's in that building. 

“But I take exception to the idea that we don't treat veterans fairly. I do, and that's my opinion, and I'm tired of hearing it. I'm tired of hearing that out of you, and I'm tired of hearing it out of everybody.” 

At that point, Hazelwood said he would “let it go,” and the meeting adjourned.

Prior to that exchange, commissioners had the following other discussion:

• Commissioners announced a schedule change for the week of Sept. 7, due to the Highland County Fair taking place. Their regular Monday work session — which in recent weeks has primarily focused on budget meetings with department heads — is canceled. 

Their regular Wednesday, Sept. 9 meeting has been moved up an hour, to 8 a.m., and will be for the approval of the weekly bill file, resolutions and contracts only before commissioners head to the Highland County Fair. A department head meeting is also set for Sept. 14. 

• Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a $14,900 quote for work at the Highland County Airport, at the request of Monte Shaw of the Airport Authority.

According to Shaw, the airport needed to clear trees and shrubs for an access road for their AWOS (Automated Weather Observing System), as they had an issue in the past week with an electric failure that knocked out the system.

“We did go back there and cut through the weeds and find out that that's what it was,” Shaw said. “It looks like it was the original service panel there, post meter, that it's decades old and it was corroded, which led to arcing, which led to the failure.

“That unit's back up and running like it should be, but it just emphasizes again how important it's going to be to get that access road cleared to that equipment because they did all that on foot, so as not to destroy the soybeans there.”

Shaw said there is “overgrowth” along a fence row and that the quote includes the removal of the “overgrowth” as well as the fence itself. Britton asked Shaw about whether they will have to replace the fence.

“I don't think so,” Shaw said. I mean, it's county property on both sides of the fence, and it's not like the county has livestock or anything to contain in that field. I know of no reason that that fence needs to be replaced. 

“It's just an old fence. It looks like it’s 80 years old. It's not holding anything back now anyway. I mean, it's mostly on the ground in different places, but it's just a rusty woven wire fence from decades ago, and it needs hauled off.”

• Quotes for additional remodeling work at the Highland County Administration Building were discussed but not acted on, pending additional details.

“During the remodel, we didn't get all the downstairs rooms done due to records being stored in them,” Daniels said. “Those records have now been moved out, and that opens up those rooms down there to be remodeled. They're going to get ceilings and light fixtures.”

According to Daniels, the county has received a base bid of $90,965 from Cincinnati Commercial Contracting (which commission clerk Ashleigh Willey said includes prevailing wage), while Willey said the painting quote from BNM Painting is $2,050. However, Willey said they are still waiting for several quotes, including one for flooring and one for the removal of a vault door and the addition of framing for that space. Roades pointed out that they are also awaiting a bid for moving IT servers to the basement.

“I'd like to see what the total project is going to cost,” Daniels said. “With phase two coming on and of the courthouse, it's important that we probably act timely getting the downstairs done because we will probably move the prosecutor's office to those downstairs spaces during the remodel.”

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

• In four separate resolutions, commissioners declared listed items as no longer needed by the County and obsolete, ORC 307.12(B)(1). Therefore, the said board declares the listed item to be surplus property and no longer needed by the county. The resolutions included requests from the commissioners office, County Court and the Sheriff’s Office.

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

• A request from the Auditor for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 1000 County General fund in the amount of $4,000.