Highco courtyard, courthouse renovation among projects discussed at Highland County commission meeting

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades took action on a number of ongoing projects, including approving various bids and contracts, during their Wednesday, April 15 meeting.

At the recommendation of commission clerk and Community Development Block Grant funding coordinator Mary Remsing, commissioners rejected a bid for the Highco courtyard project received earlier this month.

As previously reported, commissioners voted last May to submit an application from Highco for CDBG funding. The proposal is for an outdoor space for an autism center courtyard, with swings and other equipment, according to Remsing.

The county previously received a bid from Midwest Building and Supply in the amount of $212,000 and one from Dance Excavating in the amount of $144,265 in February. The project was rebid, and only one bid was received April 1, from Dance Excavating in the amount of $108,500. 

“We need to reject it due to a clerical error to the state,” Remsing said. “The project will be rebid. I have that set for May 6 at 9:15 [a.m.].”

Commissioners voted 3-0 to pass the resolution “determining that it is in the best interest of the County to reject the bid received for the Highco Courtyard project on April 1, 2026.”

In response to an unrelated bid opening held April 8, however, commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a resolution awarding the 2026 Highland County chip/seal program in the amount of $554,750 to Miller-Mason Paving Co. That was also the lone bid received by the county for work on various county and township roads this year.

In other discussion:

• Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a resolution authorizing WDC Group LLC to proceed with engineering and preparation of contractual documents for the Highland County Courthouse Project – Phase 1.

“This is the kickoff, the Phase 1 of that project, and that's the exterior of the courthouse, especially in the front,” Britton said. “It’s got to be redone, basically. The bell tower, the pillars, the brick, the windows, the whole thing has got to be done.

“We are also working with WDC on Phase 2, which is doing some remodeling on the interior of the courthouse portion, and then also, we're looking at the prosecutor’s area. We're not sure exactly what we're going to do there, but that building is in very, very bad shape, and it needs probably replaced.”

On a related note, it was discussed later in the meeting that the prosecutor’s office suffered a plumbing issue Tuesday, April 14, with the basement below their office filling with sewage. 

“It does show the need that the buildings that we’re occupying are old and need work,” Daniels said. “The maintenance has been deferred for a long time, not for lack of action, but for lack of funding. It just proves that we've got to do something.”

Roades agreed, saying that the old buildings have “so many archaic things inside that we are just constantly patching.” As previously reported, plumbers were also called to the courthouse to do emergency work in January, after the clerk of courts’ office flooded during the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend.

Britton added that the basement, which Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins pointed out is full of court files and records, is “worse than a dungeon.” 

• Commissioners agreed to issue a letter of support for the Highland County Soil & Water Conservation District’s H2Ohio Conservation Pilot Program application. 

Highland County SWCD District Technician Chuck Williams told commissioners the application is a joint effort of the Highland and Brown County SWCDs as well as the Ohio State University Extension offices in Highland and Brown counties and the Southern Ohio Grazing Council.

According to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, this program is open to SWCDs in the 64 counties outside of the Western Lake Erie Basin and “is designed to fund locally led, water-quality-focused conservation projects addressing nonpoint source pollution.” Eligible practices are “water quality improvement measures not currently or previously funded by H2Ohio focused on hayland or pastures,” with a total maximum of $250,000 per project of the $2 million available in 64 counties.

“Some of our practices that we're really going to target people to do are exclusion fencing, fencing livestock out of the streams and ponds, and pastures and hayland planting and prescribed grazing,” Williams said. “We are targeting the White Oak watershed. Specifically, we're targeting Flat Run-North Fork and Slabcamp Run-East Fork of the White Oak Creek watershed.”

• Commissioners agreed to a draft of a proposed new contract with Hangar 6 as submitted by Collins, as the business is under new ownership.

The contract reflects the change in ownership for Hangar 6 as well as for “the updated square footage” following additions to the property, Collins said. She said she would take the proposed agreement to the new owner for review before both parties sign off on the contract.

As previously reported, the county reached a settlement agreement with the previous Hangar 6 owner in 2025, which involved a renegotiation of the parties’ 2001 agreement, after the previous owner filed a lawsuit against the county.  

“I made it clear that the lessee will be paying the property taxes on the improvements,” Collins said of the proposed agreement with the new business owner. “The improvements are the building and that mobile home that they put out there. We continue to own the property. I made the term 20 years instead of the number that was before, which was, as you guys know, not a legal amount, with the right, obviously, to renew.
 
“I did some research about the amount that a typical lease like this would bring in, and the FAA has limits on how much you can charge for a lease at a county airport also, so the average is between 25 and 50 cents a square foot. I did 30, but obviously, that's up to you guys.”

Commissioners agreed to the 30-cent rate, as Collins said it was an approximate $1,000 increase from the previous contract, from $3,600 to $4,678, including the increased square footage.

• Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a tentative agreement with the Highland County Sheriff’s Office for Fraternal Order of Police/Ohio Labor Council negotiations. 

“We met with [legal counsel] Brett Geary last week and Sheriff [Randy] Sanders, and it looks like we have a tentative agreement,” Britton said. “This will be retroactive back to the first of the year, so that will have to be dealt with, but I’m glad to get the agreement done.”

Chief Deputy Jennifer Schinkal said it is her “understanding [the unions] have” ratified the agreement. Britton said commissioners will take official action once they received the signed paperwork.

• Roades reported that Precision Painting contractors expected to finish a floor sealing/painting project, approved April 8, at the records storage building Wednesday by noon.  

• Britton announced that the Ohio Public Defender’s office informed them that the indigent defense reimbursement rate is expected to be 80 percent for the next budget cycle. 

• Britton reminded the community that commissioners’ next meeting will be moved up a day, from Wednesday, April 22 to Tuesday, April 21 at 9 a.m., due to their “Highland County Day” at the Statehouse taking place Wednesday.

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

• A $3,850 quote from ASSA ABLOY to replace a previously discussed damaged door at the Hi-TEC building.

• A $3,770 quote from BESCO for a new blower for the Rocky Fork Lake Wastewater Treatment plant.

• A $1,738.50 quote from Tech24 to replace a steamer in the Highland County Justice Center kitchen.

• A final completion certificate from Blue Scope Construction for the Highland County Administration Building.

• A resolution to grant authorization for the listed “then and now” purchase orders and authorizing the county auditor to issue warrants for their payment.

• A budget modification within the 4110 Engineer Building Improvement Capital Improvement Fund in the amount of $750,000.

• A request from the Auditor to rename 2550 Moving Ohio Forward Fund to Southern Ohio Hospital Tax Pilot Program. Also requested is the creation of the following line item: Transfers Out.

• A request from the Auditor for a budget modification within the 1000 County General fund in the amount of $500.

• A request from the Auditor for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 2055 Real Estate Assessment fund in the amount of $12,800.

• A programmatic agreement for HUD-funded programs and invitation to participate in Section 106 consultation about projects carried out under these programs.

• A basic entitlement programmatic agreement between Highland County and Ohio’s State Historic Preservation Office for the administration of programs using HUD allocated funds with delegated review responsibilities authorized under 24 CFR Part 58.

• The filing of a programmatic agreement for HUD-funded programs.

• A corporation addendum to the county’s maintenance agreement with Schindler Elevator to add the records storage building.

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