Highland County commissioners proclaim Emergency Management Awareness Month; hear updates on storm damage, county projects

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades proclaimed August as Emergency Management Awareness Month and heard an update on cleanup efforts following the Aug. 11 storms from the local EMA director during their Wednesday, Aug. 19 meeting.

As previously reported, Bushelman also gave an update to commissioners Aug. 12, as he said that nearly 42 percent of the county had lost power at one point during the high winds, torrential rain and lightning last Tuesday.

“It’s kind of ironic that August has been Emergency Management Month, considering what the state has seen,” Bushelman said. “August 15 was actually Emergency Management Day, but the entire month of August has been nationally declared Emergency Management Month.”

According to the International Association of Emergency Managers, “During August, emergency managers will conduct a coordinated, industry-wide awareness and advocacy campaign to promote the capabilities of emergency management and the role of emergency managers.”

Britton asked Bushelman how many emergencies he has responded to thus far in August.

“Probably six or seven, and in the last week, one big one and one little one,” Bushelman said, referring to the storms as well as a recent fuel spill as the result of a semi accident.

After Britton read the proclamation — which was accepted by Bushelman, as well as EMA Board member Nathan Brown — Bushelman gave further details on storm assessments.

“We've completed 41 damage assessments in the county, with the help of Ohio Emergency Management, Clinton County EMA, Fayette County EMA and the Health Department,” Bushelman said. “We had 19 of the 41 non-affected, 17 affected, two minimal damage and three majors.

“My hat’s off to Fayette County EMA Director Melissa Havens, Clinton County EMA Director Tom Breckel, Paint Creek Joint/EMS Fire District Chief [David] Manning and Captain [Matt] Miller and Health Department [Emergency Response Coordinator] Brittane Dance and [Health Commissioner] Jared Warner.”

For storm damage, Bushelman said the “area from Buford to Mowrystown was definitely the hardest hit,” while he said that county property also suffered some damage.

“I know the sheriff's office has had some damage,” he said. “Thirteen LED lights on my side had to be replaced, two LED lights on the health department side, and they lost a computer monitor. I haven't been through all my computers and radios and all the electronics out there to see what else has been damaged through the storm.”

Bushelman also cautioned that the three properties classified as having “major” damage are all properties that were reported through the EMA’s damage assessment form. 

“There’s probably a lot more damage out there than what we know about,” Bushelman said. “We can only assess what we find out, what we have knowledge of.”

As far as utilities, Bushelman said that there are “technically no power outages” reported now in the county, “but that is kind of misleading.

“That just counts what the power company has restored,” Bushelman said. “That's not counting where services have been ripped away from the house, and the house may not have electric, but there's electric to them out there. There's still several of those out.”

Bushelman said that Team Rubicon volunteers are also assisting with cleanup efforts around the county. 

“Team Rubicon — which is a international non-governmental organization, mostly made up of veterans and first responders — they're in the county helping residents clear up brush, and they are currently being housed at the YWC Church of God Mountain Assembly down on [state Route] 136,” Bushelman said. “We may have to find new housing for them come first of the week because they've got a church camp getting ready to come in down there, but Brittane’s been working on that.”

Bushelman added that they are seeking donors to assist with feeding the Team Rubicon volunteers. For those interested in helping, Dance can be reached at (937) 393-1941 or bdance@highlandcountyhealth.org. 

Bushelman said that for cleanup efforts, they are not likely to qualify for federal funding but “stand a good chance” of receiving aid from the state.

“With FEMA, we're not even going to come close to individual assistance because it takes 25 major/destroyed residences to even start getting looked at,” Bushelman said. “We stand a good chance with the way the rest of the state's going of maybe getting some public assistance, so I'm working up a packet now to send out.

“We could get some assistance there, but that's going to take some time to work through all that. I think the state is wanting everything by September 10th, and then it'll get sent up to FEMA, and then they'll make their determination, and then it may get sent up to presidential declaration.”

During Wednesday’s meeting, commissioners also heard updates on a number of new or ongoing county projects. In other discussion:

• At 11:30 a.m., commissioners opened two bids for the first phase of courthouse renovations, involving the exterior. According to Willey, the county received two bids: one from Buckeye Construction & Restoration in the amount of $2,285,143 and one from Midwest Maintenance Inc. totaling $1,185,000.

On Thursday, Aug. 20, commissioners were scheduled to meet with elected officials affected by the courthouse renovations to further discuss timelines and plans. 

• During their passage of resolutions, commissioners approved an additional appropriation in the amount of $36,000 to the County General, 1000 Fund – Motor Vehicles. Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins said this is for the purchase of a new vehicle for the Highland County Task Force.

“The money will be transferred back into the general fund,” Collins said. “With a special project fund from the clerk's office, they have generously agreed to purchase the task force a new vehicle.”

In an unrelated matter, Collins advised that she had spoken to a Frye Road resident who has reached out to township trustees, commissioners and the prosecutor’s office about a request to “put a gate up at the end of” the dead-end road.

“She said that she's talked to the trustees and they've told her no,” Collins said. “I represent the township trustees and the commissioners, so I can't represent her. I spoke to her on the phone yesterday and explained this to her. I told her that she is going to need to get an attorney if she wants to do anything, if she's already talked to the trustees about it and they told her no.”

• Commissioners reviewed and approved quotes from the RPHF Solid Waste District for work at the county’s new recycling hub, which is to be located on Hobart Drive at the site of the former Schwann’s building. According to commission clerk Ashleigh Willey, the quotes from the SWD — who will be paying for the project — total $60,586, including $14,987 from Detillion Landscaping; $26,343 from Detillion Fencing Company; and $19,256 from Pritchard Electric. 

“I think they've done their due diligence to come up with vendors that meet their requirements,” Daniels said. 

Willey told commissioners that the Solid Waste District had enough 2026 funding remaining to begin work on the fencing and would include the rest of the project in their 2027 budget. Britton asked if it would be possible to “advance” the remaining funding to either the SWD or the vendors in order to get the project completed in 2026. Collins said she could look into it but was “99-percent sure that you can’t advance or loan the money.”

• Commissioners again discussed, but did not take action on, requested mini-split purchase at the Board of Elections office. The topic has been brought up at several meetings and work sessions, including their previous Wednesday meeting, since Cierra Moore of the county’s maintenance department brought initial quotes July 8.

Board of Elections administrator Michelle Swallen said Aug. 12 that they obtained options for one or two 12,000 BTU units, plus electrical engineering and permits, from Weller’s, or for one 24,000 BTU unit, plus electrical engineering and permits, from Wilkin Heating and Air. 

Daniels said Wednesday that he thinks they “need to give some consideration to the two 12,000 BTUs.

“That gives us redundancy and also doesn't push that boundary [of spacing],” Daniels said. “Now, it is more costly, so I think that we need to do one final look at these numbers before we make a determination.”

After Roades asked about the electric work involved for the project, Daniels said he didn’t “think we’ve even begun to understand what that’s about.”

• 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 Wednesday. 

“The reconfiguration shows taking the large meeting room and using half of that for the license bureau,” Daniels said. “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 [Services] 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.”

Britton added that “everybody out there, in that one area … have been asking for more room.

“They’ve given us five different options that we need to sort through and see which option we think is the best for for us and that would fit everybody else's needs,” Britton said.

• Commissioners approved a recommended quote by records manager Jennifer Maynard for the purchase of a new commercial shredder at a cost of $3,300 before shipping and taxes.

“Last year, from what I could find, we spent almost $6,000 on shredding and shredded over 1,000 boxes,” Maynard said. “This year, so far, we've spent almost $4,000 and shredded about 700 boxes, so the shredder would pay for itself in a year with not having to go for outside shredding.”

On an unrelated matter, Britton asked Maynard to consider making a space to permanently house the law library in the records storage building. The library is currently located at the courthouse.

“During the renovation, we're going to move it anyway, and we'd like to just move it once instead of trying to relocate it a couple different times,” Britton said.

• Commissioners asked county Human Resources director Amy Bradley to attend the meeting to see if she could “answer any of their questions” on insurance. As the county recently changed providers, Britton said some county employees “are having trouble when they go to the doctor and trying to figure out which insurance is getting charged.”

“According to the way [the account representative’s] email read, it's up to them [the employees] to tell the provider, hey, July the 31st, Medical Mutual is done,” Bradley said. “Any claims that happen July the 31st and before, they can continue to to file those and Medical Mutual pay those.”

Bradley said that she can assist employees with specific questions or to help with getting a deductible report.

“Medical Mutual has said their protocol is six weeks after they close the book of business, so we're thinking middle of September, they will send a report to our rep at Anthem,” Bradley said. “It’ll go straight from insurance company to insurance company, and that data will go over there, and then they'll upload everybody's deductibles and out-of-pockets. I've also requested pharmacy preauthorizations and stuff for that to go over as well.

“If you end up having to pay something out of pocket that maybe you shouldn't have, hang on to that receipt, and we can file claims on the back end to get people reimbursed money.”

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

• An AIP grant agreement and an AIG grant agreement for the construction of additional hangar space at the Highland County Airport. Daniels said the agreements involved “about $1 million worth of grant funding.”

• A contract among Highland County Commissioners, Engineer and Miller-Mason Paving Co. for Dawson Road reconstruction and resurfacing at a cost of $880,477.79.

• A motion to approve an agreement for physical damage insurance for a Gator utility vehicle used by the EMA at the Highland County Fair.

• A request from the Board of Health to declare listed items as no longer needed by the county and obsolete, ORC 307.12(B)(1); ORC 307.12(I). Therefore, the said board declares the listed items to be surplus property and no longer needed by the county.

• A request from the Board of DD for a budget modification within the 2100 Board of DD fund in the amount of $32,352.68.

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

Publisher's note: A free press is critical to having well-informed voters and citizens. While some news organizations opt for paid websites or costly paywalls, The Highland County Press has maintained a free newspaper and website for the last 28 years for our community. If you would like to contribute to this service, it would be greatly appreciated. Donations may be made to: The Highland County Press, P.O. Box 849, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133. Please include "for website" on the memo line.