Commissioners OK Highland County JFS contracts, HCCAO grant application request

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton and Brad Roades approved two contracts for Highland County Job and Family Services and agreed to authorize Highland County Community Action to administer the Lead Safe Ohio Program during the commission’s Wednesday, Aug. 17 meeting.

Commissioner David Daniels was absent.

Highland County JFS Director Jeremy Ratcliff was on hand to explain the two contracts for his office. Approved were an amendment to an existing purchased service contract among commissioners, JFS and FRS Transportation, as well as a new Prevention, Retention, and Contingency (PRC) Plan effective Oct. 1.

According to Ratcliff, the FRS contract amendment is to reflect an increase in the maximum cost, from $1.3 million to $1.575 million.

“Our NET transportation is non-emergency transportation,” Ratcliff said. “It pays for Medicaid-billable services, FRS is our provider locally, and our original contract to run through the federal fiscal year was capped at $1.3 million. They're anticipating an increase this year of several thousand miles so, we need to increase the ‘not to exceed’ amount.

“These are reimbursed to us through federal Medicaid dollars.”

Ratcliff added that the reason for the increase is “a lot more trips to Wilmington” due to a local provider closing an office. He said that they currently pay “$2.84 per loaded mile” to FRS, but “that number may be going up” due to rising costs.

“Our clients will contact them to schedule transportation, and then FRS will contact us to make sure that they're Medicaid eligible,” Ratcliff said. “If so, they take care of transportation scheduling, and then they just bill us.”

The agency’s PRC Plan has been revised to take out the COVID stimulus funds that were added to the plan last year, and to remove their “back to school” funding program that was offered in 2022, Ratcliff said.

“Those funds are no longer there this year,” Ratcliff said. “Our PRC, Prevention, Retention and Contingency dollars, the majority of them go to support child welfare programs and child welfare services.

“It’s not an ongoing benefit. It's just temporary assistance.”

Examples could be a one-time purchase of beds for kinship providers or for an exterminator or related services for a house that needs cleaned up, Ratcliff told commissioners.

“Unfortunately, we can't use these dollars to pay placement costs,” he added.

As previously reported, commissioners voted Aug. 2 to approve a tax levy replacement issue for the agency to be placed on the Nov. 7 ballot, amid rising Children Services cases and associated costs over the past several year.

If passed, the levy will reflect a 0.1-mill increase from its existing levy, bringing it up to one mill. Since it was first approved by voters in 2013, the five-year levy has been at 0.9-mill. All revenues from the levy go toward child placement costs, according to Ratcliff.

The Board of Elections met Aug. 15 to certify petitions and issues for the November election, with the Children Services levy officially placed on the ballot, as previously reported by The Highland County Press.

“I’ve had contact with several community members that are interested in serving our levy campaign committee, so we'll be meeting, probably the end of August, to set that up,” Ratcliff told commissioners Wednesday. “We just want to keep spreading the word that the funds are desperately needed. Our costs are $4 million a year, and we are really asking [taxpayers] for an increase of about $1 a month, which is pennies a day.

“We’ve had really positive feedback from several members of the community, understanding the need and willing to help raise awareness of this funding. The work continues on that front.”

In an unrelated appointment Wednesday, Highland County Community Action Organization Housing Director Mark Current also met with commissioners, seeking permission to apply for grant funding through the Lead Safe Ohio Program on the county’s behalf.

Commissioners voted 2-0 to authorize the request.

“We're asking for a designation letter to apply and administer a grant that's coming from the Department of Development,” Current told commissioners. “Highland County has been allocated $200,000 for lead safe work. This grant can work along with CHIP [Community Housing Impact Impact and Preservation Program] or other programs, or it can work on its own.”

According to the ODOD, “The new Lead Safe Ohio Program, which is part of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine's ongoing efforts to make more of Ohio's homes lead-safe for children and families, will invest $150 million toward state and local efforts to prevent lead poisoning and remediate homes of contamination. Funds can be used for lead-safe building certification, screening and testing for lead poisoning, education and outreach, and early intervention for children and families impacted by lead.”

According to the grant specifications and Current’s discussion with commissioners, applications are due in September, with grants slated to be awarded in December. Work will run through early 2026.

“That's the timeline to be spending the $200,000,” Current said. “It is to the county, but you can designate an agency, such as ours, to apply for it and administer it.

“The advantage that we have is we do have experience, and I'm a risk assessor, as well as one other of my staff. Should a risk assessment be required, we can do that, and three of us are lead-based paint abatement contractors, so we can write the specifications.”

Current explained that any RRP [Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting]-certified contractor can complete window or door work through this program, instead of requiring an abatement contractor. If any contractors are interested in obtaining the RRP certification, “we can even help them get it,” Current told commissioners.

“One of the great things about the grant, as it's proposed right now is that a lot of times, it gets very costly when lead abatement contractors are required, and there's really only one active lead abatement contractor in about five counties here,” he said. “I and two guys on my staff are lead abatement contractors, but we can't do the work and administer the grant.

“This grant allows for some window replacement, door replacement, things like that, with an RRP worker rather than an abatement contractor, so it’s much more effective.”

As noted by Roades, HCCAO obtained a grant for a SciAps X-ray fluorescent (XRF) device for the CHIP program’s lead-based paint abatement earlier this year, which Current said puts them “ahead of the game” for this new funding.

“Another thing that we might purchase is a vac [vacuum] that is lead-safe to use,” Current said. “According to this grant, even if an RRP-certified contractor does the work, they still have to clean up, because we're going to test and to do the clearance. A lot of them don't have a HEPA vac.

“This grant allows us to loan it to them to make sure that cleaning is done properly, with the right equipment.”

After hearing from Current, Britton said they could approve the letter designating HCCAO as the agency for the grant, with his motion passing 2-0.

In other action, commissioners voted 2-0 to approve the following budget modification resolutions:

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds in the amount of $10,000 to the 2000 Dog and Kennel budget;

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds in the amount of $1,800 to the 1000 Common Pleas Court budget.

• A modification within the 1000 Common Pleas Court budget in the amount of $1,000.

• A modification within the 2070 Soil and Water Conservation budget in the amount of $1,500.

• A modification within the 1000 Auditor budget in the amount of $2,000.

• A modification within the 2075 Youth Services budget in the amount of $17,200.

Also approved, 2-0, was a general partnership agreement contract with the Highland County Chamber of Commerce for the county’s Economic Development Department.

Commissioners also held a work session with records manager Julie Wallingford as they continue ongoing discussions for the planned county records storage facility.