Commissioners updated on Revolutionary War memorial; AMVETS donates $2,500 to HCSO

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades received an update on the planned Revolutionary War memorial at the Highland County Courthouse, while representatives of the Sheriff’s Office accepted a donation from AMVETS Post 61 during the Aug. 23 Highland County commissioners meeting.

AMVETS member Gerold “Buzzard” Wilkin presented a $2,500 check to Highland County Sheriff Donnie Barrera and Chief Deputy Brandon Stratton.

“The sheriff had made a request for some additional money for things that he needed to acquire, and the AMVETS answered that call,” Wilkin said. “It's our privilege to present this check to an organization that guarantees our safety throughout our county.”

According to Barrera, the funding will be used “to purchase two new radar units for the new cars that we got.

“Thank you very much, Buzzard,” the sheriff told Wilkin. “We appreciate it.”

Also during Wednesday’s meeting, Wilkin gave an update on the proposed new Revolutionary War memorial at the Highland County Courthouse, a joint effort of the Sons of the American Revolution Highlanders Chapter and Daughters of the American Revolution Waw-wil-a-way Chapter. Wilkin is a member of the Highlanders and one of the individuals spearheading this effort.

As part of his discussion, he brought a copy of a letter he asked commissioners to review and then send on to other public officials, including township trustees, the Highland County Recorder’s Office and the Highland County Map Office.

“The Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades have approved this project that will be constructed on Highland County Courthouse grounds,” the letter signed by Highlanders SAR representative Gary Duffield says. “They have authorized the Highlanders SAR and Waw-Wil-A-Way DAR Chapters access to contact all Highland County cities, villages, townships and unincorporated communities for their project. The commissioners also request these cities, villages, townships and unincorporated communities of Highland County to provide any information or knowledge about Revolutionary War patriots in their possession to the DAR and SAR chapters.

“These chapters are especially interested in any known patriot graves and the access to all cemeteries and burial sites. They would like to know if you know of any relatives of our patriots. We invite you to join us in partnership as we endeavor to render this patriotic service to our community.”

Britton said they could forward the letter on to individuals on the county’s “email chain.”

Wilkin said the groups are still trying to “uncover any Revolutionary War individuals that have not been verified” thus far and are hoping these officials, as well as other members of the community, will be willing to help. They have already identified an additional 125 patriots in addition to the 93 listed on the current memorial at the courthouse. (A list of names already identified can be seen at: https://highlandcountypress.com/kickoff-meeting-highland-county-revolut….)

“We do need, specifically, the cooperation out of our trustees,” Wilkin said. “Those historical gravesites that we have in Highland County, we’ve lost that access to a lot of them. They're abandoned for whatever reason, whether it was a trustee road that went to it, it wasn't maintained, or was taken over by a farmer, or gated, or a number of things.”

Roades asked if there was any type of “archival” records that the groups could refer to for townships. Wilkin said they “can go to mapping” and have a list of “all the cemeteries,” which is how they were able to verify some of the 125 new names.

“We made a plea to the community as well to go back to their Bibles, etc., which is what family genealogy usually comes up with, and help us list those main individuals that was given that one section of land after they had served in the Revolutionary War here,” Wilkin said.

As noted in the letter and by Wilkin, they are seeking information on any “patriots” who “lived, died or are interred in Highland County,” and that involves more than just soldiers. Duffield’s letter says they “consider a patriot as any person that supported the American cause either as a soldier, militia, signed oath of allegiance, paid taxes, rendered aid and support or other patriotic service from 1763 until 1783.”

“Our interpretation is for anybody that was a patriot, not just on the grounds fighting, but also those that supported all those during our Revolutionary War,” Wilkin told commissioners. “We would like to see a proper celebration for all of those that settled this community, here at the oldest operating courthouse [in Ohio], with this memorial. We expect to have individuals coming in from out of state to help us pull this off.”

Wilkin added that it was important to recognize more than just soldiers in combat, as “the numbers that goes in to support, that maintains that war level — without that support, it wouldn't happen.

“In the Revolutionary War, you were either a Patriot or a Loyalist,” Wilkin said. “You had to make that decision.”

A kickoff meeting was held Aug. 8 in the Hi-TEC building. Moving forward, Wilkin said the groups are hoping to “partner with Southern State” Community College to hold their meetings at their campus and call on “the expertise of their students and teachers to put a coalition together that functions with everybody headed in the same direction.”

“This entire monument belongs to the community. It's not ours,” he said. “When we're done, we will turn everything over to you [the county] — any money that's left over, the records, etc.”

Britton asked what the “financial goal” for the project was.

“When we started, it was around $40,000,” Wilkin said. “Now it’s pushing around $70,000, after the four years ago of COVID and the rest of it.”

Wilkin added that they are seeking both “national and state grants” and accepting voluntary donations from the community.

“We don't want to put a burden on the community, but anybody wants to make a donation or whatever it is, there's been a challenge up,” Wilkin said. “One individual has written a check for $1,000 and then challenged anybody in the community to match that. Those thousand dollars add up pretty quick, if we can get anybody that will meet that challenge.”

The goal is to have the memorial installed in honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026, Wilkin said.

“We anticipate having that monument in place on the south side of the courthouse,” he told commissioners.

Anyone interested in donating time, money or resources to the project can send information to Wilkin at bionicbuzzard@hotmail.com or call him at (937) 393-3730, or speak to any members of the local DAR or SAR chapters for more information. 

In other discussion:

• Britton announced that the Rainsboro Elementary sewer project is officially complete, just in time for the 2023-24 school year. The finished project means resolving ongoing sanitary sewer issues at the school and hooking their system into the Rocky Fork Lake sewer system.

The announcement comes after over a year of discussion, planning and work, with commissioners voting in March 2022 to authorize a developmental agreement with the GEVS District for Rainsboro Elementary and the Rocky Fork Lake treatment and collecting system, as well as a contract with Environmental Engineering Services for “professional services” related to the project.

In January 2023, county commissioners entered a contract with Unger Construction for “to construct approximately 11,300 linear feet of four-inch HDPE sanitary sewer force main and other infrastructure” from Rainsboro to the intersection of state Route 753 and North Shore Drive. The contractor was also awarded the lift station bid for the project, through the Greenfield Exempted Village Schools district.

“I got a call from our engineer, and everything's hooked up and the school is running,” Britton said. “The old system is tore out, and [the school] is hooked up to our lake system.”

• Britton told commissioners he has been advised that the “floor is starting to drop” in the Probation Department building on East Main Street in Hillsboro.

“We're going to have to do some evaluations on that and see what we need to do to fix that,” he said.

• Field representative Yancy Shaw and apprentice coordinator Joe Coleman of the Ohio Laborers' District Council met with commissioners to offer their services as a “resource” for payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs, to be made to the county by solar developers.

As previously reported, commissioners voted to issue the first PILOT invoice for the New Market Solar project March 22. Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve sending the letter and invoice to Liberty I Renewables - Hecate Energy for the first “service payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT), including the additional annual service payment,” the letter said.

The first half-year payment of $450,000 — or $9,000 per kilowatt —  was due April 20, according to the invoice.

In June, Daniels said they still haven’t “heard anything back” from the developers, but they were working with the Ohio Power Siting Board and the Ohio Department of Development to seek further information. Due to delays with getting the solar panels, the project is only “30-percent complete,” he said, “and until they actually end up being complete, then they are responsible to pay the public utilities tax on those parcels.”

Shaw said that the laborers’ union had been following the commission’s updates and was willing to help them navigate current and future PILOT agreements.

“We noticed you guys have billed them for your PILOT program money and haven’t received anything,” Shaw said. “We’re hoping to help you get that money. Obviously, we have another reason behind it, because they did work with us on that project, and you have Palomino project coming into your jurisdiction and Dodson Creek.”

Shaw said that Ohio Laborers’ Council representatives “have been going around to the county commissioners in the state” and have seen variations in how each county structures their PILOT agreements with solar developers.

“We're here as a resource for you guys if you have any questions,” Shaw said. “If solar is going to be built in your community, we feel you might as well get all the bang for your buck that you can, because all these corporations are getting all kinds of tax subsidies from the federal government now to build them.”

Shaw added that he could not definitively say whether that project is “wrong or not” on whether they should be making their payments yet, “but if they, if they are wrong, we want to fix it.

“We feel the law says if it's in production, they should start paying you guys,” he said. “They've stated in that case that it is in production, so you know, you guys should be getting $9,000 per kilowatt, we think.”

Roades asked if the union works “as an advocate” for counties, and Shaw said that they feel the county “deserves whatever they owe you, and they should be paying you.

“We're not for or against solar, but if they're going to be built, we feel they should pay everything that they owe, and we feel they should pay their people a living wage when they're working here, and employ Highland County residents,” Shaw said. “That’s our whole goal. We want to be on your side, we want to be on their side, but if they're going to be built, obviously, we want to see our people working on them.”

• Commissioners accepted a $29,275 quote from Superior Petroleum Equipment for new fuel pumps at the Highland County Airport, with Britton saying that the Airport’s proposal was to pay half, with the county responsible for the other half.

“There is an issue with the fuel dispensing down there, and they're having a lot of trouble,” Britton said.

According to Daniels, “They’ve got two pumps out there, and they’re going to replace one and repair another one with the parts from the first one that they take out of service. I think they said the last one they replaced was in the ’90s.”

• Later on Wednesday morning, commissioners met with representatives from Heskett Insurance/CORSA and from Johnson Controls.

According to commission clerk Ashleigh Willey, “CORSA/Heskett brought a Property Valuation Selection form for [commissioners] to sign deciding whether they would like to continue with reproduction coverage or change to a replacement cost coverage for the Courthouse.” Willey said commissioners were also told that county-owned property is now being appraised at $99.5 million, up from $79 million in 2018.

The appointment with Johnson Controls was to go over “market market insights and how they can be involved with county and local government regarding infrastructure and construction,” Willey said.

Also approved by a 3-0 vote were:

• A resolution for a budget modification within the 2065 Repair – MVL in the amount of $30,000.

• A resolution for a request from Probation for additional appropriations within the 2770 Prison Diversion Fund in the amount of $7,658.59. Also requested is a budget modification in the amount of $412.

• A contract among commissioners, the Highland County Engineer and Miller-Mason Paving Co. for bid documents for HIG CR 5-C New Market Road reconstruction and resurfacing.

• A resolution for a budget modification within the 2540 Victim Witness Assistance budget in the amount of $565 was approved during the 9 a.m. meeting. On Wednesday afternoon, the commission reconvened to rescind the resolution at the recommendation of the county auditor’s office, and instead authorize an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the 2540 Victim Witness Assistance budget in the amount of $565 to Court Fines and Fees.