Highland County commissioners agree to join Outdoor Recreation Council of Appalachia

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades accepted an invitation to partner with the Outdoor Recreation Council of Appalachia during a brief meeting Wednesday, Aug. 9.

The commission voted 3-0, via resolution, to “agree to partner with the Outdoor Recreation Council of Appalachia (ORCA).” They had received an invitation in early June to join the group, according to correspondence listed on a previous agenda and a press release from ORCA.

ORCA is based in Athens County and described as a “a Council of Governments created to utilize outdoor recreation assets in Appalachian Ohio to deliver ORCA Member Communities those benefits and diversify rural economies.” The group was formed in 2019.

As of July 27, the ORCA group had announced that Adams, Gallia, Highland, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Noble, Perry, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Vinton and Washington counties had been invited to join, with Washington, Monroe, Noble, Jackson, Ross and Vinton counties and the City of Jackson among those accepting thus far.

“There's a number of counties that are getting involved with them,” Britton said. “It’s all the southeast group [of counties].

“I think the biggest thing is it gives the group a better chance in getting grants for things like outdoor recreation.”

According to their invitation, ORCA was seeking partnerships with these communities “at no cost … during implementation of ORCA’s Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Power Grant and ORCA’s pending ARC ARISE Planning partnership with the Pennsylvania Wilds.”

The group has secured millions of dollars in funding for the Baileys Trail System, an 88-mile mountain bike trail system currently under construction in the Wayne National Forest, and other projects. Their press release says that “partner counties will become the service area for a multi-state ARC ARISE Planning Grant Application in partnership with the Pennsylvania Wilds, with Aug. 18 as the targeted application submission deadline.” There is “no guarantee” that project will be awarded, their letter says, but partnering counties will be “included as the service area” for the application.

“Communities represented will receive updates throughout the process and copies of the planning grant project’s conclusion, which is anticipated to be a plan for implementation of
integrating technology into outdoor recreation in rural Appalachian Pennsylvania and Ohio,” the invitation says. “Grant funding will be utilized for planning, and is not able to directly support communities at this time.”

According to the invitation to communities, the benefits of partnering with ORCA are also inclusion in community planning for “outdoor recreation and destination development opportunities,” as well as “ARC POWER support” for marketing.

Now that Highland County has signed on, the city, villages and townships in the county have the opportunity to “request and complete” an application to join as partners as well, the invitation says.

Greenfield Village Council chairman Phil Clyburn, who was in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting, said that partnering with this group can also assist with marketing the area for potential visitors.

As previously reported, representatives from the Arc of Appalachia requested a resolution in support of land acquisition, and discussed a need for increased tourism promotion efforts, during the July 5 commissioners meeting. Throughout the presentation, a topic that the Arc of Appalachia representatives continually revisited was the need to better promote the region’s parks and nature preserves. Both that group, and Clyburn on Wednesday, spoke about the increased need to make the area a destination for tourists as the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks in Ohio have been submitted as a potential United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site..

“They think it'll track about 174 [thousand] to 180,000 visitors to this region as a whole, and one of the things they've said is if you don't have something for them [visitors] to do, or if you don't have a plan or somewhere where they can get the information, they'll drive in and they'll drive out,” Clyburn said. “If you look at our region of where we live, it’s economic development that would be relatively easy for us to promote, put together and market it.”

Clyburn continued that it is also a “quality of life issue” in helping businesses “keep” existing workers or “attract” new ones.

“We're losing population,” Clyburn said. “This is a way to help stop it.”

According to Clyburn, Highland County Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau director Jamie Wheeler is willing to help when she can.

For more information about ORCA, you can visit https://www.orcaohio.com or read their invitation to communities at https://mcusercontent.com/c8ed4e0d0eca242f824aa1cae/files/629aac24-b9b4….

In other discussion:

• Two weeks after hosting a bid opening for storm sewer repairs on Sycamore Circle for the Village of Greenfield, commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a resolution and contract awarding the project to Reed Mechanical Construction LLC.

The village was awarded Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for Critical Infrastructure for Sycamore Circle to address ongoing drainage problems. The county received bids from three contractors, with the apparent low bidder, Reed Mechanical, submitting the only proposal under the $175,200 project estimate.

Approved Wednesday was a resolution to award the construction contract in accordance with the engineer’s letter of bid recommendation to Reed Mechanical Construction, LLC; and a contract among commissioners, the Village of Greenfield and Reed Mechanical for the project, in the amount of $156,941.

• Commissioners also voted 3-0 to approve a grant agreement contract with the Village of Greenfield for previously earmarked American Rescue Plan Act funds, in the amount of $375,000.

After a disagreement with Greenfield City Manager Todd Wilkin during their April 26 meeting, commissioners voted 3-0 May 10 to pass a resolution to authorize $375,000 in ARPA dollars to go toward the Village of Greenfield’s Downtown Facade Improvement Program, out of their original $550,000 ask from 2022.

• Commissioners announced that AEP has notified them of a proposed transmission project in Dodson Township, which has been filed with the Ohio Power Siting Board.

If approved, this would be a “station and multiple power line connections to support a customer substation” off U.S. 50, near Gibler and Spickard Roads. Depending on approval, it is slated for construction to start in fall 2023 and end in spring 2024, the letter says.

Also approved by a 3-0 vote were:

• A resolution to authorize an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds in the amount of $40,000 to 2530-CDBG Repairs – CAO Housing Rehabilitation.

• A resolution to authorize an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds in the amount of $30,000 to 2535 – Private Rehab – CAO Home fund.

• A motion authorizing the commission president to execute a contractor’s application for payment for Doll Layman  for Rocky Fork Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant improvements.